OnTrac heralds expansion of Midwestern delivery network

Vienna, Va.-based e-commerce parcel carrier OnTrac recently announced an expansion of its Midwestern delivery network.

The company said this expansion, which will reach “beyond Chicagoland” and Illinois into the greater Midwest, through Madison and Milwaukee, Wisc., Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. and St. Louis, Missouri.

“We chose to expand to Chicago and the Midwest based on overwhelming customer feedback for a proven alternative carrier with our speed, cost-savings, service, and scale. With our expansion, OnTrac will now serve the top 30 metro markets in the United States and help our retail partners reach 70% of the population across 35 states and Washington, D.C., “said Josh Dinneen, OnTrac Chief Commercial Officer, in a statement. “OnTrac continues to grow our network to help our shipping partners reach their customers with faster, reliable delivery. We are excited to launch in Chicagoland and the Midwest and look forward to welcoming more team members to the OnTrac family.”

OnTrac added that through this expansion it opened up a new 334,000 square-foot sort center, at 565 South Pinnacle Drive. Romeoville, Ill., which it said is equipped with state-of-the-art material handling equipment, including fully automated small package sorters, will facilitate millions of deliveries to consumers across the Midwest.

In March, OnTrac announced it rolled out weekend delivery services, with a focus on helping its retail shipper customers in delivering e-commerce orders to consumers on Saturdays and Sundays.

OnTrac said this new service offering went into effect on Saturday, March 16, adding it is available in 75% of its delivery network, covering 31 states and Washington, D.C., reaching more than 175 million consumers.

The company cited various benefits of this new service, including:

• average transit times are two days faster than other carriers;
• no additional fees for Saturday and Sunday delivery;
• acquiring more customers, build brand loyalty, and generate positive feedback by meeting consumer expectations of faster delivery;
• in the instant gratification economy, differentiating from competitors who do not deliver to customers on weekends; and
• if a customer places an order on Thursday or Friday, they do not have to wait until the following Monday or Tuesday to receive their item

OnTrac’s Dinneen told LM that a major driver for this expansion focused on how consumers shopping every day expect to get their items as soon as possible, regardless of the day of the week.

“Our seven-day service responds to these demands, empowering retailers to win more customers by providing fast delivery every day of the week,” he said. “[This] service is a huge win for retailers seeking to differentiate competitively by providing faster delivery in today’s instant gratification economy, where consumers are increasingly brand-agnostic and making purchasing decisions based on speed. Retailers using our seven-day service will be able to deliver their customers’ orders up to two days faster than they would with other carriers.”

What’s more, he added that while other carriers are scaling back their service offerings, OnTrac is continuing to invest in solutions and enhancements that help its customers meet consumer demands for faster, reliable delivery.

Customer feedback for the seven-day service offering has been “overwhelmingly positive,” noted Dinneen. And he added that a number of the company’s omnichannel retail and direct-to-consumer customers have already signed up to secure volume ahead of the launch.

In July 2023, OnTrac announced it formally expanded its services into Texas, following its Texas-based expansion plan, which was rolled out in August 2022, with a focus on what it called the “fast-growing megaregion of Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, with the Dallas-Fort Worth facility to function as the major Texas-based sort hub, reaching 19 million new consumers through faster residential e-commerce delivery services.

And last summer it also expanded its transcontinental delivery service, connecting the company’s East and West Coast delivery footprints to move packages from coast-to-coast in four days or less to all of its sort centers.