MANILA – In a world of constant innovation, sometimes the very thing that makes you stand out from competition is to keep doing what you have always been doing.
Such is the case for one of the country’s biggest and first Filipino-owned courier company—LBC Express, Inc.
Managing courier logistics and efficiency can be challenging. Nearly every working day, 3,000 boxes arrive in the Philippines, each filled with painstakingly collected items intended to bring smiles to loved ones back home. Six thousand employees are in charge of taking care of the air and sea cargo that arrive from over 30 countries worldwide, on top of the local parcels that need to be delivered on a daily basis, managing remittances sent to and from the Philippines, and deploying a massive vehicle fleet of motorcycles and delivery vans.
“When LBC first started, its vision was anchored on delivering packages on time and giving each box the respect it deserves. It was never just a parcel for us and that’s what drove LBC’s growth through the years,” begins Javier C. Mantecon, Chief Marketing Officer for LBC.
Almost 30 years after LBC started in 1945, it introduced its 24-hour door-to-door delivery service in the Philippines to improve convenience for its customers. By the ‘80s, it began expanding its reach by serving the needs of Filipinos abroad with its first international branch in San Francisco, California. By the ‘90s, the brand became synonymous to the best in cargo and courier service in the country, earning them the title “Hari ng Padala.” Today, LBC has a fast and reliable express courier and money remittance service, with 6,400 branches, partners, and agents, and a 62% share in the market.
While the entire organization is a textbook example of efficiency and organization (LBC is known for its 95% on-time delivery rate and 99% sorting efficiency), the company still credits its growth to its ability to combine technological innovations in the industry with the sincerity behind their vision.
“Our company was built on our ability to deliver on our service commitment and responsibility,” says Mantecon. “Every expansion or technology we introduce is our way of respecting the trust that our customers have given us through the years.”
And while all these developments and improvements are designed to create a dependable system for LBC’s massive operations, the truth is, LBC is a business built on trust, experience and above all, an understanding of the thought, emotion, and intent that each parcel represents.
Driven by the need to honor the hard work that goes behind each padala, LBC ensures that packages are thoroughly checked and handled with the respect it deserves. They have partnered with the local Aviations Task Group and PDEA to guarantee that packages arrive safely, including deploying K-9 dogs at the LBC Hangar Exchange Area for added security. In the age of digital access, LBC also gives customers peace of mind by way of tracking their packages via a mobile app or through SMS updates. To keep deliveries efficient and reliable, LBC recently invested in comprehensive x-ray technology as well as barcode scanners; they also consistently prioritize the expansion of their delivery fleet, even including rubber boats to make sure they are able to deliver to the most remote areas of the country.
Their growth, constant push to deliver on their service commitment and maintain the trust customers have given them is a testimony to how an earnest foresight to send the padama with each padala, a vision that began when the business started in 1945, paved the way for LBC to become the preferred courier and remittance service of millions of Filipinos today.
