Rps Inc

Burlington Air Express said Tuesday that it has signed a renewable three-year contract to become primary air carrier for RPS Inc., one of the country's largest package carriers. Terms were not disclosed. Pittsburgh-based RPS, a unit of Caliber System Inc., has $1.3 billion in annual sales. Burlington, the Irvine-based unit of Pittson Co., has $1.5 billion in annual revenue.

Burlington Air Express said Tuesday that it has signed a renewable three-year contract to become primary air carrier for RPS Inc., one of the country's largest package carriers. Terms were not disclosed. Pittsburgh-based RPS, a unit of Caliber System Inc., has $1.3 billion in annual sales. Burlington, the Irvine-based unit of Pittson Co., has $1.5 billion in annual revenue.

Although FedEx Corp. was built on a cargo airline, its trucking business is now a big-time moneymaker and a tough competitor for its chief rival, United Parcel Service Inc. But the shipping giant's trucking division, FedEx Ground Package System Inc., is embroiled in a growing labor fight that could raise operating costs by millions and lead to an overhaul of its workforce.

Those mailbox and office-service outfits that seemingly dot every strip mall were sorely tested by the 15-day United Parcel Service strike. To the extent that the stores relied on UPS before the strike--and UPS handles three of every four packages shipped in the United States--many failed the test. Competitors like Federal Express Corp. and RPS Inc. just weren't looking for new clients during the walkout.

A Century City crane accident has resulted in a $2.9-million verdict for a crane operator who was thrown from the machine and injured, his lawyer said this week. Charles Laurutis, 54, was awarded the damages Friday, stemming from injuries he suffered in July, 1986, during the construction of the 17-story Marriott Hotel. At the time, Laurutis was an employee of Tripco Corp.

* Ziff-Davis Inc., the leading publisher of computer magazines and the owner of the Comdex computer trade show, said it hired investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. to explore options for its ZD Market Intelligence unit that would include the possibility of a merger or sale. The move comes as the New York-based company is trying to whittle down its $1.5 billion in debt and boost its share price. * * FDX Corp.'s RPS Inc., the No. 2 U.S.

United Parcel Service customers--including major catalog companies such as Land's End Inc. and J.C. Penney Co.--are hurriedly making alternative arrangements to have their products delivered as tonight's midnight deadline neared for the company's first nationwide strike. United Parcel Service of America Inc.

Pharmavite Corp., a manufacturer of vitamins and food supplements, signed a 10-year lease valued at more than $50 million for 740,000 square feet of space at Vista Business Park in Valencia in one of the largest industrial leases ever in Los Angeles County.

FDX Corp., parent of Federal Express, said rising fuel prices hurt its earnings in the fiscal first quarter and may keep it from meeting this year's profit forecasts. The world's largest express-delivery company said net income for the quarter ended Aug. 31 rose to $159 million, or 52 cents a share, from $149 million, or 50 cents, a year earlier, as revenue rose 5.8% to $4.32 billion. The average analyst estimate was 54 cents in a First Call Corp. survey.

United Parcel Service of America on Tuesday launched the arduous task of winning back the confidence of millions of customers whose daily routines were disrupted by the two-week Teamsters strike, an effort even UPS conceded won't prevent the permanent loss of about 5% of its pre-strike volume. "We're going to be a smaller company," said UPS spokesman Mark Dickens. "Undeniably there is business we have lost altogether."

Negotiators for United Parcel Service of America and the striking Teamsters union continued contract talks Friday, with little apparent movement, amid growing pressure from business leaders for White House intervention to resolve the strike, which has crippled the flow of about 12 million packages a day. Virginia Gov. George Allen and Iowa Gov.