RPS TO EXPAND HOME DELIVERY PROGRAM

   RPS, the business-to-business ground delivery specialist, will roll out
in March a residential delivery program covering 50 percent of the U.S.
population, an FDX Corp. executive said Thursday.
   "We are going to have a residential ground service from RPS," said Alan B. Graf Jr., executive vice president and chief financial officer at FDX Corp., the Memphis-based parent company of RPS and Federal Express. Graf said the roll-out date could be delayed, but that FDX is committed to having a national residential delivery capability.
   RPS began testing a residential delivery program this summer for select clients in the Pittsburgh area. The company has said it plans to set up an entirely separate operating unit to handle just home delivery — a
complicated business sector that express carriers have struggled to make profitable.
   The home shopping craze has increased the need for affordable home
delivery services and forced carriers to expand their capabilities.