A U.S. Postal Service plan to insource all line hauling of mail and parcels between hubs and local delivery units, which had been handled by contractors, will be completely phased in by 2025, according to a source with knowledge of meetings with USPS officials. The USPS says “some” contract carriers will be affected by the change, which is part of its 10-year Delivering for America overhaul plan.
Postal consolidation and global logistics firm Pitney Bowes is expanding 1-3-day service to 20+ U.S. cities in the Southeast and Texas, Lousiana and New Mexico, in a push to makes its services more attractive to shippers in a down market and reverse its losses. The company will have fresh competition in Texas, where OnTrac added coverage to Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.
Evidence continues to mount that that having a range of options and more certainty about when a package will arrive are more important than 1-2-day delivery. In a July survey of 1,000 consumers commissioned by Ware2Go, 90% of respondents said they could live without 1-2-day delivery if given options like free shipping, real-time tracking and the ability to choose the delivery date.
Ecommerce fulfillment software firm Flowspace is using generative AI and machine learning technology to streamline transportation and freight management processes, automate workflows and increase the visibility into the status of inbound and outbound shipments. FlowspaceAI for Freight uses GenAI and machine learning to read and interpret emails and determine the status of each shipment.
There are fewer mega warehouses of 1 million square-feet-plus going up, tracking with reduced demand in retail and ecommerce and the challenged economy, according to CBRE, while smaller facilities in strategic locations near population centers are in short supply. Ecommerce companies accounted for seven of the top 100 deals from January through June, down 50% from 14 in 2022.
UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters reached a five-year contract settlement today, averting a costly strike of 340,000 members that would have begun a week from today and giving part-time workers the pay increases their leadership had pushed for over the past few weeks, while handing newly energized organized labor a major victory. Starting part-time pay will be $21 per hour.
Major 3PL Geodis has integrated Happy Returns into its Geodis eLogistics fulfillment division, enabling retail and ecommerce clients to extend the service to their end customers, providing another option for returning unwanted items and helping retailers track and manage the flow of returned goods. Retailers can initiate immediate refunds and the service offers box-free, label-free returns.
Less-than-truckload or LTL shipping has become increasingly popular in recent years, and for good reason. When shipping LTL freight, the shipper pays for the portion of a standard truck trailer their freight occupies, with the rest of the space shared by other companies. This provides many benefits to shippers and carriers, from cost to speed to environmental efficiency.
Two separate reports paint a portrait of the once-robust e-grocery market continuing to face challenges, one that has never been the same since the pandemic lockdowns lifted and consumers returned to physical stores en masse for everyday essentials. It goes against rosy predictions of hockey-stick growth from three years ago, even though gains have mostly held.
UPS has begun training nonunion workers among the manager ranks to step in as drivers and package handlers, should a contract settlement with the Teamsters fail to materialize before the July 31 deadline, a move that has angered the union as talks remain stalled with about two weeks remaining. The union president also said they don’t want or need the White House to mediate in the talks.