FedEx ground stepvan

FedEx Suspends Sunday Delivery in Some Markets

| Mike O'Brien

FedEx is suspending Sunday delivery for its Ground network in some lower-density markets starting Aug. 21, citing a focus on “improving efficiency and reducing costs,” the move coming amid calls from contractors for relief from high costs, including elimination of Sunday service.

FedEx ground stepvan

FedEx Consolidation Plan Was Long Overdue

| Mike O'Brien

Plans for FedEx to consolidate its operations, announced last week to analysts and investors, is long overdue and should yield the efficiency benefits executives are expecting, especially given a fairly conservative five-year timeline, most experts agreed. Others saw FedEx following UPS’ lead with a heightened focus on revenue quality.

FedEx express truck

FedEx Outlines Integration Plan

| Mike O'Brien

FedEx executives this week announced plans to integrate its operating companies – ground, express and freight – to drive operational efficiencies and eliminate redundancies, with the hopes of more than recouping the one-time expense of $2 billion over five years to make it happen. Network 2.0 was unveiled during an investor’s day event.

UPS Delivery Solutions logo feature

UPS Steps Up Same-Day Offering with Delivery Solutions

| Mike O'Brien

UPS has acquired Texas-based startup Delivery Solutions, a platform that offers multi-carrier, same-day delivery services with an impressive client roster across categories that includes nameplates like Abercrombie & Fitch, Giant Eagle, Office Depot and Sephora. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

autonomous FedEx Aurora feature

Second Autonomous Lane Added by FedEx, Aurora in Texas

| Mike O'Brien

FedEx is expanding its pilot program with Aurora Innovation, creating a new autonomous linehaul route between Aurora’s terminals in Fort Worth and El Paso, TX, making the 1,200-mile round trips weekly with a monitoring driver on board. The two companies began the runs in March, adding to another between Houston and Dallas.

parcel delivery illustration

Domestic Parcel Growth Much Slower in 2021

| Mike O'Brien

While U.S. parcel volume rose nearly 6% to 21.5B pieces in 2021, it was the slowest growth in five years, and considerably less than the massive 31.5% gain in a pandemic-driven 2020, according to Pitney Bowes’ annual index. It also showed smaller carriers growing rapidly but still holding a tiny percentage of the overall pie.

FedEx logo feature

Smith Out, Subramaniam In As Head of FedEx

| Mike O'Brien

Fred Smith, who started what became FedEx in the early 1970s and built it into a global shipping and logistics powerhouse, is stepping down as CEO, to be replaced by president and COO Raj Subramaniam, with Smith staying on as executive chairman. Industry observers expect a status quo transition, but wonder if that’s good enough.

Narvar Offers Ecommerce Returns Home Pickup

| Mike O'Brien

Narvar is letting retailers offer customers the convenience of home pickup of returns within one to 10 days for a convenience fee, a service that was piloted at 70 companies in Q4. The home pickup service is currently offered in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston, with plans to expand to about 100 more markets.

UPS van in snow holiday peak season feature

Carriers Come Through for Christmas

| Mike O'Brien

After a hairy 2020 peak season, with capacity at a premium and late parcel orders piling up, on-time performance by the big three carriers was strong, helped by a lot of early shopping from consumers based on earlier promotions, as well as improved levels of in-store activity.

cyber monday letters

Cyber Monday Online Sales Dip 1.4%

| Mike O'Brien

Like its holiday twin Black Friday, Cyber Monday in the U.S. saw ecommerce sales reverse course for the first time in memory, according to Adobe Digital Insights, dropping 1.4% from 2020. Consumers en masse have heeded warnings about stock-outs on digital shelves amid supply chain-fueled inventory shortages by shopping earlier.