FedEx as expected added peak surcharge fees onto its pricing schedule for an expected blowout peak holiday season this year, adding up to $2 per package for the SmartPost final mile service and up to $5 per package for the next-day Express service. UPS and the U.S. Postal Service have already announced their peak pricing.
The U.S. Post Office is taking the unprecedented step of seeking a peak surcharge in anticipation of huge holiday demand for ecommerce parcel shipping. If approved the increases would take effect from Oct. 18 to Dec. 27, ranging from an additional 24 cents to $1.50 more per package, across all its products.
Major logistics and shipping firm C.H. Robinson has added a parcel option to its Freightquote self-shipping tool to better service small-to-medium-sized businesses, while also partnering with project crowdsourcing provider TaskRabbit to give them access to ecommerce fulfillment services. The combination is an industry first.
A few weeks ago, analysts predicted FedEx’s strong Q4 results were a preview of coming attractions for when UPS reported. They weren’t wrong. UPS reported a record 22.8% surge in average daily shipping volume in Q2, fueled by massive ecommerce growth, and a 65% increase in shipments to consumers, nearly 70% of total volume.
USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy doubled down on the need for greater efficiency and performance, while enacting new measures. Also, the USPS reached an agreement in principle to receive a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the CARES act, and created for the first time a loyalty program.
Buyers used to ask retailers when their item could be delivered. Now, they want to choose the in-home delivery time and track it online. That’s a somewhat new and difficult expectation for brands to meet. The good news is that sophisticated truck routing solutions are available to help merchants better manage in-home home delivery.
What do major changes at USPS mean for thousands of businesses that rely on it daily for parcel delivery, as well as giants like UPS, FedEx and Amazon? How will these changes affect SLAs and CSAT? We discuss these issues with Cathy Roberson, founder and president of Logistics Trends and Insights on our latest MCM podcast.
E-grocery sales continued to spike upward in June, increasing 9% over May to $7.2 billion as pandemic-fueled consumer behavior followed a hockey stick pattern, according to a survey conducted by Brick Meets Click on behalf of Mercatus. 45.6 million households placed e-grocery orders in June, up from 43 million in May.
After putting it off for four months due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Walmart plans to finally roll out its own $98 a year subscription program this month to challenge the outright dominance of Amazon Prime. It will reportedly include access to Walmart’s new two-hour grocery delivery service, deals and discount gas, Recode reported.
FedEx surprised to the upside in Q4, its laser focus on ecommerce capabilities in recent years paying off in terms of responsiveness to massive online buying, even as service stumbles were reported in a couple states. It seemed none the worse for having parted ways with Amazon in 2019 to seek more profitable customer relationships.