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USPS, Under Pressure, Upgrades EV Plan

| Mike O'Brien

The U.S. Postal Service today announced a major upgrade to its planned rollout of electric vehicles to replace its aging delivery fleet, saying the USPS will purchase only EVs after 2026, as the agency bows to significant pressure from Washington and the states to expand and speed up its changeover.

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Warehouse Space Demand Will Shrink in 2023

| Mike O'Brien

Demand for warehouse space will decrease in 2023, experts predicted, but companies will still be looking to fill in network gaps opportunistically, while continuing to move sourcing and inventory closer to domestic customers to hedge against supply chain shocks. Consolidation of the 3PL sector is expected to continue.

Supply Chain, Sustainability Tools: Working in Tandem

| John Rattay

Shippers know they must prioritize sustainability to remain competitive and align with customer demands. They also know that they must leverage technology to measure their company’s supply chain carbon impacts accurately and set attainable sustainability goals. To solve this, they need to break out of traditional ways of doing things.

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Returns Rates Match for Stores, Ecommerce

| Mike O'Brien

The rate of returns from retail purchases is expected to remain relatively flat this year compared to 2021, at 16.5%, with store and ecommerce returns roughly equal as the latter figure has improved, according to a report from the National Retail Federation and Apriss Retail.

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Pitney Bowes Investor Calls for Board Takeover, New CEO

| Mike O'Brien

Pitney Bowes will get a board makeover with an installed majority and a new interim CEO, if investor Hestia Capital has its way, actions that have led management to take defensive measures. The hedge fund said it’s taking these hardball measures after the company refused its offer last month to bring in three new outside directors.

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Top 3PLs Directory Expands in 2023

| Mike O'Brien

Multichannel Merchant has published its eighth annual MCM Top 3PLs directory for 2023, a searchable directory of leading third-party logistics (3PL) providers in ecommerce and direct-to-customer operations. It features in-depth profiles of 70 providers, including information on key capabilities and service offerings.

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Freight Consortium Looks to Create API Standards

| Mike O'Brien

A freight consortium made up of J.B. Hunt, Uber Freight and Convoy is looking to create an industry standard for using application programming interface (API) connections to share data among partners in order to solve freight scheduling challenges, initially addressing full truckload (TL).

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Foreign Trade Zones: A Hidden Gem for Retailers

| Mike O'Brien

Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) have been around since 1934, yet many retailers don’t know the program exists, or anything about the benefits they can realize from deferring or eliminating import duties, tariffs and taxes. This MCM Special Report taps experts in logistics, importing and FTZ operations to help you make an informed choice.

Macy’s Converts 35 Stores to Mini FCs

| Mike O'Brien

Ahead of peak season, Macy’s converted 35 stores into mini fulfillment centers, creating about 1 million square feet of space to handle online orders, lowering costs, speeding up delivery times and reducing the incidence of painful split shipments, executives said on a recent earnings call.

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The Future for Marketplace Aggregators

| Ben Eachus

While marketplaces have made it easier than ever to launch a digital-first brand, the process of getting products to a customer’s door has never been more complex, and marketplace aggregators will face challenges and frustrations handling the supply chain complications.