Shipping is the second largest cost center for most direct merchants, with labor being number-one, says Bill Kuipers, president of operations consultancy Spaide, Kuipers & Co. But if a merchant has a handle on its shipping contracts, it can make such free shipping offers work, he says.
The carriers have long tried to minimize costs and maximize environmental stewardship through a variety of initiatives including recycled packaging, aircraft noise reduction, fuel efficiency engineering, and alternative power sources in addition to many other efforts.
When customers open their holiday purchases this year, most won
A new factor in determining dimensional weight to calculate delivery charges on ground shipments will add significant costs for most parcel shippers.
The U.S. Postal Service announced price increases and new products for its shipping services next year, effective Jan. 2.
It was widely reported this summer that retailers were paying at least twice as much as last year in cargo freight costs, thanks to rising demand for imports combined with shrinking space on cargo ships. The situation in early summer had some merchants fearing they wouldn
Fasten your seatbelts and prepare your cargo for takeoff. On Aug. 1, the Cargo Screening Mandate goes into effect, requiring all of cargo transported on passenger aircraft to be screened.
With first-class mail slowly eroding away, the time is now to implement five-day delivery, according to Sam Pulcrano, vice president of sustainability for the U.S. Postal Service.
A report released Jan. 11 says that import cargo volume at the nation
FedEx announced late last week that it will increase the standard list rates for FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery by an average of 4.9%, effective Jan. 4. The increase will match a previously announced rate increase by rival carrier UPS.