Starting in January, FedEx will make deliveries seven days a week to meet increasing demand from ecommerce shippers, while diverting about 2 million packages per year from the U.S. Postal Service’s last-mile service to build necessary density and shave costs.
In order for blockchain to succeed on a global scale in the transportation of goods, an open source standard will be required, according to a FedEx executive who heads up a blockchain alliance working toward that goal. The first standard of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance, on shipment location tracking, was published in March.
From fast and free shipping to offering delivery choices, ecommerce companies need to be responsive and even proactive in anticipating needs, and outside partners often have the scale and expertise to make it happen. Learn how FedEx Fulfillment helped Revtown and BAWLS overcome operational challenges and grow their business.
Eastern Connection, a regional carrier with a 35-plus-year history, shut down its operations earlier this month, the company announced, leaving shippers in the Northeast from Maine to Virginia looking for alternate capacity. Other regional carriers, including Lasership and CDL, stand to benefit along with UPS, FedEx and the USPS.
Adding a weapon in its competition with FedEx and UPS in eight Southern states, Texas-based regional carrier LSO has added route optimization and enhanced tracking and visibility through a partnership with software provider Bringg. See what capabilities this brings as well as enhanced productivity and efficiency for LSO.
Parcel delivery companies saw some post-peak falloff, eliminating 9,700 positions in February even as jobs grew in other sectors while hiring overall cooled, according to the Department of Labor, the Wall Street Journal reported. Overall 53,000 parcel delivery jobs were added in the past 12 months, and warehouse hiring also remains strong.
UPS has expanded a piloted service to help small-to-medium-sized businesses worldwide consolidate their ecommerce fulfillment to customers in the U.S. and Canada, across 21 different marketplaces and web stores including eBay, Walmart, Etsy and Amazon.
FedEx is planning to test delivery robots this summer for customers including Walmart and Pizza Hut, while Target and AutoZone are looking at the capability, according to Reuters. The 10 mph robots would have to be approved by the city of Memphis. This is one innovative way companies are looking to cut last mile costs.
In a bold and unexpected move, Stamps.com, which built its business through an exclusive shipping partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, is now severing that relationship as it seeks to offer its ecommerce customers more options, while keeping a sharp eye on Amazon logistics. See what the CEO had to say and how analysts reacted.
Amazon’s moves into logistics and fulfillment over the past few years have been well-documented, with FedEx and UPS downplaying the threat and Amazon saying it just wants to address its capacity shortfalls. Until now, that is, when Amazon added “transportation and logistics services” to the long list of competitive sectors in its 2018 10k filing.