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.
With the new U.S. Postal Service rates in effect, shippers are looking for creative ways to keep their parcel spend down as costs among the major carriers continue to rise. Find out what the increases mean and hear what some industry experts have to say about the impacts.
In another whack at porch piracy, UPS is expanding an in-home delivery service through smart lock partner Latch to 10 additional cities, after successful tests in New York and San Francisco. It will be available later this year in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Miami and Seattle.
The big three domestic parcel carriers – UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service – continued to perform admirably in the midst of the torrent of holiday peak season packages, delivering ecommerce orders on time at a rate of 97% or higher, according to data from Shipmatrix.
Less than three weeks before the new prices take effect the day after Christmas, UPS announced its 2019 rate schedule, including an overall increase of 4.9% for its ground, air and international services, leaving shippers scrambling to adapt at the busiest time of year. See what charges went up and what it means.
Deutsche Post unit DHL Supply Chain North America is investing $300 million to increase the level of automation and robotics at 350 of its 430 facilities, to better handle the crush of ecommerce orders. DHL also plans to open a 24,000-square-foot innovation center near Chicago in September 2019.
UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service got virtually all packages delivered on time over Cyber Weekend, according to an annual analysis conducted by Shipmatrix based on its shipper data, achieving the highest overall marks since 2013.
FedEx announced a 4.9% general rate increase (GRI), matching increases from both itself and UPS in recent years. As each carrier will target different increases in their rates between services, weights and zones to net the overall average increase, here’s a deep dive look at how the FedEx GRI breaks down among its shipping services.
UPS on Sunday reached an agreement with the Teamsters on its UPS Freight contract, avoiding a costly strike ahead of the critical holiday season. The deal gives UPS five years of relative labor peace, as it now has new contracts in place with the Teamsters for its freight and package divisions.