FedEx’s continued focus on ecommerce growth, reflected in its capital spending and recent spate of acquisitions, paid dividends in fiscal 2016, especially the 20% growth in ground revenue. Walmart’s recent addition of a subscription service in response to Amazon Prime, partially served by regional carriers, is not a concern, company executives said.
The U.S. Postal Service reported operating revenue of $17.7 billion in Q2, up $788 million or 4.7% from 2015. The increase was primarily due to an 11.4% gain in shipping and package volume and pricing changes. While the USPS keeps posting double-digit parcel gains, it continues to drown in pension-driven red ink, with a $2 billion quarterly net loss, up from $1.5 billion a year ago.
While the USPS’ new parcel shipping price increases are the first in three years, the move is not expected to drive significant volume or market share away.
UPS says in a filing that the U.S. Postal Service unfairly used its mail delivery monopoly to undercut private-market competitors on shipping prices.
UPS’s on-time performance fell from Dec. 6-12 compared to 2014, and FedEx and UPS rose slightly according to ShipMatrix, as holiday ecommerce volume flowed.
The USPS reported a 14.1% increase in package volume, and an 11.1% increase in shipping and package revenue in 2015, as mail volume continued to fall.
The U.S. Postal Service expects to deliver about 600 million packages this holiday season, up 10.5% over 2014, while hiring 30,000 to meet the peak demand.
Nine months into the new world of dimensional weight pricing for smaller parcels, what are merchant shippers doing to address the increased costs?
The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission of proposed price changes for its Shipping Services products to take effect next year, following the conclusion of … Continue Reading →
Shopify has launched Shopify Shipping, allowing merchants to buy and print discounted U.S. Postal Service shipping labels from within the Shopify platform.