Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the U.S. Postal Service will be forced to initiate “uncomfortable” price increases for market dominant USPS products such as first-class mail, marketing mail and periodicals, while shippers using Parcel Select Ground can benefit from use of cubic pricing.
After a hairy 2020 peak season, with capacity at a premium and late parcel orders piling up, on-time performance by the big three carriers was strong, helped by a lot of early shopping from consumers based on earlier promotions, as well as improved levels of in-store activity.
Like its holiday twin Black Friday, Cyber Monday in the U.S. saw ecommerce sales reverse course for the first time in memory, according to Adobe Digital Insights, dropping 1.4% from 2020. Consumers en masse have heeded warnings about stock-outs on digital shelves amid supply chain-fueled inventory shortages by shopping earlier.
President Biden is close to getting Louis DeJoy removed as Postmaster General, which would end a rocky 18-month tenure for the Trump appointee and would-be reformer who, it was frequently noted, was a major donor to the campaign of the former president and 2020 RNC finance chair.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has decided to temporarily suspend a planned reduction in service level standards for First Class package delivery until after the peak holiday season, a week after the Postal Regulatory Commission which oversees it said the plan “lacked demonstrable evidence.”
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic-driven spike in ecommerce, a nagging labor shortage and supply chain issues have put capacity at a premium and left shippers struggling to keep up. This report explores ways today’s retail and ecommerce shippers must pursue a carrier strategy that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago.
DHL eCommerce, the U.S. unit of logistics giant Deutsche Post, is investing more than $300 million in facilities and automation over the next five years, increasing its square footage here by 70%, automating distribution centers and upgrading IT systems. This includes dedicated export gateways in New Jersey, Illinois and California.
While UPS buys its way into last mile and on-demand delivery with Roadie, the U.S. Postal Service is piloting a same/next-day delivery service in Texas, geared toward local business-to-consumer orders that companies bring to a local USPS office to get a discounted rate. Experts questioned its value and market relevance.
Ahead of the upcoming holiday season with its expected surge beyond the “perpetual peak” we’ve been seeing since March of last year, UPS is again issuing surcharges across its services, hitting major shippers particularly hard in a tiered system based on volume.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation into past political fundraising efforts of Louis DeJoy, the embattled Postmaster General of the U.S. Postal Service, raising the volume of Democratic calls for his ouster even as he works to enact major postal reforms.