FedEx, sensing an opportunity against its main rival, has posted a general rate increase for next year three weeks earlier than usual and lower than the current year’s figure, coming in at 5.9%, as UPS is dealing with a new union contract cost that the Teamsters estimates at $30 billion over five years. Analysts believe it will lead to a rethinking of UPS’s approach to its GRI strategy.
Freight brokers help mitigate risk by confirming carrier invoices. They make sure carrier insurance is covered and routes are optimized to cut down on wasted drive time, tracking shipments from pickup to final destination. They help to resolve claims for their customers. They ensure that inconveniences are in order for international shipping. So why is “freight brokers” a dirty word? It shouldn’t be.
Amazon is testing pricing for non-Prime members to get free shipping in selected areas, raising the threshold from $25 back to $35 – the same as for shoppers who aren’t members of Walmart+ – as it probes the potential to increase order value when shoppers add items. Amazon has yo-yoed the order threshold as it reads the tea leaves of analytical data on shopper behavior and pulls the levers.
As expected, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new five-year contract with UPS, giving the 340,000 members at the carrier higher wages for part- and full-time workers, and eliminating a hated two-tier system of driver classification. More than 86% of union members voting said yes to the new contract, the Teamsters said, a record for a UPS deal.
Amazon will start charging a 2% per-item fee to merchants using Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) starting in October, Bloomberg reports, while the company is offering influencers the equivalent of $25 a video to populate content promoting its listings as it seeks a bulwark against Chinese social giant TikTok.
Savvy shippers are introducing automated intralogistics to deliver an enhanced customer experience to gain competitive advantage. They’re also streamlining their business and making warehouse operations as profitable as possible. A multi-agent orchestration platform that is device and technology agnostic switches things up, bringing more uniformity to your fulfillment operations.
UPS reported a 10.9% dip in second quarter revenue, but still hit its goal of $2.9 billion in operating profit thanks to $889 million in cost reduction compared with 2022. The company also said 1 million parcels a day were diverted to competitors due to concerns about labor negotiations. UPS also lowered full-year guidance mostly due to costs associated with the new contract, the company said.
Postal consolidation and global logistics firm Pitney Bowes is expanding 1-3-day service to 20+ U.S. cities in the Southeast and Texas, Lousiana and New Mexico, in a push to makes its services more attractive to shippers in a down market and reverse its losses. The company will have fresh competition in Texas, where OnTrac added coverage to Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.
Ecommerce fulfillment software firm Flowspace is using generative AI and machine learning technology to streamline transportation and freight management processes, automate workflows and increase the visibility into the status of inbound and outbound shipments. FlowspaceAI for Freight uses GenAI and machine learning to read and interpret emails and determine the status of each shipment.
Can UPS and the Teamsters reach agreement in time? Should UPS meet the union’s demand for higher part-time worker pay, or leave its last offer on the table? Is there a joint realization that too much is at stake? And if it happens, how will other carriers pick up the slack? We discuss all this with Gaston Curk, CEO of postal consolidator OSM Worldwide in this MCM CommerceChat podcast.