No Strike, Same Lesson

"A lot of catalogers have single sources for parcel shipping," he points out. "We've said it's wise to have relationships with all the carriers. The fallout from APX is a wake-up call to the industry."

One cataloger, who asks to remain nameless, tells me it took about two weeks to get the company's packages moving along smoothly again after APX's closing. "The bottom line: It was chaos, and we're paying a lot of money," the cataloger says.