Postal

The Post Office should have both a plan and the leadership to carry out the new administration’s agenda. The first order of business is to appoint a new Postmaster General. In the past, the Postmaster General was a nonpartisan, nonpolitical job. However, the current Postmaster General was the first political appointee in recent memory. As…

Last Friday, the U.S. Postal Service announced temporary price increases effective Oct. 18, 2020 through Dec. 27, 2020. Increases are quite significant, as follows: Parcel Select (DDU entry): Up to 7.5 percent Parcel Select (DSCF entry): Up to 9.1 percent Parcel Select (DNDC entry): Up to 6.7 percent Parcel Return Service: Up to 7.9 percent…

Cross-border shipping rates will go up for many U.S. shippers on July 1. This change comes after countries began to self-declare postal rates based on the deal reached by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in September, Supply Chain Dive reported. Many postage sellers, consolidators and other cross-border service providers such as FedEx, UPS and Stamps.com, received new contracts from…

The United States Postal Service is changing the way it charges for boxes shipped via Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express and other parcel shipping services. Currently, the Postal Service applies a dimensional divisor (DIM) of 194 for boxes that exceed one cubic foot in volume, and only for zones five and above. Effective June 23,…

Amazon.com announced Thursday that it plans to invest $800 million in the second quarter of 2019 toward making one-day shipping the standard offering of its Prime loyalty program. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said Amazon is “currently working on evolving our Prime shipping program, which has historically been a two-day program, to a one-day shipping program,”…

Here are some strategies that may help you to mitigate the effect of this year’s increases on your overall shipping costs.

Tis the season. Bah humbug … After FedEx and the USPS delivered their version of coal in our stocking, UPS doubled down with its just released 2019 general rate increase (GRI). The GRI goes into effect on Dec. 26, 2018, leaving customers with less than three weeks notice during the busiest retail season to analyze,…

Recently, the USPS proposed a record price increase. The proposed hike must first be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission. If approved, which is expected, the higher rates will go into effect on Jan. 27, 2019. This will be the biggest rate increase in USPS history. Here are some of the significant proposed 2019 USPS…

The U.S. Postal Service has proposed a 9 percent to 12 percent increase in fees for its parcel select service, which is used by Amazon.com and many other retailers, as well as United Parcel Service and FedEx. The service is the last and typically most expensive step in the shipping process that gets packages to customers’ doorsteps. The…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Caitlin Sullivan and Joe Keenan discuss the National Retail Federation's (NRF) new Package Coalition, a lobbying group in support of the U.S. Postal Service. The coalition is being led by Amazon.com and other retail businesses, including QVC and Columbia Sportswear. In addition to analyzing the merits…