Postal

Delivery Delays Mount at U.S. Postal Service
March 30, 2016 at 10:09 am

The U.S. Postal Service fell short of its performance targets for a host of its mailing and shipping services last year, and on-time delivery percentages in many categories were actually worse than 2014, the agency's regulator has found. The Postal Regulatory Commission this week issued a critical report detailing the shortcomings of a broad array of…

USPS Responds to Questions About 2016 Rate Change
February 16, 2016 at 10:38 am

Online sellers who rely on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver their orders had some changes to contend with when the Postal Service rolled out a rate change on Jan. 17. EcommerceBytes has been covering the changes closely. We asked USPS spokesperson Katina Fields about the big changes and about some of the road bumps for…

Sellers Say January USPS Rate Hike Threatens Their Business Model
November 16, 2015 at 9:54 am

One of the biggest fans of the U.S. Postal Service is uncertain whether he can continue to use it once new rates for parcels go into effect in two months. Mitch Goldstone, CEO of ScanMyPhotos in Irvine, California, credits the flat rate Priority Mail box with inventing his entire business, and said so in a…

The Impact of the USPS Price Increase on Shippers
October 22, 2015 at 11:00 am

This is a guest post by Gordon Glazer, director of strategic partnerships and modal optimization strategies for Shipware, a parcel audit and consulting firm that helps volume parcel shippers reduce shipping costs. Gordon can be reached at gordon@shipware.com.  The USPS Board of Governors has proposed a major price increase for competitive (i.e., shipping) products to take…

USPS to Help Alibaba Get Goods to American Consumers
September 17, 2015 at 1:02 pm

The US Postal Service will help get Alibaba merchandise into the hands of US consumers more quickly. The agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Alibaba's logistics firm Cainiao to work together to develop new international shipping solutions and enhance the logistics-service experience for sellers and buyers. Alibaba said the global B2C cross-border e-commerce market…

Postal Union Scores a Win in War Against Staples Counters
July 7, 2015 at 2:55 pm

Whether you find postal counters at retail chain stores to be convenient or ill-conceived, it's not a sure thing they will continue. A judge found last year that the USPS violated the National Labor Relations Act by withholding certain information from the American Postal Workers Union. The Union requested the information in connection with bargaining…

USPS Adds E-Commerce Component to Direct Mail
May 19, 2015 at 3:29 pm

The USPS is testing a new feature to engage consumers through mobile devices and make snail-mail marketing more attractive to retail marketers. The revelation came from Postmaster General Megan Brennan in a keynote speech at the National Postal Forum on Monday. The project, known as real mail notification, is being piloted in Northern Virginia and…

USPS Investigated for Possible Unlawful Activity
May 15, 2015 at 3:55 pm

Two Republicans on the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sent a letter to the U.S. Postmaster General demanding she turn over details about the agency's competitive products operations. In a letter dated May 13, 2015, Republican representatives Jason Chaffetz and Mark Meadows demanded Postmaster General Brennan provide the committee with a…