Shipping

The United States Postal Service (USPS) wants to raise prices for its Priority Mail service when purchased at the post office, while lowering rates for those who print Priority Mail labels online. The service is extremely popular among lower- and medium-volume online sellers, and last year, consumers and businesses shipped 871 million pieces via Priority Mail. The USPS filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission on Tuesday to change Priority Mail rates to take effect in September — right before the holiday shopping season gears up.

Target announced Monday that it's broadened its free shipping policy to simplify online shopping for customers and better compete with web retailers. Now, nearly all online orders of $50 or more on Target.com, with the exception of oversized or heavy items, will qualify for free shipping. Previously, only some items were eligible, but online shoppers didn't always realize that and were sometimes frustrated when they checked out and discovered they were being charged for shipping because only some of the items in their cart qualified.

eBay may be closing shop on its same-day eBay Now delivery service. VentureBeat reports that the PayPal-owned venture is shutting down the local-focused arm of its business, likely from the growing competition in the space. According to an eBay statement, however, the company denies it is shutting down the service. "Our vision is to make eBay the most convenient way for consumers to shop locally, and to be the best partner for merchants to

By 2017, 50 percent of all U.S. retail sales will be omnichannel. Enabling agile commerce is table stakes for your business. But who will drive these initiatives? Research shows that retailers expect the CFO to spearhead e-commerce. So, how will you demonstrate the return on investment of omnichannel fulfillment to your CFO? Sign up for this informative webinar and learn how to gain your CFO's endorsement on implementing industry-leading omnichannel initiatives that blend the best of online technology with offline fulfillment. You'll learn how to:

• leverage intelligent order routing logic;
• optimize your return policies and procedures; and
• prioritize financial sales attribution.

No. 1 on the list of chores the Internet has done away with: dragging yourself to the store to stock up on unwieldy items and carting them home. Many e-commerce companies - led by Amazon.com and the sites it owns, like Diapers.com and Soap.com - have made it easy to order even items like toilet paper and diapers without paying a cent for shipping. So when FedEx announced last week that it would change its shipping prices to

Amazon.com is making it even easier to skip the mall. The e-commerce giant is set to broaden its same-day shipping service by allowing later ordering times in some places and adding Dallas and San Francisco to the dozen cities where it's available. In addition, Amazon will make it easier to find the roughly 1 million items that are eligible for same-day delivery by adding search filters and a new section to its website for "Local Express Delivery" service. It's also lowering the delivery fee for many orders made by members of its $99 Prime unlimited shipping program.

Amazon.com is now letting customers return purchased items through its Amazon Lockers — a new feature of the large delivery lockers that have been installed in locations around North America and Europe. The feature, offered as an option for returns through Amazon's site, was noted by The Wall Street Journal. The process is essentially the reverse of receiving a package through the Amazon Lockers. After going through the returns process online, customers receive a "drop-off code" that they enter at their chosen Amazon Locker installation, opening a locker door where they can leave the package for pickup.

eBay Now is a same-day delivery service, but not for items offered on eBay.com by its millions of sellers — at least not yet. Instead, the eBay Now service is exclusively for local brick-and-mortar retailers in certain cities: San Francisco and the Peninsula, San Jose, parts of New York City, Chicago, and Dallas. While Best Buy, AutoZone and Toys"R"Us were among the first retailers to participate in eBay Now, the list of retailers now participating include the following featured stores: Home Depot; Office Depot; Walgreens; GNC; Radio Shack; Macys; Microsoft; Guitar Center; Bloomingdale's; and Urban Outfitters.

The long road to getting a bill passed in Washington is rarely smooth. The efforts of the last few years to pass a postal reform bill, whose primary purpose is to efficiently downsize the USPS in light of its diminished use in today's society, has been no exception. During the 112th Congress, the Senate passed a postal reform bill, but the House was unable to counter with one of its own. So far, a year-and-a-quarter into the 113th Congress, a similar pattern has ensued. Here's a recap of where things stood as of press time

Retail industry analysts have forecast the death of the shopping mall for a couple of years now. The model no longer makes economic sense, they argue, driven in large part by the decline of traffic-driving anchors such as Sears and J.C. Penney (both companies recently announced more store closures). Factor in the growth of e-commerce and it appears the days of sprawling, multistory malls are numbered. Or are they ...