Shipping

In exchange for agreeing to a slower shipping method, Amazon will give Prime members a $1 credit to spend on music at its MP3 Store. Amazon's Prime membership program costs $79 for a year of unlimited fast shipping that includes free 2-day shipping, or 1-day shipping for $3.99 per item.

In Stamps.com’s second annual e-commerce shipping survey, free shipping shows a surge with 68 percent of sellers planning to offer the promotion on more products during the 2011 holiday season.

Overstock.com announced that it will offer sitewide free shipping through Dec. 25. "Our mission is to save people money," said Overstock.com President Jonathan Johnson. "Offering free shipping during the holiday season is another way we help our customers save money on our already low priced products."

The red ink continues to flow at the U.S. Postal Service, which reported a net loss of $5.1 billion for the 2011 fiscal year. That loss was well below the worst-case scenario the Postal Service had projected earlier this year, but that owes to an act of Congress that postponed a statutory obligation to prefund retiree health benefits.

There are many pitfalls to avoid when negotiating your carrier agreements. Take the time to develop a valuable relationship with your current carrier, but be sure to invite nonincumbent carriers to participate in annual bids — and give them a real shot! To maximize savings, do your homework, including meaningful benchmarking, and direct carrier negotiations through a formal bid. Take the time to understand and negotiate terms in addition to discounts.

With most holiday season merchandise already on its way to store shelves, import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports has started to decline for the fall, and November is forecast at 1.9 percent below the same month last year.

To get consumers more comfortable with last-minute online gift shopping, large retailers have embraced the concept of Free Shipping Day. Now small marketplace sellers can also use FreeShippingDay.com to promote their eBay and Etsy stores.

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation yesterday that would undertake a sweeping restructuring of the U.S. Postal Service, aiming to put the ailing organization back on the path to financial stability.

Amazon’s delivery locker system, which was first tested last month in Seattle, has been activated in New York City. Instead of having a package delivered to your home or business address, people who live near to a locker location can choose to send it there and then collect it at a convenient time using a unique code.

Best Buy announced that it will waive minimum purchase limitations and offer free shipping on its complete inventory of 400,000 website items from Nov. 1 through Dec. 27.