United Parcel Service

Amazon.com and United Parcel Service said Thursday that they would offer refunds to customers who did not receive their Christmas orders on time, after a larger-than-expected surge in last-minute online shopping caught the shipping giant off guard. Customers who failed to get their deliveries by Christmas Day will get $20 gift cards and refunds on shipping charges, Amazon said. UPS also offered refunds on shipping costs. FedEx did not promise refunds but said it would work with people affected.

Last week, UPS announced its 2014 general rate increase. Ground, air and international parcel products will increase an average of 4.9 percent, effective Dec. 30, 2013.

This week FedEx announced average rate increases of 3.9 percent for express and international services, effective January 6, 2014. Unlike previous rates increases, FedEx will not offset rate increases by modifying fuel surcharge indexes. However, for many shippers the impact will be greater than the "average" increases announced, especially for deferred express products.

As the calendar inches closer to a July 31 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement between the United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the parcel industry is beginning to ask the question, will UPS go on strike?

Parcel shippers be forewarned. Lately, I've seen several misleading, if not unethical business practices by United Parcel Service (UPS). If you're like most shippers, you’ve negotiated incentives off UPS’s prevailing “published” or “list” pricing. For years, UPS used a single list rate for volume shippers and all incentives applied to an established set of rates.

When multichannel marketers negotiate with parcel shipping companies, who has the advantage: carriers or shippers? Current market dynamics make today the best time to bid your business. Recent earnings disclosures by FedEx and the United Parcel Service indicate a slowing or decline in their domestic parcel businesses, making them hungry for new business and willing to fight to keep existing accounts. Slow domestic growth rates in the transportation industry means promoting competition among parcel carriers is a winning strategy in managing your shipments for lower unit costs. Carriers’ Upper Hand However, initiating a competitive bid process in today’s parcel environment is a complex

I’ve heard a number of nervous comments from B-to-B direct marketers who rely on seasonal products or end-of-the-year sales peaks. Everyone seems a little concerned as their order curves are behind last year’s — in some cases more than 20 percent behind. I’m not worried … yet. Here’s why:
Over the past five years or so with all the advances we’ve seen in technology, there’s been a continual shortening of production and delivery times. What used to take four to five production days, now takes one to two. Shipping and delivery times also have been cut, due to advances made by the likes of

For companies that ship to residential locations, it may behoove them to take advantage of the U.S. Postal Service, which can still provide cost-effective shipping despite the recent rate increases. That was the message of Alicia Berry, COO of DVD Empire, a Web-based DVD retailer, at a session during the recent National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment in Schaumburg, Ill. “The most important thing you can do to control costs is to figure out where each of your packages is going and how much it costs — the daily numbers,” she said. “That way, you’ll be able to take advantage of what the USPS has

When it comes to processing returns, it’s all a matter of approach. Certainly, nobody wants a lot of returns and processing. But if you approach returns processing as more of an opportunity than a burden, you may be surprised at the results. “The biggest mistake I see with the returns process is that returns are treated as an operational procedure. But it’s an excellent marketing opportunity,” says Debra Ellis, president of Barnardsville, N.C.-based Wilson & Ellis Consulting. “It’s personalized contact with the customer that you don’t get when a customer orders online or through the mail.” The bottom line is that customers who’ve had positive

A recent United Parcel Service survey of 1,200 middle-class consumers in six Chinese cities shows that the Chinese continue to want more American products than ever beflore. Among data revealed by the survey: * 76 percent of urban Chinse consumers say they’d like to buy American DVDs in 2006, up from 71 percent in 2005; * 73 percent say they’d like to buy American-made moisturizer in the coming year; * More than 70 percent say they want to buy American blue jeans; * 64 percent say they’d like to purchase American athletic shoes; * 56 percent want to hear messages about quality components or workmanship in advertising