UPU members demand swifter action on cross-border e-commerce

The Universal Postal Union’s member countries have demanded the organisation speed up its work to improve the flow of e-commerce through the global postal system. The Berne-based agency affiliated with the United Nations has been working to break down the barriers to cross-border e-commerce.

The issue is seen as “critical” to the world’s postal operators as their letter volumes decline, and the UPU said Posts are “well positioned” to help particularly small and medium-sized businesses expand their sales across national boundaries.

But in the competitive delivery business, the UPU said “time is of the essence”.

The organization’s Postal Operations Council – the group of 40 member countries elected every four years to direct the UPU’s technical and operational work – has passed a resolution emphasizing the need to act swiftly on the issue.

The Council’s working groups are pushing for simplified international products and services for e-commerce shipping, ways to work more closely with Customs to reduce cross-border shipping delays, and improve the overall delivery service.

This includes the development of specifications for an e-commerce package service for items up to 30kg in weight, which would include tracking, customs pre advice and supporting customer service features.

Efforts are also underway to put in place a more effective merchandise returns service, for international consumers to easily return goods ordered online from other countries.

The UPU said much has already been done to develop this, including the approval of a new user guide for the service, although there is still work to do to establish the service itself before its expected launch later this year.

At the Council’s plenary session last week in Berne, delegates warned that postal services have to be fast to benefit from the ongoing and expected growth in parcels generated by the online shopping business.

Postal customers want “simple, reliable, consistent” services for e-commerce delivery, in a business worth more than $1.5 trillion according to the UPU.

Brazil’s Alex Nascimento, the chair of the UPU’s e-commerce group under the Council’s physical services committee, said no logistics company has a better competitive position than the world’s Posts.

“Customers say to the Post: ‘I trust you, but I need better information, better delivery options, better process’. They know we are capable of handling logistics operations, but they are also saying: ‘We need more than that, and we need it as fast as possible’,” he said.