Tag: Courier/Express/Parcels

US online retailers increase payment options

Posted by | Nov 29, 2007 | |

Online fraud and the credit squeeze has forced US retailers to increase the number of payment options available and it seems to be boosting sales.

Due to U.S consumers’ worries about the risk of fraud from online purchases with credit cards, e-retailers are increasingly offering alternative payment options. E-retailers on average accepted 2.6 different payment methods this year, up from 2.1 in 2005, says a report from U.S. payments processor CyberSource.

Offering more payment methods appears to boost sales. Last year, sales increased by an average 14 percent for e-retailers offering three or more payment options, CyberSource says.

More than half of online users who are worried about ID theft say that concern has affected their online shopping, a Gartner survey in August 2007 found. Among those consumers, 13 percent said they have stopped shopping online; and 68 percent said they’re more cautious about where they purchase goods online.

In the US there are an increasing amount of users who are not shopping online because of a fear about ID theft and getting their credit card number stolen.

This can be a problem for lesser-known small and midsize retailers, who are most likely to lose business from consumers concerned about online payment, Avivah Litan, a vice president and analyst at research firm Gartner says. “The promise of the Internet was that it would level off the playing field, but it didn’t turn out that way.”

Alternative payment options include Bill Me Later, which sends customers a monthly bill and lets them pay by cheque or money order; and Google Checkout and PayPal Express Checkout, which let customers’ provide financial details only to them, rather than giving personal information to retailers.

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Californian Supreme Court denies FedEx appeal on drivers

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

California’s Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to hear an appeal by FedEx Corp, which sought to overturn a state court ruling that said the company’s drivers are employees, not independent contractors.

The lawsuit, Estrada vs. FedEx Ground Package System Inc., involves 200 people who worked under contracts struck by FedEx’s predecessor company.

It will be sent back to the state trial court for rulings on drivers’ expense reimbursements and fees for plaintiff’s attorneys, FedEx spokesman Maury Lane said.

A series of similar lawsuits from more than 30 states was recently granted class action status by a court in Indiana.

Those lawsuits also claim the control FedEx exercises over its contractors makes them employees, eligible for benefits.

FedEx has argued the contractors are entrepreneurs, not employees.

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DHL USA delivers the spirit of the holiday season to U.S. troops in the Middle East

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

DHL is partnering with local communities in New York and Southern California to deliver live holiday trees and decorations to U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East through DHL’s annual Trees for Troops charitable program. Since 2004, DHL’s Trees for Troops program has collected and shipped thousands of holiday trees, lights, ornaments, menorahs and messages of support to the brave men and women serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Kuwait.

This year, local businesses, organizations, private citizens and nurseries on the east and west coasts of the country will join forces with DHL in donating and delivering 750 trees and holiday decorations overseas. DHL will host official send-off events for this year’s Trees for Troops shipments on December 3rd in New York and on December 7th in Riverside, Calif.

DHL launched its annual Trees for Troops program in December 2004, when Jim Adelis, a New York businessman whose son was stationed in Iraq at the time, reached out to DHL to assist in transporting a shipment of trees to the Middle East. In November and December 2004, with the help of the U.S. Army Reserve 77th Regional Readiness Command, Dee’s Nursery and the local New York metro community, DHL delivered two shipments featuring a total of 135 trees and holiday decorations from JFK to troops stationed at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq.

DHL was the first international air express carrier to provide service to Iraq and Afghanistan following the lifting of sanctions and operates the most extensive logistics service into these countries. DHL announced the start of operations to Afghanistan in March 2002 and Iraq in March 2003.

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trans-o-flex starts service campaign

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

trans-o-flex Schnell-Lieferdienst has developed a modular system of services that enables its customers to completely meet the tightened legal provisions made on the pharmaceutical industry. The Weinheim-based specialist for business solutions announces the introduction of another innovation in the world of transportation and logistics: in January 2008, the company will present an active temperature control system for high-quality and extremely sensitive goods that covers the range of between 8 and 25°C.

The development of the new service was driven by the tightened provisions made on the transportation and storage of pharmaceuticals. In accordance with the German Ordinance on the Production of Pharmaceuticals and Active Substances (AMWHV), critical parameters, such as temperature and air humidity, have to be measured and documented not only during production and storage but also over the entire supply chain. To this end, trans-o-flex, within the scope of a service campaign, has now developed a modular system that enables customers to select the individual components relevant for them.

Currently, trans-o-flex already takes over the transportation of goods that have to be stored at temperatures ranging from between plus 2° and 8°C. This special service is offered by trans-o-flex’s ThermoMed subsidiary. “Due to the separate handling of the temperature ranges from 2° to 8°C and from 8° to 25°C in two different networks, we can guarantee our customers maximum quality with respect to maintaining the temperature ranges”, explains Mohorn.

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DHL inaugurates EEMEA aviation regional head office in Bahrain

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

The inauguration follows the transfer of two of DHL’s main aviation services centres from Africa and Europe to Bahrain allowing the company to focus more on the customers’ needs.

The move entailed the operations of the Harare and Brussels-based centres being merged and relocated to Bahrain, to serve the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe (EEMEA) from one central base.

Prior to July 2007, EEMEA Aviation functioned as three independent areas and was broken down as follows: Sub Sahara Africa, Middle East and Commonwealth Independent States, Eastern Europe and North Africa (CISEENA).

‘The centralization will allow DHL Aviation EEMEA to focus more on the customers’ needs, with the company able to react quicker to market demands with an in-depth concentration on Customer Operations, Key Accounts and General Sales’, McEwen added.

In the EEMEA region, DHL operates 44 aircraft flying approximately 54,000 block hours annually. It is a diversified and complex region with a large geographical area to service, which requires a viable mix of aircraft and flexibility in scheduling.

The Middle East aviation network operates 16 aircraft, and extends to at least 20 cities in the area that include Jeddah, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Baghdad, Lahore, and Kabul.

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