Tag: North America

UPS & DHL to add flights in the U.S.

Posted by | Nov 5, 2007 | |

UPS and DHL both intend to add extra flights in the U.S. during the upcoming holiday peak season, and UPS will lease 10 Boeing 747s, as well as smaller aircraft to temporarily boost its fleet.

UPS plans to wet-lease 32 extra aircraft, just a couple more than it had to lease for last year’s holiday season. Included in the total are seven Boeing 747s from Evergreen, three 747s from Southern Air Transport, six DC-8s from Air Transport International and four 727-200s from Kalitta Air. Other leasing companies will also be involved. These aircraft will be used throughout the network, although most heavily on domestic U.S. routes. UPS plans to add 423 flights per day between Thanksgiving and Christmas (DAILY, Nov. 1).

DHL — which has a much smaller U.S. operation — will require more than 425 extra flights spread over the Nov. 20 to Dec. 23 period. This will give it a cumulative total of about 8,000 flights in this five-week span. DHL contracts with ABX Air and Astar Air Cargo for its air operations in the U.S.

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Canada Post launches in Second Life

Posted by | Nov 2, 2007 | |

On Saturday, Canada Post will launch a virtual city in Second Life, where online shoppers will be able to visit the 3D virtual stores of Canada Post’s retail partners and shop for real gifts and merchandise.

“There are hundreds of thousands of Canadians in Second Life,” said Laurene Cihosky, SVP for Canada Post’s direct marketing division, in a statement.

Maple Grove , the name of the virtual city, is being positioned as a comfortable place for them to visit because of its uniquely Canadian feel, she said.

“The post office is the center of many communities across Canada. That’s why Maple Grove is part of the Second Life community instead of an isolated island,” Cihosky said, referring to the practice of building on a separate island away from the Second Life mainland for which many businesses opt. “Just like your local post office, visitors to Maple Grove can visit Canada Post and send packages or buy stamps, cards and gift cards and send them anywhere in Canada.”

The city will include a collection of stores from Canadian and American retailers who participate in Canada Post’s lookbook catalog. The lookbook highlights a selection of products from participating companies, with Canada Post handling the orders and fulfillment for most. Retailers in Maple Grove will include Toys “R” Us, The Shopping Channel, Brookstone, SkyMall, Red Canoe and Everything Olive.

Maple Grove will be launched on Saturday with a six-hour virtual live music festival. The virtual city will host additional Second Life events throughout the holiday season, including concerts, film screenings and shopping events.

Many retailers are offering incentives for Second Life visitors. The Shopping Channel will broadcast a variety of special offers, Everything Olive is offering an eco-friendly gift tote with purchase and Brookstone will take USD 15 off all purchases of USD100 or more.

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USPS: Surge doubles holiday mail volume to Iraq

Posted by | Nov 2, 2007 | |

The surge in military personnel sent to Iraq is contributing to an overall increase in overseas mail delivery by almost 200 percent and average volume will quadruple during the peak holiday week. The U.S. Postal Service is reminding friends and families to send holiday mail destined to troops stationed overseas as early as possible.
Tuesday, Nov. 13, is the first recommended date for sending holiday packages to troops stationed overseas using Parcel Post to all Air/Army Post Office (APO) or Fleet Post Office (FPO) ZIP Codes. Parcel Post is the most economical shipping option for families. The last recommended date for mail going to the war zone is Dec. 4, but for mail destined to all other international military installations, it is Dec. 19.
All military mail, regardless of destination, is sent by domestic mail rate. International rates do not apply to military mail delivery.
The Postal Service is expecting to deliver 20 million pounds of mail to military installations around the world this holiday season. The second week of December should be the busiest week for overseas delivery. Mail to Iraq alone during this period is expected to increase more than 400 percent over the average weekly volume.
The Postal Service has created a special mailing and shipping kit designed specifically for military families sending packages overseas. Each of these CARE KITs contains two Priority Mail boxes, six Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes, eight Priority Mail labels, one roll of Priority Mail tape and eight customs forms with envelopes. Flat Rate Boxes are a special value. Customers pay only USD 8.95, regardless of the weight or destination of the package.

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Vending machines for prescription drugs

Posted by | Nov 2, 2007 | |

After visiting the doctor for the flu or other common complaint, the last thing consumers want to do is to make a second trip to a pharmacist and wait while their prescription gets filled. InstyMeds, a US startup, has devised a novel way to make getting medications easy. The company’s vending machines are designed to be placed in doctors’ offices, clinics, emergency rooms and other healthcare facilities. Each holds 100 of some of the most often used medications that can range from pills to drops to creams and so forth.

InstyMeds machines require that physicians create prescriptions electronically, which are then transmitted to the vending location. (Alternately, patients can take printed prescriptions to their regular pharmacists.) The machines include several safeguards to insure patients receive the proper medications their doctors ordered. From the patients’ point of view, however, the ordering process is relatively simple. They enter their prescription number and birthday via a user-friendly touchscreen monitor, then insert either cash or credit cards to cover co-pays, while their insurance companies are billed automatically.

Besides saving time for patients, InstyMeds machines also save pharmacists the slow and potentially error-prone process of counting out medications by hand. Indeed, relieving pharmacists from such routine tasks could turn out to be the machine’s major benefit. With pharmacist salaries in the United States climbing over USD 100,000, the time savings can mean significant cash savings. The vending machines, which are accessible 24/7, likewise could help alleviate a growing shortage of pharmacists. Moreover, InstyMed’s founders note that by handling routine prescriptions the vending machines let pharmacists focus on more important tasks such as counselling patients.

While start-up costs are likely to be high for any new venture in the heavily-regulated health arena, InstyMeds illustrates how entrepreneurs can devise niche products that handily meet customer needs while potentially chipping away at ever-growing healthcare costs.

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FedEx Kinko's opens Hillsboro site Nov. 5

Posted by | Nov 2, 2007 | |

The new store is at 1221 NE 48th St., near the Costco warehouse. It will be one of about 200 new Kinko’s centers across the United States to follow a small-format design. The company announced plans for these compact stores in August. Each will average about 1,800 square feet in size. The same compact design is planned for an additional 300 locations slated to open in 2008.

Despite their small footprint, each FedEx Kinko’s offers more than 700 different office products. They’re also equipped to offer access to a large range of services including copying and digital printing, professional finishing, document creation and videoconferencing.

Web-based printing is also available through Print Online, a tool that allows customers to digitally forward documents to FedEx Kinko’s centers for printing. Customers can also specify finishing options, track the status of orders and review their prior order histories and reuse saved print jobs, all from the same Web site.

FedEx Kinko’s also provides notary and direct mail services, in addition to the full range of FedEx ground and global express shipping services.

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