Tag: North America

Mailing groups ask USPS for rate relief

Posted by | Jun 15, 2007 | |

Mailing groups, including the Direct Marketing Association and the Mail Order Association of America, are calling on the U.S. Postal Service’s Governors to quickly implement the rate reductions recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission for Standard Mail flats. They are also asking that the temporary rate relief be extended beyond the Sept. 29 deadline recommended by the PRC.

The PRC’s “Second Opinion and Recommended Decision on Reconsideration,” issued May 25, establishes a transitional temporary rate reduction of 3 cents for all Standard Mail Regular flats and 2 cents for Standard Regular nonprofit flats. In its reconsideration proposal, the USPS suggested the same reduction until the next postal change, likely to be in mid-2008, under the new procedures established by the postal reform law signed by President Bush on Dec. 20.

In a June 4 letter to the Governors, the DMA asked them to approve the rate reduction without the deadline. In the letter, the DMA noted that the PRC “responded positively to the Governors’ and the mailers’ concerns regarding the excessive increases initially recommended for Standard Regular flats. Now it is the Governors’ responsibility to implement the revised rates, and the DMA urges the Governors to approve the commission’s recommendation and provide mailers just as soon as possible with the rate relief recommended by the commission.”

Mailers had until June 4 to supply comments to the Governors. At press time no date had been scheduled for a vote.

Some mailers have also been discussing the possibility of synching the timing of the change with the implementation of new periodical rates on July 15. Even though, generally, everyone would want them changed as soon as possible, some mailers said this approach would give everyone enough time to modify postage statements and software so manual calculations would not have to be done, which would be costly and time consuming.

The DMA also cautioned that the temporary discounts offered to flat mailers would only postpone substantial cuts in mailing volumes and a further decrease in revenue for the USPS.

The Mail Order Association of America, a trade group representing mail-order catalogers, agreed with the DMA.

The PRC suggested that lower rates be implemented in the form of rebates. However, the MOAA said “adjusting the rate schedules as appropriate would be a much simpler means of implementing the recommended decision.”

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U.S. Postal Service offers workshops, solutions and a

Posted by | Jun 15, 2007 | |

Workshops on ways eBay entrepreneurs can use the new rate structure to their advantage and how improvements are making shipping easier highlight this year’s eBay Live! conference for the U.S. Postal Service.

eBay Live!, the annual gathering of the eBay community, exhibitors, guest speakers and employees, is set for June 14 to 16 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The event is expected to draw thousands of eBay members from around the world. Attendees will network, discover new strategies and share new solutions to more effectively buy and sell on eBay.

Workshops to explain the rate structure that began last month are planned for all three conference days. Changes to domestic rates and international mail took effect last month. The Postal Service simplified its eight main international products into four: Global Express Guaranteed, Express Mail International, Priority Mail International and First-Class Mail International. New packaging will allow mailers to use the same Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging for shipping within the United States and to other countries.

And shipping domestically or internationally also has gotten easier for eBay sellers. The PayPal MultiOrder Shipping Solution now lets customers manage all eBay and PayPal shipments in one place, print multiple Postal Service domestic shipping labels with one click, and link shipments to the newly launched Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice (SCAN). SCAN forms contain Intelligent Mail barcodes that hold information on all shipping labels and packages in the same shipment.

Improvements also now allow customers to import shipping information for eBay and PayPal transactions, create shipping presets to ship similar items using the same service type, track packages in the shipping history section, and combine multiple items to be shipped together in one package.

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Technology keeps reshaping Postal Service

Posted by | Jun 15, 2007 | |

The competition starting heating up for the Postal Service in the 1990s, when the Internet and e-mail became a household feature and private package delivery services started becoming more popular, such as UPS, FedEx and DHL.

USPS has kept up with its competition by offering more convenient services like Click-and-Ship, where postage can be paid for and shipping labels printed from your home computer. The package can be picked up at your home with free delivery confirmation letting the sender track the package, says Antonio Ruiz, Sebastian Post Office Officer-in-Charge.

A reduction in business, especially its core product or single-piece first-class mail and a slowing in growth of all first-class mail, Breckenridge says, also made the USPS review its business strategies.

Reasons for dwindling Post Office business includes many new and convenient features that computers offer, such as:

• personal bill pay, i.e. a lot fewer bills traveling through “snail” mail;

• online banking and bank statements, i.e. a lot fewer bank statements and other banking correspondence in the mail;

• other statements being offered through e-mail, i.e. insurance;

• Internet shopping, i.e. merchandise comes directly from a store or manufacturer, eliminating the need to be sent via mail from person-to-person

• and e-mail, i.e. a lot fewer hand-written letters and cards.

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FedEx unveils new Canadian headquarters, service center

Posted by | Jun 15, 2007 | |

FedEx Freight Canada, unveiled on Thursday its Canadian headquarters as part of an aggressive growth plan.

FedEx Freight Canada also officially unveiled a 48-dock Toronto service center.

“This new facility establishes a strong base from which FedEx Freight Canada will quickly expand its operations across the country,” FedEx Freight Canada vice president and general manager Grant Crawford said in a statement. “From British Columbia to Nova Scotia, we offer (less-than-truckload) customers the service excellence and reliability they’ve come to expect from the FedEx brand.”

FedEx Freight Canada began operations in February offering less-than-truckload and cargo services both within Canada and across the U.S. border.

The subsidiary of the Memphis-based shipping and package service was created from an acquisition last year of Watkins Motor Lines and Watkins Canada Express.

FedEx Freight Canada already operates pickup and delivery services in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal and London, Ontario, with plans to add service centers in Ottawa, Cambridge, Edmonton, Halifax and Quebec City.

FedEx Freight Canada also plans to expand facilities in Winnipeg and Calgary.

The corporation already operated a Canadian small package delivery service not related with its freight division.

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Jupiter research forecasts that off-line retail sales influenced by online research will reach one trillion dollars by 2011

Posted by | Jun 15, 2007 | |

US Online Retail Sales Will Grow By 16 Percent in 2007 But, As The Channel Matures, Growth Will Slow To Single Digits By 2010

JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, forecasts that off-line retail sales influenced by consumers’ online browsing and research will increase by a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12 percent over the next five years. Detailed in a new report, “US Online Retail Forecast, 2006 – 2011,” the healthy growth of off-line-influenced sales will reach 40 percent of total US retail sales by 2011.

“Online retail sales are maturing and the lion’s share of future growth will primarily come from existing buyers spending more in the online channel,” said Patti Freeman Evans, JupiterResearch Senior Analyst and lead author of the report. “Assuming growth continues in a similar trajectory over the coming decades, US online retail sales will plateau at 10 percent to 15 percent of total US retail sales, barring a dramatic change in the online shopping experience that promotes an inordinate spending shift among buyers.”

US online retail sales will grow by 16 percent in 2007 to reach USD 116 billion. Over the next five years US online retail will grow at a CAGR of 11 percent reaching USD 171 billion in 2011. Despite the slowing of growth in online buying, web influenced off-line sales will grow at a slightly faster pace over the next five years, reinforcing the vast advertising and marketing value retailer websites present.

“With market maturation comes opportunity for the retailers that can harness the power of the Internet to influence off-line sales,” said David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan. “The key for retailers is to create clear, simple and convenient links to the off-line channels that persuade shoppers to stay with them as they cross channels.”

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