Tag: North America

Pitney Bowes Mailstream Solutions Receive USPS® MASS™ Certification

Posted by | Jun 15, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes today announced that its Multi-Line Optical Character Reader (MLOCR) letter sorter product line has received U.S. Postal Service® MASS™ (Multi-Line Accuracy Support System) vendor certification for the upcoming Cycle L Requirements, scheduled for implementation on August 1, 2007.

Each year, MLOCR sorting equipment, along with mail sorting operations, must achieve MASS™ certification in order to continue to sort mail and achieve workshare postage discounts from the USPS. This year the equipment certification process was particularly challenging due to the new and more stringent requirements from the USPS designed to curtail Undeliverable As Address (UAA) mail.

The current MASS™ certification requires sorters to perform DPV™ (Delivery Point Validation) and LACSLink™ (Locatable Address Correction Service) processing which dramatically increases the processing requirements on mail sorting equipment. The sorter is designed to capture the image of the mailing address, perform a database lookup and validation and then print a barcode at processing speeds of up to 36,000 mail pieces per hour.

Pitney Bowes has worked closely with the USPS for 87 years. Their engineers and software developers are charged with optimizing mailstream operations for clients by developing best-of-breed hardware and software solutions that consistently earn USPS® certification.

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Co-branded eBay Boxes Meet Higher Environmental Standards

Posted by | Jun 14, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service is the only mailing or shipping company in the nation to achieve “Cradle to Cradle”SM Certification at the Silver level from MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry) for human and environmental health. Postal Service mailing and shipping supplies already had exceeded government requirements, including recycled content standards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Going beyond existing federal and state agency requirements was a goal in seeking certification.

Cradle to Cradle Certification is a scientifically based process that reviews specific criteria to assess the environmental attributes of materials used in products. MBDC examined 60 packaging items, breaking those items down to 250 component materials and then further analyzing 1,400 individual ingredients in those component materials before awarding the certification.

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FedEx Freight Canada Unveils New Facility in Toronto

Posted by | Jun 14, 2007 | |

FedEx Freight Canada, the newly-formed subsidiary of FedEx Freight that provides seamless intra-Canada and transborder less-than-truckload (LTL) service, today officially unveiled its new combined national headquarters and 48 dock-door service center, located on Wilson Avenue in Toronto.

Formerly Watkins Canada Express, FedEx Freight Canada officially began operations in February. The company provides all-points coverage to more than 7,000 cities in 10 of the country’s provinces, as well as transborder service for shipments to and from the U.S. and other locations.

In addition to Toronto, FedEx Freight Canada offers reliable pickup and delivery service through a growing network of facilities that includes Vancouver, Winnipeg, London, Calgary and Montreal.

FedEx Freight Canada also plans to add service centers in Ottawa, Cambridge, Edmonton, Halifax, and Quebec City, and open expanded facilities in Winnipeg and Calgary during the next several months.

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UPS Franchisees file a complaint

Posted by | Jun 13, 2007 | |

More than 200 owners of UPS Stores across the country have filed a complaint against UPS and its franchiser, Mail Boxes Etc.

The franchise owners said in a filing in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that they haven’t been able to make money because UPS undermined them by using the branded stores as drop-off points for prepaid packages and forcing the owners to focus on providing document and printing services.

The complaint, filed in April, claims the business model of the UPS Stores has been disastrous to franchisees’ bottom lines.

UPS bought Mail Boxes Etc. in 2001, and many franchises converted to UPS Stores about two years later.

The UPS Web site permits customers to print out their own shipping labels and pay online for delivery. Then they can drop the packages — for free — at a UPS Store.

Those formerly profitable customers no longer paid the stores directly for shipping, so the stores depended on payments from UPS for those packages, a development the franchisees in the suit said has “drastically reduced” the stores’ profitability.

It can take months, and sometimes years, for a complaint to be certified as a class-action suit, and for the lawsuits to be resolved.

A separate complaint filed May 2 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco accuses UPS of overbilling its franchise owners for shipping rates.

The former franchise owners aren’t so sure that document services can make up their losses.

The UPS Store franchise owners say they are just hoping to get back some of the money from their initial investments, which for some was more than USD 150,000.

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DHL opens new international gateway in Mexico

Posted by | Jun 13, 2007 | |

DHL announced the opening of a new international gateway in Hermosillo, Mexico, that offers international next day service and enhances the company’s capabilities to meet the growing needs of businesses shipping between Northwest Mexico and the United States.

The new DHL Hermosillo gateway operates daily flights between Hermosillo and Phoenix, Arizona, with all northbound shipments being routed through Phoenix to DHL’s principal air and ground hub in Wilmington, Ohio. The new service enables next day delivery for all shipments up to 150 pounds (70 kilos) from Hermosillo to the entire U.S. network. The service also provides for second day delivery to and from Guaymas, Ciudad Obregon, Navojoa, Empalme and other surrounding communities, as well as later shipment cutoff times for international deliveries from the region. The new flight will particularly benefit customers shipping high value automotive parts, electronics, textiles, medical devices and other products produced and manufactured in Northwest Mexico.

The announcement follows the recent launch of DHL’s Merida, Mexico gateway to meet the increasing demand from customers shipping between the U.S. and Mexico from Southeast Mexico. The investments in the new international gateways and U.S.-Mexico flights are part of DHL’s North America Trade Lane initiative, which was launched in November 2006 to increase the speed and efficiency of cross-border shipments across North America.

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