Tag: North America

FedEx profit declines to USD 420 million as demand drops

Posted by | Mar 22, 2007 | |

FedEx Corp. said quarterly profit fell for the first time in three years and cut its earnings forecast for this quarter because of a slowing U.S. economy.

Net income for the fiscal third quarter dropped to USD420 million, or USD1.35 a share, from USD428 million, or USD1.38, a year earlier as winter storms damped shipping demand, FedEx said today in a statement. Revenue rose 7 percent to USD8.59 billion.

FedEx pared its outlook for the quarter ending May 31 by 5 cents a share and said it may miss its annual earnings growth target of 10 percent to 15 percent. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.2 percent annual rate in 2006’s final quarter, less than half the pace at the start of the year.

Slower economic growth is particularly hurting results at FedEx’s Express parcel delivery and Freight trucking units, the company said. FedEx said earnings growth this year may fall short of the company’s 10 percent to 15 percent target unless the U.S. economy accelerates.

FedEx hadn’t reported a lower year-over-year quarterly profit since November 2003.

Operating profit fell 12 percent at FedEx Express, which makes up almost two-thirds of the company’s sales, as economic weakness and bad weather curbed demand for shipping, the company said. Earnings were also pared when FedEx reduced the fuel surcharge it levies to offset higher fuel expense.

Smith is expanding FedEx’s trucking, international and retail businesses to give shippers more options than at rival United Parcel Service Inc. and smaller trucking firms.

Revenue at FedEx Ground, the company’s parcel delivery business and second-largest unit, grew 12 percent to USD1.5 billion. Operating profit rose 5 percent to USD196 million.

FedEx Freight, the third-largest unit by revenue, had a 32 percent decline in operating profit on slowing demand and costs of integrating last year’s acquisition of Watkins Motor Lines.

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U.S stamp prices to rise in May

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Americans will pay 2 cents more to mail a first-class letter beginning May 14, but they will be able to buy a new type of stamp that could shield them from future price increases.

U.S. Postal Service governors approved a plan Monday to increase some rates, including raising the price of a first-class stamp to 41 cents. It also authorized the creation of a “forever stamp,” which can be used indefinitely regardless of rate changes.

The forever stamp will be sold for 41 cents starting in mid-April. After that, it will be sold at the prevailing first-class rate.

“The idea of the forever stamp is to make for a smoother transition between price changes,” and spare customers the annoyance of buying small-value stamps to make up the difference when rates go up, says Michael Plunkett, the Postal Service’s acting vice president for pricing.

The forever stamp is intended for consumers and small businesses, he says. It will be sold in books and sheets, not the high-quantity rolls often used by large businesses.

Quantities won’t be limited, however, even when future rate increases are announced, says Postal Service spokesman Mark Saunders. “People can buy as many as they want,” Plunkett says.

About 4 billion of the stamps have been printed, Saunders says. “We have the flexibility in our printing process to respond to demand,” he says.

The stamp, which will be available initially in one design, will be unveiled next week.

Other changes approved by the governors include:

*Increasing the price to mail a postcard from 24 to 26 cents,

*Reducing the rate for additional ounces of first-class mail from 24 cents to 17 cents

*Basing first-class rates on package shape. For instance, boxes and large envelopes will cost more to send than letter-size envelopes of the same weight.

Rates were last raised in January 2006.

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Pitney Bowes highlights mailstream technology at National Postal Forum

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes Inc. is showcasing a broad range of mailstream technology, services and expertise to participants in National Postal Forum being held at the Washington Convention Center March 25-28.

The postal industry’s largest show comes at a time of unprecedented change for major mailers. The landmark postal reform bill signed into law in December promises new opportunities for mailstream users, and a pending price increase from the United States Postal Service (USPS) drives the need for fresh approaches to creating, producing and distributing mail, documents and packages.

Anticipating some of the significant changes coming this year in postal rates and rules, Pitney Bowes is demonstrating how the FPS™ Flexible Productivity Series inserter can help production mailers convert flat mailpieces to folded mailpieces. This can help customers take advantage of expected rates that create incentives to send letter-sized envelopes that are easier and less expensive for the U.S. Postal Service to process.

Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software will showcase the Address Quality Hub, a new address cleansing software platform that improves mail deliverability and maximizes postal discounts.

The Pitney Bowes display will also feature the industry’s fastest cutter, the servo-powered HPI-72C, which processes 72,000 documents per hour. The input works with a heavy-duty folder to deliver outstanding performance when processing high-page-count applications on Pitney Bowes high-speed inserters.

Additional solutions on display will include the DM Infinity™ Digital Mailing Station, a new stand-alone metering alternative that prints postage on sealed, single-weight envelopes, including postcards, with speed and precision up to 22,000 pieces per hour.

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UPS' CEO earned USD 6.2M last year

Posted by | Mar 19, 2007 | |

United Parcel Service Inc., which increased its annual profit by almost 9 percent, paid its top executive nearly USD 6.2 million in total compensation in 2006. In 2006, UPS reported a profit of USD 4.2 billion on USD 47.5 billion in revenue.

According to the Atlanta-based package shipper’s proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, CEO Michael Eskew got USD 6.2 million in total compensation last year, including a salary of USD 988,000, a bonus of USD 41,500, USD 2.8 million in stock awards, about USD 1 million in stock options, USD 174,300 in non-equity incentive plan compensation and USD 33,137 in other compensation.

Also according to the proxy, vice chairman and CFO D. Scott Davis was given USD 2.4 million in total compensation. That figure includes a salary of USD 500,000, bonus of USD 21,000, USD 1.1 million in stock awards, USD 375,304 in stock options, USD 88,200 in non-equity incentive plan compensation and USD 26,003 in other compensation.

COO David Abney earned a total compensation package worth about USD 1.3 million, including a USD 383,000 salary, USD 16,050 bonus, USD 345,034 in stock awards, USD 122,927 in stock options, USD 67,410 in non-equity incentive plan compensation and USD 7,519 in other compensation.

Former COO John Beystehner got USD 2.6 million in total compensation last year. This included a salary of USD 538,000, bonus of USD 22,550, USD 1.2 million in stock awards, USD 400,479 in stock options, USD 94,710 in non-equity incentive plan compensation and USD 9,118 in other compensation.

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DHL completes hub automation at Riverside facility in California

Posted by | Mar 19, 2007 | |

DHL has completed the automation of its West Coast Distribution Facility in Riverside, Calif. The auto sort system upgrades now in place will allow DHL to increase letter-and-package throughput and provide customers with greater track-and-trace capabilities.

Key customer benefits of the automation effort include greater letter-and-package visibility through the auto sort system’s track-and-trace features as well as increased speed in the handling and processing of shipments. With the transition to auto sort functions, package throughput will increase by 28 percent. Letter-handling capabilities will improve by 67 percent.

The automation of the 262,000-sq.-ft. facility is part of DHL’s comprehensive USD160 million hub investment program. The state-of-the-art equipment at the facility includes shoe-sort and tilt-tray systems, loaders, unloaders, singulators, dimensional and image scanners, scan tunnels, and video coding.

In addition to improved package processing speed and system-wide shipment accuracy, hub automation adds throughput capacity to the DHL network.

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