Tag: North America

UPS may join Fedex in canceling Airbus A380 orders

Posted by | Jan 19, 2007 | |

United Parcel Service Inc. is expected to cancel an order for 10 freighter versions of the Airbus A380 superjumbo plane next week, French newspaper Les Echos said on Friday without citing sources.
For its part Airbus, owned by aerospace group EADS, could announce it will first focus on solving its problems with the passenger version of the A380 and await better times for it to produce a cargo version, Les Echos said.
But Airbus said it had no information on the reported plans “I have no information along that line,” a spokeswoman said.
Wiring installation problems have delayed deliveries of the double-decker plane by an average of two years, with the first delivery now due in late 2007 to Singapore Airlines, and led EADS to issue its third profit warning in less than a year on Wednesday.
A cancellation by UPS would follow a similar decision by its main rival FedEx Corp. which in November became the first company to cancel an A380 order, citing delivery delays.

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USPS asking mailers for more comments regarding mailing standards

Posted by | Jan 18, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service is seeking additional comments from mailers on plans to revise its mailing standards to encourage mail preparation that is compatible with improved postal service processing capabilities.

The new standards, scheduled to accompany the proposed price adjustments in May, give customers more choices in terms of shape, sorting, packaging and containers that encourage more efficient mail preparation. The announcement was made in a Jan. 17 Federal Register notice, and comments on the proposal are being accepted through Jan. 31.

“Our pricing proposal reflects changes in operations and the marketplace and will enhance efficiency, offer more choices, and ensure that all types of mail cover their costs,” the USPS said in the notice. “We include incentives to create mail pieces compatible with our processing systems and to deposit flats and parcels closer to where they are delivered.”

In general, for commercial mailers, the USPS proposed new sorting options to reduce the number of trays in a mailing and new scheme preparations to give mailers access to lower rates and to better align flat-size mail preparation with mail processing.

It also added a new automated Address Change Service to reduce the costs associated with undeliverable-as-addressed mail. First-Class Mail parcel mailers would also have new barcode options, and the agency proposed new opportunities for mailers to combine Standard Mail and Package Services parcels in the same mailing.

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The ROI of Nice

Posted by | Jan 18, 2007 | |

Can this relationship be saved? That was one of the questions in the mind of Mike Hmel, FedEx Ground’s senior vice president of IT and CIO, as he prepared for a meeting with Sun Microsystems.
The IT department at FedEx Ground was struggling to develop a transportation management system (TMS) using what was a new technology in 1998 – Sun Microsystems’ Java software. The TMS would help determine the most efficient and cost-effective way for the $US5.3 billion company to move its tractors, trailers and dollies among its 29 hubs and more than 500 pickup/delivery terminals. As such, it would be the backbone of the Pittsburgh-based FedEx Corp. subsidiary.
But the multimillion-dollar development effort was “stuck in the mud”, according to Hmel. Implementing the software was far more complicated than Hmel had expected. Java was more than a programming language: It was a technology that would have a profound impact on FedEx Ground’s IT infrastructure, requiring a shift from two-tiered client/server computing environments to multi-tiered Web-based computing environments. It also demanded a new approach to application development. What’s more, FedEx Ground’s IT department wound up having to buy more products to support the development of the TMS. Consequently, the relationship between Sun and FedEx Ground grew strained, which didn’t make resolving the problems any easier.

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FedEx Jet flying with anti-missile system

Posted by | Jan 18, 2007 | |

An anti-missile system is being tested aboard a FedEx MD-10 during its regular cargo flights, Northrop Grumman said this week. The airplane launched on Tuesday from Los Angeles International Airport with the Guardian system installed, starting the operational test and evaluation portion of the program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The tests will continue through March 2008. The Guardian system uses proven military technology to defend against shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, Northrop Grumman said. The system detects an approaching missile and directs a non-visible, eye-safe laser toward it to disrupt its guidance signals.

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USPS International Rates and Standards

Posted by | Jan 17, 2007 | |

Lawrence J. Chaido presentation

USPS statistics

USPS International Rates and Standards

USPS Proposed Rates and Standards

Timeline and Important Dates

Domestic & International Rates and Standards Revised

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