Tag: North America

Netflix moves firmly, but cautiously into more web-enabled entertainment

Posted by | Apr 23, 2008 | |

Netflix Inc. is well on its way to transitioning from a DVD rental company into an organization that will deliver subscribers Internet-based entertainment content to a variety of web-enabled devices, CEO Reed Hastings told analysts on the company’s first quarter earnings call.

Netflix, No. 18 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, announced in January a relationship with LG Electronics to develop a new device that consumers can hook up to their high-definition TVs, enabling them to use the Internet to purchase and download movies. Netflix is pursuing deals with four other unidentified consumer electronics companies, which Netflix expects to have signed and in place by the end of the year, Hastings told analysts.

With web-enabled TVs and mobile devices, subscribers can watch movies streamed from Netflix.com just as they can do now on their personal computers, says Netflix. The company has 90,000 DVD titles in its library and more than 6,000 movies and TV episodes that members can purchase and download to their computers.

Despite the deals with additional manufacturers, Netflix is cautious and will not move away too quickly from its current DVD and entertainment content business model. “Nothing about these agreements will be material to our financial results for the foreseeable future,” Hastings told analysts. “We’ll take it year by year and model by model as we and our consumer electronics partners come to understand the opportunity better.”

Netflix reported net income of USD 13.4 million on revenue of USD 326.2 million in the first quarter compared with net income of USD 9.9 million on revenue of USD 305.3 million in the prior year.

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FedEx adds more solar-powered operations to facilities in California

Posted by | Apr 22, 2008 | |

FedEx Corp. announced that its operating company FedEx Freight has completed the installation of a solar-electric system in Whittier, Calif., and is nearing completion on a similar solar-powered facility in Fontana, Calif. Both systems will provide a substantial portion of the facilities’ peak energy needs.

The 282 kilowatt (kW) solar power system in Whittier has the capacity to produce over 414,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity each year, providing almost 40 percent of the facility’s annual energy needs and significantly reducing the service center’s dependence on the electric grid. The Whittier terminal employs about 500 workers and serves the East Los Angeles area.

In 2005, FedEx Express activated a 904 kW system at its Oakland, Calif., hub facility that meets up to 80 percent of that facility’s peak energy demand and produces power equivalent to that used by more than 900 homes during the daytime. At the time, the Oakland project was California’s largest corporate solar-power roof-top installation.

To complete the Whittier system, 1,445 solar panels were installed on 22,000 square feet of the facility’s roof space. BP Solar, part of the global energy major BP, manufactured the panels and served as the project developer.

FedEx and BP work together strategically to identify, develop and implement a range of solutions to increase FedEx’s security of energy supply while improving its environmental performance.

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USPS launches "green" Web site

Posted by | Apr 22, 2008 | |

The US Postal Service has launched a new Web site promoting the agency’s eco-friendly products and services, as well as recommended “green” practices for mailers.
The new Web site can be accessed at www.usps.com/green. The site, which went live on April 14, is divided into five sections: eco-friendly products and services, greening your mail, recycle, innovation and direct and green. The home page also features selected stamps released by the USPS in the past that promote nature and conservation.
The site also includes several links to various resources on the Direct Marketing Association’s Web site, including DMAChoice, its free direct mail opt-out service, and its list of 15 eco-friendly business practices for direct marketers.
The USPS first started talking about launching a green site in October in order to highlight its eco-friendly Cradle to Cradle packaging, said Joyce Carrier, acting manager of advertising for USPS.

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Contractors are antidote to US Postal Service's billion-dollar losses

Posted by | Apr 18, 2008 | |

Last year, the U.S. Postal Service lost USD 5 billion.

The Postal Service used to be able to simply raise stamp prices to deal with financial trouble. The cost of a First Class stamp has risen more than 30 percent in the past ten years.

But thanks to reform legislation passed in 2006 which limits postage increases for monopoly products to the annual rate of inflation, the Postal Service can no longer rely on ordinary stamp-buyers to balance its ledger.

And although USPS revenues are climbing each year, they’re unlikely to climb high enough to get the agency out of the red, given current trends. First Class mail volume is declining, and higher prices will only exacerbate that trend.

To right the ship, the Postal Service must cut spending. Since labor costs account for a full 80 percent of the Postal Service’s expenses, they’re the best place to start.

Private contractors can and should play a role in bringing down these costs. Clearly, Postal Service management has recognized this, as it has made outsourcing and contracting a major component in its strategy to keep costs under control.

The Postal Service mostly uses contractors for new routes. And there’s plenty of work to go around. Each year, 1.8 million delivery points are added to the mail network, mostly in rural areas.

The Postal Service is now looking to contract with the private sector to sort and transport bulk mail and parcels. Currently, a national network of USPS facilities manages these tasks. The prospect of private firms taking on these duties has elicited heated responses from the leaders of postal labor unions, but employing contractors for both sorting and delivery could do wonders to help USPS keep costs under control.

In the last round of union negotiations, management agreed to a temporary moratorium on outsourcing, under the assumption that a more permanent arrangement would be worked out in future negations.

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USPS launches rate increases and incentives

Posted by | Apr 18, 2008 | |

Under a new strategy intended to make it more competitive with other shipping companies, the U.S. Postal Service is rolling out a new rate schedule effective May 12 with a combination of higher rates and incentives for lowering costs.
Taking advantage of a law passed by Congress in 2006 that gives the U.S.P.S. increased flexibility to set prices, the Postal Service will offer zone-based pricing with lower rates for those who ship in volume or help the Postal Service cut costs by dropping off packages at bulk mail centers.
Shipping rates for Priority Mail and Parcel Select, two U.S.P.S. services commonly used by online retailers to ship parcels weighing up to 70 pounds, will rise on average 6 pct and 5.7 pct, respectively. But Priority Mail, used to deliver products typically within two to three days, will offer lower rates to shippers who use services such as the Postal Services’ online Click-and-Ship pick-up scheduling service and PC Postage online postage services from third-party vendors like Endicia and Pitney Bowes, the spokesman says.
For Parcel Select, which allows shippers to bring products to either a local post office or a bulk mail center, customers will be able to get reduced rates based on volume and also for bringing packages directly to a post office, or direct delivery unit, instead of a bulk mail center.
For package returns, the U.S.P.S. is raising the average overall rate by 2.2%. But it will offer discounts for packages returned to a direct delivery unit instead of a bulk mail center, the spokesman says.

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