Tag: USA

New complex to streamline mail processing in Oklahoma City

Posted by | Jun 14, 2008 | |

The U.S. Postal Service is streamlining its mail processing operations in Oklahoma City.
A new facility that opens Monday will merge three mail processing locations with administrative offices for the marketing, training and human resources departments, medical unit, labor relations and consumer affairs offices.
The complex west of downtown includes more than 830,000 square feet and 100 docks. It replaces the processing and distribution center located near Union Station south of downtown Oklahoma City. That facility had 58 docks.
Postal service spokesman Larry Flener says the switch should result in more efficient service for customers.

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CEP carriers hike surcharges as fuel costs soar

Posted by | Jun 13, 2008 | |

Leading international express and parcel carriers are increasing their air and road fuel surcharges dramatically to the 20pct – 30pct range as soaring oil prices drive up operating costs and provoke transport industry protests across Europe and around the world.
Global integrators DHL, FedEx, UPS and TNT, European road-based parcel carrier GLS, and other express and parcel carriers around the world have all raised surcharges significantly this month to try to pass on higher fuel costs to their customers. The highest surcharges are generally in the USA, followed by Asia and then Europe.
The hikes come amid dramatic protests in Europe and other world regions by trucking companies angry about the impact of higher fuel prices. This week has seen strikes, blockades and other protests by tens of thousands of hauliers in Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and other European countries. Two drivers were even killed in separate incidents in Spain and Portugal. In Asia, there have been demonstrations by truckers in South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, India and other countries.
In the express and parcels industry, which is doubly impacted by higher operating costs for jet fuel and truck diesel, leading players have been gradually raising their surcharges over the last few months in line with various published jet fuel price indices. These surcharges have jumped significantly in June due to the surge in oil prices.

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Esker Launches Online Resource to Inspire Paperless Business Practices

Posted by | Jun 13, 2008 | |

GreenerDocs.com calculates organizations’ paper consumption and provides ways to reduce the paper trail with document automation
Esker announced that it launched GreenerDocs.com, an online web portal providing valuable statistics about paper consumption and tips for how to reduce that amount of paper used, and misused, for business communications. The site targets organizations seeking ways to adopt socially responsible, green-focused initiatives.
GreenerDocs.com features an interactive Green ROI Calculator, designed to help businesses determine exactly how much paper their employees are consuming through order and invoice processing. The user enters information about the number of sales orders and invoices processed daily, the length of each document, and their daily volume of paper business correspondences. With that information, the calculator measures the number of trees, gallons of water, watts of electricity and pounds of CO2 saved by implementing more environmentally friendly document processes. With that information in hand, users can look to GreenerDocs.com to get a clear understanding of how their paper waste negatively impacts the environment.
The site builds upon Esker’s Quit Paper campaign, a campaign aimed at challenging today’s enterprises to reduce the unnecessary use of paper. Esker’s mission is to demonstrate that by quitting the paper addiction, companies will not only help the environment, but also lower operational costs, experience higher efficiency within order-to-cash and procure-to-pay cycles, and develop stronger relationships with customers and suppliers.

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ATA Airlines sues FedEx over military charter deal

Posted by | Jun 12, 2008 | |

ATA Airlines is suing FedEx Corp. over its decision to end a military charter business, a move the airline says forced it to seek bankruptcy protection and left it financially destroyed.

ATA accused FedEx of breaking a written agreement when it told the airline
in January it would no longer receive military passenger service for the
government fiscal year ending in 2009, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.

FedEx notified ATA of the cancellation in a letter that came “out of the
blue,” said Kenneth Broughton, a Houston-based attorney representing ATA. He said ATA was counting on the military charters to be a “significant
profit center.”

The charter flights of military personnel and their families generated more
than USD 400 million in annual revenue and were expected to remain a “cornerstone” of the airline’s future business, the lawsuit states.

ATA filed for bankruptcy April 2 and abruptly ceased operations the next
Day. FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said her company had no contractual
obligation to ATA beyond the current fiscal year, which ends in September.

The military contracts commercial airlines for charter flights organized
through two teams of companies. ATA had flown military charter flights as a member of the FedEx team for more than 20 years. In late 2006, it spent more than USD 50 million to buy seven DC-10 planes from Northwest Airlines.

Broughton said the airline bought the planes and then spent additional money on hiring and training, because the military prefers wide-body aircraft. He said ATA did this after receiving a written commitment from FedEx that it would continue to receive military charter business through the fiscal year ending in 2009.

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US Retail E-Commerce: Slower But Still Steady Growth

Posted by | Jun 12, 2008 | |

Although consumers are reacting to the economic downturn by spending less, this will create more of a hardship for retail stores than for e-tailers. A drop in new online buyers—an inevitable sign of the maturation of the online retail channel—will contribute most to the decline of e-commerce sales growth.

The US Retail E-Commerce report charts and analyzes the factors that are contributing to the changing dynamics in online sales.
Consumers are reacting to the economic slowdown by cutting back on discretionary spending. However, store sales will be hit harder than Internet sales because affluent shoppers, who form the core of online buyers, tend to ride out economic downturns better than lower- and middle-income consumers.
Some consumers even plan to increase online spending to save gas money or find bargains.
eMarketer estimates that US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will reach USD 146 billion in 2008, up 14.3% over 2007. Still, over the next few years sales growth rates will steadily decline.

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