Tag: USA

DHL signs new agreement with Borderlinx to improve global ecommerce (U.S)

Posted by | Apr 21, 2008 | |

DHL announced a new five-year agreement with Borderlinx, a U.K.-based provider of cross-border e-commerce solutions. The new agreement between DHL and Borderlinx gives shoppers outside the U.S. the ability to order products from any U.S. Internet retailer. The Borderlinx solution also provides simple access to a global marketplace for US internet retailers who have previously only offered delivery within the U.S. marketplace.

U.S. Internet retailers can integrate directly with Borderlinx to make their products immediately available to the international marketplace. Borderlinx provides internet merchants with payment solutions, order fulfillment and DHL delivery services for product delivery to any of the 225 countries and territories served by DHL.

All purchases are sent to and stored at DHL’s primary air and ground hub in Ohio until the customer requests delivery. One consolidated delivery of purchases saves consumers significantly on import fees, duties and transportation charges.

DHL Solutions will provide full-service warehousing and fulfillment services including product storage, picking, packaging and consolidation of customer products for Borderlinx at the DHL hub in Wilmington, Ohio. Hosting operations on-site at the DHL hub in Wilmington, Ohio allows for direct access to international flights and late cutoff times. DHL’s logistics solutions will scale to adjust to retail cycles throughout the year.

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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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Omega United Acquires SkyPostal, Inc.

Posted by | Apr 18, 2008 | |

Omega United, Inc. has acquired SkyPostal, Inc., in a move to change its corporate strategy and direction. Omega will cease its previous business activities and file to change its name to SkyPostal Networks, Inc.

“Going public through this merger is the next step in our evolution, as SkyPostal strives to become the dominant mail distribution company in Latin America, the Caribbean and Mexico (‘LAC’),” stated Albert P. Hernandez, SkyPostal’s President and CEO. Mr. Hernandez went on to say, “We are now in a position to implement an aggressive growth strategy that features internal growth as well as growth through the acquisition of key postal delivery companies within the region. The highly fragmented postal delivery industry in the LAC region is ripe for consolidation and offers economies of scale related to cost reduction and the elimination of redundant services. The market is ideal for the application of current technologies, standardization of operating systems and the region-wide development of the SkyPostal brand.”

SkyPostal is one of the largest facilitators of mail delivery from Europe and the US into LAC, for major European postal administrations and the leading mail consolidators, delivering more than 150 tons of mail per month into the region. The Company has exclusive agreements in place with over 20 major private postal services in 20 different countries throughout the LAC region for the delivery of commercial mail, periodicals and parcel post.

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FedEx US opens new cargo center at Tallahassee Regional Airport

Posted by | Apr 17, 2008 | |

Federal Express is operating from its new cargo facility at Tallahassee Regional Airport, the city of Tallahassee announced Wednesday. The expanded facility is on the eastern side of the airport complex, making it more convenient to the airport’s other cargo operations.
The construction project is part of the airport’s expanded USD 12 million cargo complex. TAC Tallahassee, a division of Titan Development Corp. of Rochester, Minn., built the 22,000-square-foot facility for FedEx for about USD 3 million, according to the city.
FedEx has been an airport tenant for more than 25 years and has a staff of more than 50 employees. The new FedEx building has an expanded package sorting area, new spaces for flight crews and ground employees, a vehicle and equipment maintenance area and customer service counter. In addition to the FedEx facility, the air cargo complex has a new aircraft-parking apron east of the Ivan Munroe Terminal, new cargo road with enhancements to Capital Circle Southwest and incorporates the existing Airline Cargo Building.

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