Tag: USA

Global package race puts major carriers to the test

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

How hard is it to deliver a package to Ouagadougou? A group from the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, one of the most respected logistics programs in the world, puts the major carriers (UPS, FedEx and DHL) to the test every year with its Great Package Race, a contest to see which carrier can get a package to a very challenging locale the fastest and in the best condition.
A group of 60 logistics students, led by logistics expert John Bartholdi, a professor in the Stewart School, sends identical boxes bound for places like Lomé, Togo and Split, Croatia. With no indication that there’s a competition underway, each carrier picks up its parcel, and the race begins.

Admittedly, the race is an extreme test of the carriers’ ability to deliver anywhere in the world, Bartholdi said. This year’s packages were sent on April 13 to Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma); Tikrit, Iraq (one of the centers of Sunni insurgency); Floranopolis, Brazil (a small island); Harare, Zimbabwe and Apia, Samoa. Most packages arrived with a week or two, but one has yet to be delivered or returned.

DHL beat the competition this year, delivering first to three of the five locations and second to the remaining two. FedEx managed to deliver to three locations, and UPS delivered parcels to two. The remaining packages from FedEx and UPS went undelivered for a variety of reasons. In past races, the carriers traded wins in different locales.

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FedEx Trade Networks launches redesigned WorldTariff web site

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

FedEx Trade Networks, Inc., is launching its redesigned WorldTariffSM Web site. The Web site, located at www.worldtariff.com, provides complete duty and tax information for 123 countries, updated by an editorial staff with region-specific tariff knowledge and local language skills.
The redesigned WorldTariff Web site includes more online duty and tax content, an improved look and feel, on-demand access, and simplified pricing. In addition to annual subscription offerings, WorldTariff now enters the on-demand trade facilitation content market by providing convenient access to duty and tax information without an annual commitment or minimum purchase requirement.
Customers can now register online and pay with a credit card for only USD7 per online query. A USD7 online query provides customers complete duty and tax information for an entire 4-digit heading pertaining to the destination country of their choice (up to 123 countries), including:
• Every fully qualified Harmonized System (HS) code under a chosen 4-digit heading
• Most Favored Nation (MFN) applied duty rate, Value Added Tax (VAT), excise tax and miscellaneous taxes assessed at import
• Preferences that pertain to fully-qualified HS codes under the chosen heading, from all origin countries in the WorldTariff database, all on the same screen
• Tariff descriptions in English
• No annual commitment or minimum purchase requirement (frequent users may still opt for annual subscriptions)

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Pitney Bowes leaders describe global business opportunities

Posted by | Apr 30, 2007 | |

Dramatic changes in technologies, regulations and customer preferences are reinventing the global mailstream, and the top management of Pitney Bowes Inc. said today this means new growth opportunities for the 87-year-old company.

President and Chief Operating Officer Murray Martin, who becomes Pitney Bowes’ new CEO on May 14, told investors and analysts that the growth strategies that were put in place several years ago are working, and the company remains committed to expansion in the fastest-growing segments of the global mailstream.

“Over a quarter of our total revenue comes from businesses acquired since 2001, and the growth rate for these businesses is roughly double the growth rate for the businesses we were in when we began,” Martin said. “We think that the new businesses could constitute more than 50 percent of our revenue by the end of the decade.”

Martin outlined six strategic priorities for Pitney Bowes: maintain and grow the company’s healthy cash flow; increase value delivered to customers; improve operating efficiency; solidify the performance of the core mailing business; expand internationally; and focus on high-growth areas of the mailstream.

“Postal reform is complex,” Critelli said, “but in the aggregate it will be highly beneficial to Pitney Bowes. It allows the Postal Service to respond flexibly to the rapidly-changing needs of senders and recipients through market-driven dynamic pricing, frequent price adjustments, and lots of product and service innovation. This is an optimal environment for Pitney Bowes.”

Postal liberalization in Europe is proceeding more slowly and on a country-by-country basis, Critelli said. He asserted that Pitney Bowes has “winning strategies” that will serve the company well in “this highly divergent” environment. These strategies include a focus on small- and medium-size business customers, partnering with national posts for cross—border mail delivery, and selling more advanced systems for online postage and self-service postal kiosks.

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Self-service evolves with technology

Posted by | Apr 29, 2007 | |

The 24-year-old Grand Rapids, Mich., resident is all about helping herself, which makes her a big fan of self-serve, touch-screen machines.

“I look for one wherever I go,” Johnson said shortly after using a kiosk to order and pay for postage at a Grand Rapids post office. “I’d rather do it myself — get in and get out.”

Devices that let you help yourself with the touch of a screen are spreading, from movie theaters to airports to government agencies. Folks not only can buy groceries and check into flights, they also can renew license plate tags and send express mail.

More than 600,000 self-serve kiosk machines are in use in North America, and retailers and public agencies add more every day, said David Drain, executive director of the Self-Serve & Kiosk Association.

The Michigan Secretary of State’s machines, which are in their second year at some offices, have racked up more than 75,000 transactions in the past year from folks looking to avoid lines.

The same goes for the post office. Use of machines that give 24-hour access to mail services is up 15 percent from last year, with about 58,000 transactions logged in the Grand Rapids area.

Experts say today’s fast-paced, technology-driven lifestyle will only fuel demand for self-serve options.

“I can’t think of how many times I needed something postmarked by a certain day and waited until the last minute,” said Gina Haisma, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Grand Rapids.

The same goes for license plate tags.

It took Caledonia, Mich., resident Bill Switzer less than a minute to renew the tags for his Chevy Impala at a machine outside the Secretary of State’s office at a shopping mall. The kiosk was a good option because Switzer’s tags were set to expire in a few days and he had waited too long to mail his renewal slip.

Kiosks also reduce lines, which is always an issue at the budget-crunched Secretary of State’s office, Chesney said.

Chesney said her office is in discussions with other state departments to expand service options on the machines. In the future, customers possibly could get car tags, renew a hunting license, register to vote and register a boat all on the same machine.

“We’re looking at having as many options as possible,” Chesney said. “If it can be done (on a machine), we want customers to have that option.”

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Post office fixes aren't without glitches

Posted by | Apr 27, 2007 | |

Huntington Station Postmaster Gregory Gallienne plugged his credit card into the Automated Postal Center and pressed a finger on the machine’s touch screen.

The display froze, and the machine wouldn’t dispense stamps. A clerk had to open the machine and fix it.

“It’s usually very reliable,” Gallienne said, chagrined.

More Long Island postal customers soon could experience similar situations as the U.S. Postal Service moves to replace the human touch with the touch screen.

In both Nassau and Suffolk, window-service hours are being adjusted and in some cases cut back, as the postal service nudges the public toward using the Automated Postal Centers — available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Twenty-four Long Island post offices have adjusted counter service hours for various reasons since summer, and 16 others will be doing so in the next five weeks, said Tom Gaynor, spokesman for the postal service in the New York region.

In Nassau and Suffolk, there are more than 20 APCs. They’re being relied upon to trim long lines and to provide customers with stamps, postage rates, insurance and receipts.

The most recent shift to APCs comes just as postage is set to increase: On May 14, first-class postage goes to 41 cents from 39.

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