DHL Worldwide Express today announced the resumption of construction on its new U.S. hub project. DHL has operated out of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport since 1983 and selected the site for its expanded facility due for completion June 30, 2003. The hub serves as the U.S. region’s overnight package sorting operation for domestic and international DHL shipments.
Read MoreUnited Parcel Service is discontinuing OnLine Courier, the electronic delivery service that had enabled customers to send critical, time-sensitive documents via the Internet.
In an announcement on its Web site, the package delivery company said that effective September 1, customers will no longer be able to send e-packages or access information to track previously sent packages.
The U.S. Postal Service discontinued a similar service earlier this year, according to a spokesperson.
Packages sent through the US Postal Service (USPS) for years have been handled by the Norwegian postal service (Posten Norge). Not any more. As of January 1, the USPS contracted with a private company, General Parcel, to handle its parcel post to Europe.
A few packages are still coming through the local post, but more and more will now be handled through General Parcel and its local agent in Norway, Nor-Cargo Pakke-Trans.
That means recipients in Oslo, for example, have begun getting delivery notices that potentially involve a trip to Nor-Cargo Pakke-Trans’ terminal in Groruddalen. Not exactly as convenient as a trip to your local post office to pick up that birthday present from an auntie in America.
Postal officials said Friday they hope sometime rival and current business partner FedEx Corp. will put its lobbying muscle behind a reform plan that would give the Postal Service more flexibility to change prices while retaining its monopoly over first-class mail.
Postmaster General Jack Potter also said they plan to close as many as 500 small post offices and some of their 400 distribution centers. But he promised no stamp hike in 2003 if, as expected, the Postal Board of Governors approves an increase from 34 to 37 cents starting this summer.
The idea of the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service stopping mail delivery on Saturdays is being recycled. Reaction from a random sample of businesspeople ranged from “It’ll never happen” to “It wouldn’t affect us much.”
Bob Brinkman, spokesman for the Newspaper Association of America, said he didn’t expect the delivery schedule to change.
“There isn’t a chance in a thousand that they could stop Saturday delivery,” Brinkman said. “That’s because they have so much volume in the system that if they didn’t clean out their facilities six days a week, their facilities would grind to a halt, and there would be massive gridlock.
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