Shipping

Private-sector groups are growing increasingly worried that the Postal Service's board is going to consider a broad rate increase next month, a move they say would amount to an attack on some of the agency's best customers. Industries that heavily use the mail — e.g., magazines, catalog marketers and banks — say that a sharp hike in the postage rate would drag down their bottom line.

U.S. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer Nagisa Manabe hosted a web conference call on Wednesday with reporters to discuss recent changes to Priority Mail and

eBay is aware of a problem impacting tracking numbers on packages sent via USPS that's causing consternation among buyers and sellers. Last week sellers began reporting that the tracking numbers the Postal Service issued on its shipments were showing delivery dates from last fall, a glitch in which the USPS or its shipping partners appear to be recycling tracking numbers.

Door-to-door service and Saturday mail delivery, long hallmarks of the U.S. Postal Service, are a step closer to being phased out. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday approved a measure that would end door-to-door delivery to 37 million residences and businesses and Saturday mail service to more than 150 million homes and businesses. Ending door-to-door delivery — which will force millions to get mail at curbside boxes or neighborhood cluster boxes by 2022 — would save up to $4.5 billion annually, said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

While many features and services start on the desktop and then move to mobile, eBay started its same-day delivery service on a mobile app and is now expanding it to the desktop. The eBay Now mobile app lets users in New York City, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., order items from brick-and-mortar chain stores such as Toys"R"Us and Macy's and receive them from an eBay courier to a specified location within the hour. eBay Now charges $5 per delivery (per store) with a $25 minimum order. eBay announced yesterday it was expanding eBay Now to the desktop.

eBay is expanding its same-day delivery service, eBay Now, which can be used to order items from brick-and-mortar retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Toys"R"Us, Macy's, Walgreens, Home Depot, Target, though not listings from its own marketplace. The service is currently available in California and New York.

With speedy shipping becoming a more competitive component of the e-commerce experience, REI created some happy campers in April with the top shipping performance in the STELLA Monthly Benchmarks sporting goods vertical. The retailer not only had the fastest average delivery speed, but scored high marks for package fit as well.

Amazon.com's Quidsi subsidiary is jumping on the Prime bandwagon. The unit, which Amazon bought for about $500 million in 2010 and which operates Diapers.com and Soap.com, is offering its own version of the popular Prime shipping service that will allow users to get two-day shipping on many orders. For now, it's offering the service free to users for 90 days, though it will later introduce a paid annual membership.

The plight of the U.S. Postal Service has been well documented. The federal agency lost nearly $16 billion in its latest fiscal year, and things aren't getting any better this year. In addition to the rejection of legislative changes that the USPS says are critical to its future viability — namely no longer being required to pre-fund retiree health benefits as well as cutting the mail delivery week from six days to five days (Saturday would be the day cut) — the losses keep mounting.

"I'm interested in the idea of free shipping vs. offering lower prices but shipping surcharges at checkout. For industries like mine (online furniture), which require freight shipping, does offering free shipping have the same positive effect on sales as it does for small products using UPS, etc.? Does an online consumer of furniture expect (and willingly pay) shipping surcharges, so long as the product price is low enough? Basically, will I increase conversions by lowering prices and getting rid of free shipping? Thanks!" — Deborah Fester, owner, Painted Furniture Barn