Federal Express

While FedEx SmartPost hasn't made any public announcements as of this publication, select customers have received written notifications of a price change effective April 27, 2015. Early indications are that FedEx intends to increase SmartPost rates by 8.3 percent.

As the U.S. Postal Service increases efforts to take business away from UPS and FedEx, UPS is asking the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to require USPS to be more forthcoming with information about its competitive products. In a filing on Monday, UPS said there were serious, deeply embedded problems with the manner in which the Postal Service is accounting for the costs of its competitive products business. "These problems prevent the Commission, the public, and indeed likely the Postal Service itself from knowing the true costs associated with this business," the shipping carrier stated in its filing.

On the heels of its General Rate Increase (effective January 5, 2015) and changes to the way FedEx will price all Ground packages based on dimensional weight, the changes reflect yet another major rate increase. FedEx Express and International services will increase as much as

Sorry, last-minute holiday shoppers. United Parcel Service and FedEx started capping air express deliveries in recent days after an 11th-hour increase in packages caused some retailers to exceed agreed-upon limits, according to people briefed on the situation. This year, both UPS and FedEx held some retailers to their volume commitments during the final shopping days before Christmas, aiming to avoid a repeat of last year's fiasco. Last Christmas, an estimated 2 million express packages didn't arrive under the tree in time, according to software tracking developer Shipmatrix Inc.

Online retailers are bracing themselves for increased shipping costs as we move into 2015, with the two major parcel freight carriers — UPS and FedEx — shifting from pricing based on package weight to package size. Cliff Rucker, vice president of sales at the U.S. Postal Service, recently discussed with Retail Online Integration how the…

I still remember when Oldsmobile ran its memorable ad series using the "it's not your father's Oldsmobile," in an attempt to attract younger buyers and change its image. Watching the U.S. Postal Service lately makes me think of that ad because it's also looking to attract the next generation of customers and change its image. Gone are the days when the Postal Service was all about mail and little else. As First Class mail volumes — the Postal Service's high-profit margin bread and butter — continue to decline, the USPS is looking hard at other sources of revenue.

In case you haven't heard — although it's likely you have — next year the major parcel freight carriers (i.e., UPS, FedEx) will be shifting from pricing based on package weight to package size. What does this mean for online retailers? The short answer: it's going to cost you more to ship your packages. Upwards of 20 percent more, according to some industry reports.

Forget UPS and the Postal Service, your next Amazon.com package may arrive in a taxi. The e-commerce giant this fall tested package delivery by licensed cab in San Francisco and Los Angeles using taxi-hailing mobile app Flywheel, according to people familiar with the matter. Amazon is studying the broader use of taxis as delivery vehicles, those people said. Taxis represent Amazon's latest experiment to speed package shipments to compete more directly with brick-and-mortar retailers, and to seek alternatives to UPS, FedEx and USPS after shipping delays last Christmas.

Still scarred from last year's shipping disasters — customers not receiving their orders (i.e., gifts) before Christmas despite being guaranteed they would at the time of purchase — online retailers are taking a more cautious approach to holiday shipments this year. Staples, Macy's, Gap, Pottery Barn, Kohl's and Nordstrom were just some of the brands that broke their Christmas delivery promises last year when carriers UPS and FedEx were overwhelmed with last-minute orders. It seems retailers have learned their lesson and are preparing to avoid a repeat of last year.

The way in which ground shipping charges are derived is about to change in 2015. Are you prepared? Both FedEx and UPS announced plans to apply dimensional weight pricing on all packages. The two companies already use this pricing on many of their other services, but have now opted to expand this practice further. Both companies believe these changes will help to reduce excess packaging materials and overall package sizes in order to better optimize loads, which may ultimately lead to related reductions in fuel use, vehicle emissions and transportation costs.