UPS Announces 2016 General Rate Increase
October 16, 2015 at 10:09 am

Effective Dec. 28, 2015, UPS Ground rates and accessorial charges will increase by an average net 4.9 percent. UPS Air and International services and accessorials, including UPS Air Freight rates within and between the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, will increase an average net 5.2 percent. UPS Freight rates will increase an average net of…

Oops … They Did it Again! FedEx Increases Fuel Surcharges On All Products
September 23, 2015 at 10:27 am

On the heels of a fuel surcharge adjustment just this past February, FedEx is once again adjusting its fuel surcharge index nine months later. Effective Nov. 2, 2015, fuel surcharges for FedEx Express and FedEx Ground will change resulting in Express/International increases of 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent, and Ground increases of .5 percent to…

FedEx Announces 2016 General Rate Increase and Other Changes
September 17, 2015 at 11:00 am

FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight, subsidiaries of FedEx Corp., will increase shipping rates effective Jan. 4, 2016 as follows: FedEx Express will increase shipping rates by an average of 4.9 percent for U.S. domestic, U.S. export and U.S. import services. FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery will increase shipping rates by an average…

Impact of UPS and FedEx Dimensional Pricing Changes
August 24, 2015 at 11:25 am

In my observation, the vast majority of volume parcel shippers have tried to mitigate the impact of the 2015 dimensional pricing changes through a number of strategies. They include the following: carrier contract negotiations; diverting freight to regional carriers and the U.S. Postal Service that might offer higher DIM divisors and thresholds than the national…

Same-Day, Crowdsourced Delivery Options to Penetrate, Not Disrupt Next-Day Models
May 13, 2015 at 1:25 pm

If “crowdsourcing” companies like Deliv, Uber, Roadie and Lyft offer merchants pricing that's similar to UPS and FedEx, or if retailers subsidize and price same-day shipping costs in line with standard shipping, I anticipate market adoption especially for younger, more affluent consumers living in major metropolitan areas. However, initial announcements are that UberRUSH will charge…

FedEx SmartPost to Raise Rates Again?
March 30, 2015

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.

Are Drone Deliveries the Future of Online Shipping?
October 21, 2014

While the quest for faster shipping is an ongoing struggle for retailers and fulfillment companies, it's unlikely that drones or anticipatory shipping alone will be the key to faster deliveries. Instead, these services will be the gateway into a new shipping model — one that's customer centric, highly personalized and characterized by the following:

3 Ways Retailers Can Avoid Warehouse Scalability Problems
April 2, 2014

Although growing quickly may seem like the ideal scenario, it can cause operational issues for retailers who are ill equipped to scale effectively. A rapid uptick in demand carries several added expenses that tax resources, cash flow and working capital. It requires financing to pay for more inventory, new staff, shipping and packaging costs, and any additional supplies or capital necessary to fulfill orders.