Entries Posted in Delivery & Collection

  • Can the Postal Service Deliver the Goods?
    on Dec 30th, 2013 in Delivery & Collection | 18 comments

    The 2013 holiday season turned out to be a particularly eventful one for e-tailers and the shippers that deliver all those packages to your door.

    Factors like fewer than average shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and an increasing comfort level with online buying helped push holiday e-commerce up significantly. In fact, demand exceeded expectations and stressed shippers’ capacity, causing some late deliveries of their goods.  

    Package delivery is clearly a growth industry and the Postal Service expects its piece of that business to rise 6 to 7 percent annually through fiscal year 2017. But is the Postal Service ready for all these packages? Can it meet the growing demand, or is it hampered by a delivery infrastructure that is largely geared toward letters and flats? We recently took a look at the issue and the results were mixed.

    Our audit report, Readiness for Package Growth – Delivery Operations, found the Postal Service has done a good job of managing package growth in terms of mail volume and workhours. But it could make some changes to better handle future increases. For example, to-the-door delivery works well but curbside mailboxes were primarily designed for letters, flats, and small parcels, and they can’t easily accommodate multiple or large packages. We suggested the Postal Service look at modifying cluster boxes to accommodate more packages.

    We also encouraged the Postal Service to explore investing in shelving space on delivery vehicles to accommodate packages and to continue to develop an advanced dynamic routing system. Dynamic routing analyzes individual addresses to tell the carrier how to get to them more quickly. The tool takes into consideration things like traffic congestion and left-hand turns, both of which can eat up time and fuel. These and other steps outlined in the report should help the Postal Service expand services and increase revenue to meet growing customer demand.

    So, what was your experience over the holidays? Were you among the many Americans who bought more gifts online than in previous years? Were your delivery services reliable or did any part of the experience discourage you from future online buying? What changes would you like to see in delivery and returns?

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  • No More Day of Rest for Postal Package Delivery

    on Nov 13th, 2013 in Delivery & Collection | 6 comments

    This week the Postal Service announced plans to move into one of the few remaining frontiers of package delivery – Sundays.

    Under a new negotiated service agreement approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, e-tailing giant Amazon.com will use the Postal Service’s Parcel Select service to ship everything from clothing to garden tools on Sundays. The program is running now in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, with a rollout planned in 2014 in Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, and Phoenix, to name a few.

    Sunday delivery isn’t exactly new. The Postal Service delivers 7 days a week using the premium Priority Mail Express product. So, what’s really new is the low cost of the service – making it a solid option for consumers.

    Utilizing the Postal Service’s ubiquitous delivery network Amazon.com is able to keep its costs down and, for example, give its Amazon Prime members who get unlimited, free two-day shipping the flexibility to get packages on Sundays.

    The Postal Service faces stiff competition as it seeks to grow its package business and take advantage of the explosion in e-commerce. But it has seen significant gains in its parcel sector through innovations such as flat rate Priority Mail packaging.

    With this latest move, the Postal Service is looking to strengthen its market position in business-to-consumer shipping and to further distinguish itself from its main competitors – FedEx and UPS.

    What do you think of the Amazon.com partnership? Do you foresee operational, staffing or other problems for the Postal Service as it ramps up for Sunday deliveries? Will this be a net financial win for the Postal Service and its customers? 

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  • Great Expectations of Online Shopping

    on Sep 16th, 2013 in Delivery & Collection | 7 comments

    As online shopping has become the norm for many Americans, it has brought operational changes to both brick-and-mortar retailers and online retailers. Shipping costs are now a major consideration for companies. Retailers are working to control their shipping costs as their ebusiness grows, with the traditional retailers relying on their extensive network of stores to reduce shipping costs. Instead of shipping goods from centralized warehouses to far-flung customers, major retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Gap Inc., deliver from stores close to their customers whenever possible.

    Amazon.com is focused on building more local warehouses and is also investing in its own delivery fleet. Other retailers have made merchandise available to eBay to sell in select cities with its same-day delivery service, eBay Now. Shipping merchandise from locations close to where customers reside allows retailers to save on shipping costs, which are set based on the distances shipments travel.

    Customers are expecting ever higher levels of service. Same-day delivery to a growing number of customers helps retailers provide customers something close to the immediate gratification of an in-store purchase. So far, however, this service has been limited to customers in cities where a decentralized network can serve them.

    While lower shipping costs is good for the retailer and its customers, the shipping giants are likely to feel the pinch. One retailer’s reduction in shipping costs is a courier company’s reduction in revenue. Ultimately though, these e-commerce shipping strategies should improve the online shopping experience and accelerate its growth, which will boost the number of packages sent. That’s a boon for all package delivery companies, including the Postal Service.

    With its reliable delivery network that serves every address in the United States, the Postal Service should be well-positioned for this shift toward fast, local delivery of online purchases. However, some challenges in its network processing capabilities and delivery operations could hinder its ability to capture a larger segment of the package delivery market. What ways could the Postal Service capitalize on these trends? What improvements does it need to make to position itself as the leader in shipping services?

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