📦🚚 Ray Owens 📦⛟’s Post

As we navigate through peak season, it's essential to keep a close eye on small parcel demand and surcharges. Many merchants are striving to stay in the black during this challenging time. Optimizing shipping strategies, whether it's through small parcels or LTL and FTL options, can make all the difference in protecting those profit margins. Let's stay proactive and innovative!

Peak season is here, and for retailers like hampers.com who see a majority of their order volume in the golden quarter, ensuring a seamless delivery experience is critical to success. In this short video, Hannah Lia, Operations Director, hampers.com shares why they partner with GFS instead of managing multiple carriers directly. ✅ Saving time and money through simplified carrier management ✅ Enhancing the customer journey from cart to doorstep ✅ Mitigating risk with backup carrier options ✅ Driving agility and flexibility to adapt to changing demands By working with GFS, Hampers delivers on their promise of reliability and excellence — even during the busiest times of year.

Interesting read on parcel carriers statistics ; UPS down 3% in volume for Q1, shipping shifting from air to ground to reduce costs and focus on returns-of-packages to increase margins. Convenience and Flexibility is key more than speed post-pandemic. 📦 "dealing with returns was an annoying afterthought for retailers, today that experience can mean the difference between retaining and growing a customer, or losing it entirely....Unsatisfactory return policies, high fees, and strict return windows just aren’t cutting it anymore,” says Kelly. “These are all significant deterrents that can stop [customers] from doing business with a brand altogether. It’s up to retailers now to rethink their strategies to better align with customer expectations.” "Looking to the remainder of the year...do not expect parcel market volumes to change much in Q2 and even for Q3 and Q4 compared to prior years...the increase is likely to be around 3% due to continued inflationary pressure and more [consumer] spending on services and entertainment, instead of goods and physical products.”

Have you seen higher-than-average rate hikes for small parcel shipments? General rate increases and surprising surcharges may have some shippers scrambling this holiday season. Even in a rising-price environment, there are still options available to consider last-mile costs and find significant savings. Want to start 2025 off on a more successful footing? Download our free Shipper Growth Guide for everything you need to evaluate your parcel shipping performance so you can plan for your most successful year yet 🎉💰: https://bit.ly/3YqmY6J

Thoughts?? Starting January 19, 2025, shipping costs will rise for Priority Mail, Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select—significantly impacting fulfillment and parcel strategies for businesses nationwide. Here’s a quick overview of the changes: 📦 Priority Mail & Express: +3.2% 📦 USPS Ground Advantage: +3.9% 📦 Parcel Select: +9.2%

$33.20 - that's how much it costs to ship a 10 pound package from New Jersey to LA. USPS retail rates, I'm using here. (Our rates are lower.) $16.30 - same package, San Francisco to LA. So that's $33.20 vs. $16.30. Same package, but less distance. Even shipping from Salt Lake is a bit over $19, which is WAY better than $33.20. And Salt Lake is still a long ways from LA. So what's my point here? If you can ship to your customers from closer to them, you get a HUGE price break. This is a big reason why fulfillment companies can sometimes save their clients money.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday bring a surge of online orders, but behind the scenes, many carriers fail to deliver on time and charge unexpected fees. These shipping delays disrupt customers' expectations and retailers' reputations, leaving businesses scrambling to resolve complaints and fees during the most crucial shopping season. To make matters worse, UPS & FedEx have announced 5.9% average General Rate Increase for 2025! Driving more costs and disruptions for those small parcel shippers. Shipware | An SIB Company is hosting this webinar to tell you what you may not know! Our team of parcel PhDs, with a combined 40+ years of carrier-side pricing experience, are going to cover: 📦 How and why the GRI impacts shipping profiles differently 📦 A breakdown of the GRI by zones, weights, and services - the good stuff for you logistics vets 📦 SURCHARGES - they're not even *included* in that "5.9%" increase, so we'll cover common surcharges and what you need to know 📦What to be on the lookout for in 2025, from likely mid-year charges to USPS consolidators and more It's going to be an info-packed 20 minutes + 15 minutes of Q&A. Decoding the 2025 GRIs Wednesday, December 11, 2024 10:00 am - 10:35 am PDT | 1:00 pm EST - 1:35 pm EDT Join us at: https://lnkd.in/gYPgUeu3 #logistics #supplychain #ecommerce

Some new information via Supply Chain Dive related to our post last week on proposed changes to the USPS consolidator contracts for Parcel Select shipping. It seems that the USPS not only intends to increase the cost of injection to Destination Delivery Units, but it plans to eliminate pricing per ounce for shipments weighing less than one pound. Contact us at info@totallogisticsdesigns.com to have us analyze your current distribution strategy and parcel transportation costs. #TLD #ecommerce

It sounds like USPS received approval from the Postal Service Board of Governors for the changes it is proposing to consolidator contracts. As with all pricing changes, larger volume shippers will be less affected than smaller volume ones. If you're a small to medium sized shipper, you'll need to examine the impact on your distribution costs, especially heading into this year's peak.

Shippers ICYMI ..... The U.S. Postal Service on Friday said it is seeking an average 25% price hike for high-volume shippers to enter packages for regional delivery through its Parcel Select service. The price hike, which would take effect on July 14 and must be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, is because USPS no longer intends give incentives for parties to aggregate mail volume from multiple shippers and bring such volume directly to the destination delivery unit. This change would have a direct impact on DHL eCommerce, OSM, Pitney, Surepost and UPS MI. Please let me know if you have any questions about how to mitigate the cost impact this will have on your company. #parcel #shippers #transportationinsight #gobeon