Carriers
USPS ANNOUNCES TEMPORARY PRICE CHANGE
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is planning a temporary price change. This is as a result of an increase in expenses and higher volumes of online shopping due to Covid-19. USPS has filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) with plans for the price change to take effect from October 18, 2020 until 27 December, 2020. The planned changes would impact the USPS’s commercial domestic competitive parcels. These are Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, First-Class Package Service, Parcel Select, and Parcel Return Service. For more information, please see Post and Parcel.
FEDEX ANNOUNCES PEAK SURCHARGES
On Tuesday, FedEx announced its peak shipping season surcharges. The additional charges will apply to customers that shipped over 35,000 packages via FedEx Express and FedEx Ground in any week covering two separate periods: October 5-18 and November 16-29. The first FedEx surcharge will apply between November 2 and December 13. However, this is for volumes shipped during the 14 day October period. The second fee applies between December 14 and January 17. These surcharges will apply for packages shipped during the 14 day period in mid to late November.
FedEx will calculate the surcharges using shippers’ volumes between February 3 and March 1. This period is prior to lockdown restrictions. Therefore, this represents the last period of normal volumes before Covid-19 caused a surge in e-commerce packages. FedEx will apply a $1 surcharge to each ground parcel delivery if a shipper’s total volumes exceed 110 percent of volumes during the February period. Surcharges incrementally increase by $1, up to a maximum of $4, for shippers whose peak volumes exceed 500 percent of February volumes. For more information, please see Freight Waves.
SHIPPERS SHIFT TO REGIONAL CARRIERS
According to logistics experts and Convey data, shippers have started to make more use of regional carriers to meet high demand. Major carriers FedEx, UPS and USPS have capacity crunches due to increased volumes. In the first seven months of 2020, 17 percent of retail volume went to regional carriers compared to 3.8 percent in 2019 and 6.2 percent in 2018. Convey’s data also revealed that regional carriers handled 24 percent of retail volume in July. For more details, please see Supply Chain Dive.
Global Trade
UK INFLATION RISES IN JULY
Last month, inflation in the UK rose unexpectedly to its highest since March. Consumer price inflation increased to 1 percent in July from 0.6 percent in June, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS stated that clothing and footwear prices were the largest contributor to the rise in inflation. Once lockdown restrictions eased, clothing stores did not hold their usual summer sales. In addition, higher prices for petrol, haircuts, dentistry and physiotherapy also contributed to the increase. Most economists anticipate the rise to be temporary. The Bank of England expects inflation to turn briefly negative, falling to -0.3% in August. For more information, please see Reuters.
Retail
MARKS & SPENCER ANNOUNCE 7,000 JOBS CUTS ACROSS UK
Marks & Spencer have announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs over the next three months. The majority of the cuts will affect its 60,000 shop floor staff. However, the retailer will also trim head office roles and resize regional management teams. M&S stated that the job cuts were necessary in response to the coronavirus pandemic and a sharp drop in sales. However, the retailer said that online and home delivery demand remained strong. In recent months, the UK retail sector has shed more than 30,000 jobs. For more details, please see Sky News.
AMAZON EXPANDS LAST MILE FULFILLMENT IN GREATER PHOENIX
Amazon has announced 11 new sites across the Phoenix metro area. These should be operational by the end of this year. The new sites will support customer fulfillment and delivery operation. Furthermore, the new sites will create approximately 3,000 new full- and part-time jobs. The new sites will include seven delivery stations and two facilities that support fulfillment operations. For more information, please see Post and Parcel.
QAD Precision News
3 MINUTE EXPLAINER: WHY YOU SHOULD AUTOMATE TRADE COMPLIANCE
Shipping goods internationally comes with a host of rules. Export compliance cannot be ignored. Violating trade laws and regulations puts a company at the risk of fines.
Depending on where they ship from, and to, companies have a huge number of rules and regulations that they must follow. These include ensuring that no sanctions violations occur, that they are not trading with denied parties or groups, that sensitive technology is not sent to unauthorised persons, that they have the correct licences and permits where necessary, that goods are not restricted, and that all goods are correctly classified — to name just a few considerations.
As a result, trade compliance can be a significant challenge. In this 3 Minute Explainer, we explain why shippers should automate compliance processes.To read the full explainer, please click here.
