On December 31, 2024, the UPS/USPS Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) officially expired, marking the end of a long, mostly silent period of negotiations. Unfortunately, these talks failed to... View More

In the last 20 years, USPS’s position in the market has shifted dramatically. The shift to email communications, electronic bill payment, digital marketing, and other technological innovatio... View More

In the middle of 2022, the US parcel market began shifting in shippers’ favor. While it took a while to make up the ground lost in 2020/2021, savings started to become a possibility, even a li... View More

We’re all busy. The day-to-day noise of the transportation function is never calm and peaceful. This is especially true as we ramp into and through peak and GRI season. But urgent is the enemy of... View More

During the 2022 peak holiday season, FedEx’s on-time delivery fell through the floor. It was a crazy time with nonexistent capacity and overwhelming demands on parcel carriers. Still, FedEx... View More

As e-commerce surged and parcel excess capacity dried up in mid-late 2021 shippers the focus of many shippers shifted. For years, the primary goal, in many cases the only goal, of carrier nego... View More

Technology disruptors are going to have a huge impact on the transportation industry in the coming years. But they may not be the disruptors you’re looking for. In 2020, self-driving trucks... View More

Much has been made of the good and bad changes at FedEx. And rightly so. But it's not like the waters have been calm at the brown giant. Peak Surcharges by Any Other Name . . . Whe... View More

In a developing story, Capitol Forum is reporting that U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is sunsetting the postage reselling program. This program has allowed Pitney Bowes, Stamps.com, and o... View More

To say that the transportation markets are in flux would be a gross understatement. 2020 and the effects of COVID-19 have uncovered gaps in the resiliency of transportation networks across mod... View More

We are living through the most dynamic transportation environment in recent memory. The parcel carriers, in particular, are in a state of flux, with large shifts in service offerings, strategic allian

Well, another peak season is in the books. And while the results aren’t fully quantified yet, there are still some interesting lessons we can draw from the exciting, and often chaotic, experience

The names FedEx and UPS are so ubiquitous in the parcel space that there’s often no room to talk about other options. But other options do exist — potentially valuable options. Regional carr

Ready or not, here’s comes peak. And with peak comes the inevitable concerns about late deliveries and upgraded (and expensive) service levels. Now is the perfect time to examine what lessons... View More

Many shippers we’ve talked to over the last several months have some basic misunderstandings about DIM weighting, and the resulting planning efforts are often leading them down the wrong path. We’ve... View More

Omni-channel is the newest buzzword in the supply chain world. But unlike previous “hot new things,” omni-channel has the potential to deliver on its promise. This article is the first in a... View More

When negotiating a parcel carrier agreement there is an endless number of factors that can be potentially considered and negotiated. To start you will always need to review the discounts on your most commonly... View More

Your operational, administrative, and technical requirements should be driven by, and a reflection of, the identified mission and KPIs of the transportation function. The importance of considering these... View More

If you’re not using technology to select service levels, you may be giving your parcel carriers free money. We regularly see shippers that use Next Day Air, Next Day Air Saver, Priority Overnight... View More

Maybe it’s just a bias I have, but the supply chain and logistics field seems to be a hotbed of innovation at the moment. Every day we see new innovations in process improvement, operational efficiencies,... View More