USPS

Operating revenue, at $71.1 billion, rose $514 million annually, and was paced by price increased and ongoing strength in its Shipping and Packages business. But it saw a loss of $3.4 billion, or $1.5 billion more than fiscal year 2018, and its net loss for the year, at $8.8 billion, was $4.9 billion steeper on an annual basis. USPS said $3.4 billion of this net loss is due to the impact of discount rate changes in its workers’ compensation expense.

Depending on your home base, this time of the year is ideal for the fall foliage especially here in the Northeast. For many people, seeing the changing of the leaves’ colors could be viewed as a top priority, or focus. But for those in the logistics world, the focus, at this time of year, is, and continues to be, a focus on peak season planning. That was made clear in a media briefing hosted this week by DHL eCommerce Solutions,...

With the United States potentially exiting the Universal Postal Union (UPU), that raises the possibility of higher rates for global shippers. While that situation remains fluid until the more than 190 UPU nation members meet later this month, Stamps.com, a provider of postage online and shipping software, is getting out in front of the situation through the recent introduction of its new GlobalPost international shipping services.

Later this month, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, and all eyes will be on whether or not the United States will remain part of the UPU, with the eventual outcome having the potential to impact global parcel rates heading into Peak Season.

Revenue, at $17.1 billion, while down $16 million, was essentially flat, according to USPS officials, and the organization had a net loss of almost $2.3 billion, which was up $767 million annually. USPS said that this tops net loss of nearly $1.5 billion a year ago, with controllable loss for the quarter almost $1.1 billion, compared to a controllable loss of $889 million for the same quarter last year.

Effective June 23, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will formally make a change in how it implements its dimensional weight rules. This will be done through lowering the dimensional divisor to 166 from its current level of 194, which is in line with the 139 dimensional divisor used by the parcel duopoly of UPS and FedEx.

Memphis-based global transportation and logistics bellwether FedEx said today its FedEx Ground subsidiary will kick off residential delivery seven days a week for most of the United States, effective January 2020 in an effort to “further serve the fast-growing e-commerce market.”

Reports from earlier this week noted that the United States Supreme Court indicated it would not take up an appeal from UPS in which UPS wanted the Court to mandate that the United States Postal Service (USPS) to increase package deliver fees and charges.

Revenue, at $17.5 billion, down $8 million annually and essentially flat. Quarterly operating expenses, at $19.6 billion, headed up $751 million, or 4%, annually, and the USPS incurred a net loss of almost $2.1 billion, which represented a $747 million annual uptick, steeper than a $1.3 billion net loss a year ago, while the controllable quarterly loss, at $806 million, was ahead of last year’s $656 million.

Stamps.com says it is ending an exclusive relationship with the US Postal Service, claiming that Amazon is disrupting the shipping business, and it needs to do shipping deals with postal service competitors going into the future.

With Amazon handling up to 26% of its own shipping, FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service are losing a significant portion of Amazon's logistics and delivery business.

Familiar themes, for both volumes and earnings, remained intact for the United States Postal Service (USPS), based on fiscal first quarter results released today.

For the first three weeks of the holiday shipping season, ShipMatrix data shows that the on-time delivery performance of FedEx, UPS, and USPS is strong, coming in at 95.1%, 97.6%, and 97.8%, respectively.

The U.S. Department of Treasury this week issued a Task Force report on the USPS, entitled “United States Postal System: A Sustainable Path Forward,” which it said provides a series of recommendations to overhaul the USPS business model in order to return it to sustainability and not shift additional costs to taxpayers.

At this point, it fair to say that the strength of the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Shipping and Package business, especially the parcel component, can be viewed as “the light in the forest” for USPS, amid its constant state of financial issues. These financial issues are well documented, to be sure, and were highlighted this week in the USPS’s fiscal year 2018 results.