January 7 2014

This holiday season showed how popular e-commerce has become and delivery is a huge part of that. With the struggles that companies like UPS and FedEx experienced and the outrage that users expressed when "guaranteed delivery by" dates were missed, proper delivery is now front and center.

This is forcing retailers to reexamine their operations and ensure they have a proper logistics and shipping strategy in place. According to a recent article from Post and Parcel, this has lead to an increased use of third party logistics and shipping companies. In the retail industry, companies take pride in customer service and need the delivery process to act as an extension of that.

"Keeping track of large numbers of deliveries direct to consumers – and, in particular, being able to identify and resolve difficulties or 'exceptions' which may arise in transit – is critical but is not always easy to achieve, especially for businesses which, by their very nature, are more specialized in selling not shipping," the article reads.

The article adds that the real challenge for organizations of all sizes is trying to offer this kind of capability without having cost get out of control and causing other aspects of the business to suffer. Parcel management is far more complicated than one would think, and the knowledge provided by an independent solution provider can be indispensable.

In many cases, the alternative third party logistics services that are mentioned in the article can prove to be the best course of action as they can create a platform specifically for your business needs.

January 1 2014

One of the biggest stories in the shipping and logistics industry over the last week has been the failure of giants like UPS and FedEx to meet all of their "guaranteed by" last minute Christmas deliveries. The issue was the result of higher than anticipated volume and the systems in place becoming overwhelmed. In the day's since the holiday passed, all deliveries have been made, but that does little for the families that were without gifts under the tree.

However, there were other organizations shipping during this time, under the same conditions, that were able to handle the volume. Most noticeably this applies to the United States Postal Service. But the question now becomes how were they able to do it?

A recent article from Bloomberg Businessweek spoke with a spokesperson from the organization to find out how it was able to have a "stellar" performance where other companies came up well short.

According to USPS spokeswoman Sue Brennan, the success was born out of "meticulous planning" and constant evaluation of the processes in place. When the initial holiday traffic projects proved to be too low following Black Friday, the organization adjusted its plan, added more staff to the busiest markets and ran three consecutive Sunday deliveries. It finished by delivering over 75,000 packages on Christmas Day.

This shows how a properly planned service can overcome many obstacles, no matter how last minute. By partnering with an experienced third party logistics provider, any company can rest easy knowing its shipping processes are handled in such a way.

December 27 2013

For most people, the holiday season ends with Christmas gifts being exchanged on December 25. This is the deadline that many consumers have set in their minds, and disappointment is felt when there is nothing under the tree on Christmas morning. Unfortunately for some last minute shoppers that ordered online, that's exactly what happened, as shipping problems led to a major delay in deliveries.

According to multiple news sources, some customers who shipped last minute using delivery giants UPS or FedEx did not have their packages delivered on time, even though they ordered before the "guaranteed by" date had passed. Many users took to social media to express their outrage while the company issued apologies.

"We're sorry that there could be delays and we're contacting affected customers who have shipments available for pickup," Scott Fiedler, a spokesman for FedEx, told the Associated Press. "We give our apologies to customers."

The reason for the problem was two fold. First was the severe weather that affected many parts of the country over the week leading up to Christmas, causing a backlog. The other was a higher-than-expected volume of deliveries that exceeded the capacity in their network. This led to more packages ready for shipment and not enough drivers or trucks to get them all to their destination, even working 14 to 16 hour days.

Why were companies so unprepared?

A recent article for the Daily Beast examined the shipping disaster that has been this holiday season. According to Daniel Gross, the author of the piece, this should have been one of the best shopping seasons in years. The economy has been growing and sales numbers were higher than expected across the board.

Last year, we were on the verge of falling off the fiscal cliff. This year, Black Friday weekend set records for the number of items shipped.

Gross went on to say that there is a simple reason as to why online shopping has increased higher than organizations were prepared for. Ecommerce is more convenient. Black Friday has become more of a spectacle and potential frenzy of watching people instead of actually shopping for deals. This has helped remove the mysticism of going to the store for holiday shopping, and caused more people to use online options. On top of that, past success may have doomed delivery services.

"Today's tech giants have great faith in their ability to construct and manage complex systems," Gross wrote. "But the tremendous success they've had in constructing highly efficient logistics and delivery methods may have led to hubristic promises."

He went on to say that while many customers take advantage of last minute "guarantees," there is still an inherent danger to waiting so long to place orders. This all led to inflated volume that overwhelmed organizations at the worse possible time.

This is where a third party logistics and shipping service can become a valuable resource. Instead of hoping a shipping giant can answer your last minute needs, a smaller reliable service provider can roll out a complete logistics plan that can meet any changing landscape.

December 24 2013

When it comes to delivery services, accuracy and speed are the name of the game. No one is going to work with a company that consistently has late delivery or messes up its shipments. Even businesses that have proven track records can immediately leave a sour taste in their clients mouths with a mistake in delivery.

According to a recent article from the Times Dispatch in Virginia, late mail delivery is becoming a standard practice for the United States Postal Service. Now this isn't late by days, but rather hours as many customers who were interviewed in the piece cited regularly receiving mail delivery after 6 p.m. on a daily business.

The article also interviewed Freda Sauter, a USPS spokeswoman. She said that with more postal carriers retiring and evolving technology over the last decade, deliveries later in the day are becoming a more common practice to keep up with demand.

"It's been difficult to keep pace with the number of employees retiring," Sauter said. "We are hiring letter carriers every week to cover these vacancies. Once an employee is hired, it takes months of training."

Aside from being an inconvenience, late delivery can cause multiple problems for businesses. Carriers trying to deliver a package that requires a signature can find mail offices of buildings closed, leaving no way to deliver it.

By partnering with a reliable delivery service that can guarantee delivery during work hours, any organization can ensure its logistics and shipping process does not become a major problem.