Postal Hub podcast

Austin Reynolds, Manager Market Intelligence at the International Post Corporation (IPC), discusses some of the key findings of the IPC 2021 Global Postal Industry Report, including: - Geographic spread of the postal operators surveyed for the report - Posts' performance during the pandemic - Growth in industry revenue, driven by parcel revenue growth despite shrinking letter revenue - Impact on letter volumes - and what has accelerated the decline in mail volume - Volume trends in different letter segments, such as advertising mail, and international mail - Operational changes in response to falling letter volumes - Postal operators diversifying their businesses, including via acquisitions - Evolution of parcel volumes during the pandemic - Postal operators increasing parcel processing capacity - Increasing competition, local, regional, and global (including e-commerce retailers moving into the last mile) - Financial performance, and factors influencing financial results - and common factors across the best-performing posts

Angela Hultberg discusses the recent COP26 event and what it means for the delivery and transport sectors:

• Angela's work as road transport lead for the Climate Champions in the lead-up to COP26 during 2021
• Announcements from COP26:
  • Signing of the Zero Emission Vehicle Declaration
  • Global MoU for Heavy Vehicles
• Signatories to the declarations, including vehicle manufacturers
• Making decarbonisation a global conversation
• Deadlines for phasing out the internal combustion engine
• Alternatives to the internal combustion engine - is it all about electrification?
• The gap between leaders and laggards in decarbonising delivery
• Growing public interest in sustainability in delivery
• Reducing emissions while parcel volumes are growing
• E-commerce's emphasis on speed and what that means for decarbonising transport - could slower delivery be cheaper and reduce emissions?
• Free returns, the fashion industry, and the planet
• At checkout displaying emissions associated with delivery options
• The special environmental challenge for the postal sector

Anna Möller Boivie, Managing Director (Stockholm) at Copenhagen Economics, discusses proposals to change the EU Postal Service Directive:

• Who and what are covered by the Postal Services Directive
• Parcels are part of the USO (universal service obligation) in some markets
• Competition in the parcels sector - including domestic and cross-border
• Should parcels be regulated?
• Why the EC has a special interest in cross-border delivery in the European Union
• Publishing wholesale parcel pricing
• Regulation covering all carriers (of a certain size) - not just postal operators
• Amazon getting caught in the definition of a postal operator - and therefore being subject to regulation
• Standardising regulation and postal market definitions - including widening definition to include other operators such as Amazon
• Bottlenecks and market failures
• Next steps for the Postal Services Directive
• Environmental issues and the Postal Services Directive
• Letter delivery frequency and speed

Kate Muth, Executive Director at IMAG (International Mailers Advisory Group), gives us an update on advance electronic data and cross-border delivery:

• What led to an increased focus on EAD:
  • UPU
  • STOP Act
• Push for 100% provision of AED
• What happens to US-bound shipments with inaccurate, missing or incomplete AED
• Informed compliance and the "grace period"
• Outbound shipments from USA, and focus on the US Postal Service collecting 100% EAD
• Latency in USPS internal systems and what impact that has on outbound international shipments
• Early drivers of EAD / AED exchange
  • VAT
  • Customs being overwhelmed by low-value parcels
  • Counterfeits
• Compliance for private carriers compared to postal operators
• Are customs authorities using all the advance electronic data? Is the data collection being effective in reducing opioids and counterfeits in the mail?
• Confusion between different rules on data required, eg HS2 codes
• Customers having to pay more to receive their parcels
• Movement to reduce de minimis
• Rejection of US-bound shipments in the most customer-centric way
• Waivers granted to some countries and the plan to not grant waivers in the future
• Major topics for cross-border in 2022, including air lift capacity, and proceedings at the UPU

In this special episode, four experts from the delivery world join me to talk about the trends that are bubbling beneath the surface… for now!

Mike Richmond, Chief Commercial Officer at Doddle, discusses:

• Pressure points on e-commerce delivery:
  • Supply chain problems and growing costs
  • Increased rates of e-commerce returns
• Last mile capacity management
• Increasing value of including PUDO in delivery networks
• E-commerce returns
  • The need to better understand customers
  • Driving savings via digital returns
• Lack of delivery options at checkout
• Delivery companies undervaluing their importance to customer conversion at checkout
• Nudge theory - check episode 171 of the Postal Hub Podcast for more

Wayne Haubner, CTO at Escher, covers:

• What digital transformation means for the postal and parcel sector:
  • Automation, data, and the customer experience
  • Going from "delivery point" mentality to "customer" mentality
• Moving from customer information being stored in employee's minds to a digital system
• New postal services
• Using automation to reduce costs

David Spottiswood, co-founder at Hurricane Commerce, joins me to cover:

• Legislative changes in 2021 affecting cross-border delivery
• Automating cross-border data exchange
• Impact on low value cross-border parcel volumes
• Are e-commerce retailers collecting and using the right data for cross-border purchases? Are customs authorities doing the right thing?
• Reducing needless returns
• HS code database update

Bertrand Späth, co-founder at Kizy Tracking, discusses:

• Predictability of delivery
• Last mile capacity management
• The delivery of everything!
• Delivery of pharmaceuticals

Marek Różycki, Managing Partner Last Mile Experts, and Dean Maciuba, Last Mile Experts North America, join me to discuss the major trends in the last mile in 2021. In part two of this two-part discussion, we cover:

• Automating the last mile - can autonomous vehicles get from the street to the customer's front door?
• Semi-autonomous delivery
• Parcel lockers:
  • Lockers as part of an overall delivery network, including PUDOs and residential delivery
  • Parcel locker adoption in the USA vs Europe
  • Is porch piracy really an issue?
  • UPS and FedEx opening access points (PUDOs) instead of parcel lockers
  • How lockers increase productivity for delivery drivers
  • Carrier-neutral parcel lockers
• Why "green-washing" does the delivery sector a great disservice
• Is Amazon the biggest delivery company on Earth?

Marek Różycki, Managing Partner Last Mile Experts, and Dean Maciuba, Last Mile Experts North America, join me to discuss the major trends in the last mile in 2021:

• Micro-fulfilment centres - powering next-day and same-day delivery
• Who pays for on-demand delivery?
• Why Amazon wants to own the customer - and how the last mile forms a crucial part of its plans
• Point-to-point delivery and its impact on traffic congestion
• Role of out-of-home delivery in creating last mile capacity - including same-day delivery
• City logistics - will it succeed?
• Ultra-fast or super-fast (sub-20 minute) delivery, with fulfilment via a local dark store
  • Will these start-ups survive when the VC cash runs out?
  • Consolidation in the sector
• Grocery delivery - residential delivery, smart locks, BOPIS / click-and-collect, refrigerated parcel lockers
• The importance of software in solving last mile delivery issues and improving the customer experience - and powering first-time delivery

Sass J-Baleh, Head of Industrial and Logistics Research at CBRE, joins me to talk about the logistics and warehouse real estate market:

• Similarities between the Australian logistics real estate market and global logistics real estate
• Factors driving growth in logistics and warehouse real estate
• The Australian logistics property sector:
  • Development and investment activity
  • Occupier demand and rental growth
• Current and forecast vacancy rates
• Sectors driving growth in demand for logistics space:
  • Online grocery - omnichannel driving demand
  • Transport, postal and warehousing
  • Amazon driving demand
• Location and size of logistics sites
  • Inventory and demand planning
  • The need for speed
  • Options for last mile logistics sites - outside traditional logistics precincts, and even in shopping centres
• Other factors squeezing the logistics and distribution real estate market - including the food and beverages sector, and population growth
• Can real estate supply meet long-term demand?
• Forecast for the logistics property sector, including:
  • Re-shoring of manufacturing
  • Reassessment of optimum inventory levels
  • Transport costs and last mile efficiency
• E-commerce returns and reverse logistics - impact on future demand for floorspace

Anne Pardoe, Policy Manager for Post and Telecoms at Citizens Advice, joins me to discuss Citizens Advice's recently published Parcel League Table:

• Overview of Citizens Advice's role as a consumer advocate in the UK delivery sector
• Regulation of parcel delivery in the UK
• Growth in number of customers' delivery complaints
• Main categories of consumer delivery complaints
• Issues for disabled customers when it comes to residential delivery
• Examples of delivery complaints from customers
• Evaluating customer service - including various data sources, including social media
• Giving customers control and visibility of their parcel deliveries
• Making it easier for customers to resolve delivery complaints
• Delivery drivers' experiences, and how that impacts on delivery quality
• Tools to fix delivery issues and driver problems
• Top 3 things delivery companies can do to improve their rating on the Citizens Advice league table
• Out-of-home delivery in rural and remote areas - including Post Office Limited's new deals with DPD and Amazon

Click here for more on the Citizens Advice Parcel League Table.

Sharick Mirza, CEO at Assurety Consulting, and Rex Bull, CMO at Assurety Consulting, join me to talk about the cost and benefits of implementing a data analytics strategy for postal, delivery, and e-commerce operators:

• Integrate different data sets, e.g. operations, transportation, delivery and sales, to create a single view of the customer and products (2:30)
• Business transformation and workflow automation (4:30)
• Integrating silos as part of business transformation (5:35)
• The dangers of buying off-the-shelf technology without understanding if it is right for the business (7:30)
• Difference between reports and analytics (8:00)
• Machine learning, AI, and developing a business integration roadmap
• Is AI just a buzzword? (10:45)
• The questions CEOs and senior managers need to ask of IT leaders and potential suppliers (11:30)
• Using data to predict parcel deliverability (13:30)
• Make small improvements that translate into big savings (14:50)
• Having a three-dimensional view of the business via data (16:40)
• Case study, with insights into delivery, supply chain, sales, data warehousing, advanced analytics and the scale of the investment (17:20)
• Breaking down silos in large enterprises (22:00)
• The emergency room concept in breaking down silos and creating teams (22:50)
• The costs and benefits of digital transformation through a data analytics strategy (23:55)