Postal Hub podcast

In the wake of probably the most tumultuous week in the Universal Postal Union's history, UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein is my special guest. In this interview, we discuss:

• Background to the debate over the compensation system
• How discussions progressed over an extended period
• Resistance to attempts at reform
• Tensions between different countries at the negotiating table
• When countries can start "self-declaring" rates
• What would have happened if no compromise had been found
• The role of the UPU in the future and the need for the union to be fit for purpose
• Opening up UPU membership to private carriers
• How the UPU and the postal sector is more than just letters
• Reform that has already occurred within the UPU
• Reforms to the contribution system, pension fund system, the quorum system, and more
• Comparisons with the ITU and its membership
• Could we see Jeff Bezos at the UPU?
• The range of treaties that flow through the UPU relating to cross-border trade

This week is all about the USA. First of all, three announcements from the US Postal Service, then a look at the recent UPU Extraordinary Congress. John Callan, Managing Director of Ursa Major Associates, joins me for some extra commentary:

• USPS's current parcel locker network
• Should the parcel lockers be carrier agnostic or carrier specific?
• A very big contract for delivery vehicles at the USPS
• The USPS and drones!
• (There's a rant from me.)
• The UPU Extraordinary Congress
• What the USA will do next on Terminal Dues
• Media reaction in the USA
• How the USPS had been preparing for a possible UPU exit
• Will other carriers benefit if USPS outbound rates go up?
• Some other perspectives on the recent UPU discussions, including the debate's domestic roots, counterfeiting, tensions between the USA and UN agencies, relations between the USA and China, FedEx, tariffs, the USA's relationship with European nations

Doddle Chief Commercial Officer Mike Richmond joins me to discuss the reinvention of delivery:

• Why customers make the delivery choices they do - a behavioural science approach
• How "nudge" works - and what it could mean for e-commerce and delivery
• The manifesto for reinventing delivery!
• Improving co-ordination - can retailers work together to make sure the customer receives parcels when and where they want?
• How Nike preserves its brand while delivering online orders in a range of different ways
• Technology enabling customer-centric delivery solutions across retailers and delivery companies
• How PUDO footprints are growing, and new formats of PUDO (e.g. buy online… collect at the gym!)
• Harnessing data - analysing data to understand customer behaviour in delivery and returns
• Buy-now-pay-later and how payment impacts on delivery choice and returns
• Will payment businesses get into delivery?
• Rethinking metrics - judging the performance of logistics departments
• Preselected delivery options and the impact on customer choice - and therefore delivery cost!
• Positioning of click-and-collect in-store
• The value of omnichannel customers
• Parcel lockers complementing in-store click-and-collect
• Simplifying in-store returns
• Megatrends in PUDOs around the world - including Amazon Counter
• Carriers adding retailer partnerships to expand PUDO networks

Download A new perspective on delivery from the Doddle website.

Marek Różycki (Last Mile Experts) discusses carrier-specific and carrier-agnostic parcel lockers:

• What this means in terms of parcel volumes in the network
• Cost of setting up the network

Then Mark Fallon, CEO and President of the Berkshire Company, joins me to discuss letter pricing in the age of parcels:

• Australia Post's application to increase the basic postage rate
• The forces driving costs in the letter delivery network
• Pricing for reserved/monopoly products vs parcels
• Limits on US Postal Service letter price increases
• Allegations of cross-subsidy between parcels and letters
• Postal pricing oversight by the Postal Regulatory Commission
• Annual parcel price increases for USPS and its major competitors
• A second rate increase in a calendar year?
• Strategies to cope with falling letter volumes:
  • Reducing delivery days
  • Slowing letter delivery speed
  • Combining letter and parcel delivery
  • Changing the delivery fleet
  • Community mail boxes
• Reliability of the letters service

Marek Różycki (Last Mile Experts) discusses research on the out-of-home delivery market (parcel lockers and PUDOs) in Poland:

• Why the Polish out-of-home delivery market is important to understand
• What's driving the push for delivery to parcel lockers and PUDO points
• Size of the various parcel locker networks in Poland compared to other European markets
• Carrier agnostic or carrier specific? Comparison of the various networks
• PUDO partnerships with retailers
• InPost's operations in Poland and in other markets
• Store-based parcel lockers for click-and-collect purchases
• Returns via parcel lockers

Click here to sign up for the PUDO/parcel locker workshop.

Also in this episode, Derek Osborn joins me to preview our Social Media workshop at Parcel+Post Expo:

• The importance of top class social media engagement for the postal and delivery sectors
• Which platforms to use? How to engage with customers? What about the expectation of instant response?

Sign up for the Social Media workshop here.

Marek Różycki (Last Mile Experts) and I preview our seminar and workshop at Parcel+Post Expo this year, including:

• The advantage of being first PUDO or locker network
• What is holding back the development of some PUDO networks

Dean Maciuba, Director of Consulting Services at Logistics Trends & Insights, joins me to discuss the world of heavy parcel delivery, with a focus on FedEx Freight Direct:

• What is FedEx Freight Direct? What sort of vehicles are being used for delivery of heavy or bulky parcels?
• Size and weight limits compared to FedEx's standard Ground and Express limits
• One person delivery or two person delivery?
• Premium delivery services
• What kind of consumer goods are being shipped?
• Competitors in this market
• What's driving the need for residential delivery of heavy parcels or freight?
• Wayfair's intentions in delivery… including its own logistics network

Marek Różycki joins me to preview our seminar and workshop at Parcel+Post Expo this year, including:

• Unattended delivery (in-car, in-home) vs out-of-home delivery
• Delivery density and the advantage of being first to market
• Customer experience in delivery

Cathy Morrow Roberson, founder and lead analyst at Logistics Trends & Insights, joins me to discuss UPS's recently announced delivery initiatives:

• A quick overview of UPS's Q2 results
• UPS Access Point (PUDO) network - new partnerships
• Partnering with pharmacy chains - UPS and FedEx
• Delivering to PUDO points instead of making residential delivery attempts
• Seven-day pick-up and delivery
  • Working with the USPS - just for rural addresses?
  • Using UPS's own fleet
  • Pricing, employees, and contracted delivery
• Evening deliveries
• Scheduled (time window) deliveries
• Drone delivery
  • Medical deliveries
  • Swiss Post and Matternet
  • Why Cathy loves drones
• UPS's air operations
  • E-commerce volumes
  • Revenue per package
  • Is Amazon putting more volume into UPS's network?
• Is Amazon a competitor? What makes it a threat?

Marek Różycki joins me to preview our seminar and workshop at Parcel+Post Expo this year, including:

• Defining the parcel locker
• Technology and lockers

Paul Donohoe, Manager Digital Economy & Trade Programme at the UPU, joins me to discuss the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA):

• What the TFA means for cross-border e-commerce
• What it means for postal operators
• How cross-border trade has been "parcelised" and what that means for border clearance
• What the UPU is doing to regarding the TFA
• Harmonisation and cost reduction in the postal channel
• Standardised forms (e.g. for customs)
• Electronic exchange of information (including CDS platform)
• EAD and the STOP Act
• The post as a trade enabling network
• The UPU's study

Pieter Kunz, senior advisor at Escher and an experienced international postal executive, joins me to continue our discussion on the changing world of delivery:

• Striving to reduce costs while maintaining quality of service
• Speed and frequency of letter delivery
• Flexible delivery models
• Volume declines, automation, and head count
• Limitations on work hours, and part time work
• Combining letters with parcels for delivery
• Cases where it's impossible or not necessary to combine letter and parcel delivery
• Delivery vehicles
• Increasing productivity in a large workforce
• Redeploying staff internally and outside the company - and union engagement
• Technology and productivity
• AI and machine learning
• Changing delivery speed
• Introducing new services while trying to reduce costs
• What do customers really want from a letter delivery service - certainty or price?
• Why the USO isn't a barrier to developing new delivery solutions

Marek Różycki, Managing Partner at Last Mile Experts, joins me to discuss in-store parcel lockers and in-fridge grocery delivery:

• Click-and-collect and parcel lockers
• Location of lockers in-store or near-store
• Types of articles that can be collected
• The customer experience and putting the customer in control
• Returns via parcel lockers
• Additional purchases made by customers who click-and-collect in-store
• Walmart in-fridge grocery delivery
• Security provisions for in-house delivery, including body cams
• Building trust between a delivery company and customers
• In-garage delivery
• What has more potential: in-fridge delivery or drone delivery?
• Customer response to innovation and technology
• Insurance and unattended in-home delivery
• Marek's prediction for drone delivery