Postal Hub podcast

John Hagel, leader at Deloitte's Centre for the Edge, shares insights into how successful Silicon Valley companies plan for the future:

• The power of the customer
• How technology is helping the customer
• The strategic approach of the most successful technology companies
• The "zoom in, zoom out" strategy
• Creating a vision for the future
• Predicting the future for your business

Also in this episode, US Postal Service Postmaster General Megan Brennan talks about the USPS's recent Q3 results, including trends in letter and parcel volumes.

UPS is hiking its surcharges for handling large, heavy goods. What will this mean for the delivery and e-commerce sectors? Dean Maciuba, Managing Partner North America for Last Mile Experts, joins me to analyse the implications, including:

• UPS's new surcharges
• Why carriers and posts don't want heavy, bulky parcels in the system
• How heavy and bulky parcels are delivered in the USA
• Opportunities in two-person delivery, in particular for XPO Logistics
• Vehicles being used for two-person delivery
• Implications for the logistics network and warehouses
• What Amazon is doing in delivery of heavy goods
• Could postal operators compete effectively in this business?

The Trump Administration recently announced that privatisation is on the cards for the US Postal Service. Mark Fallon, President and CEO of the Berkshire Company, joins me to analyse the announcement. We cover:

• What the announcement really means, including whether or not it is binding
• The possibility of Congress passing legislation to privatise the USPS
• Is partial privatisation a possibility?
• Competition and access to the mailbox
• Previous postal reform legislation
• Postal banking
• Update on other current legislation (a staggering amount!) that relates to the USPS
• The Board of Governors

Karlijn Krol from PostNL's Innovation Lab (Innovation Studio) joins me to talk about how posts can foster innovation:

• The Innovation Lab's position within the PostNL management structure
• The development cycle at the Innovation Lab
• Customers' willingness to pay for a product or service
• What the "moment of truth" is
• PostNL's baggage service (Bagageservice) - how it works, and how it was developed
• "Ownership" of a product during development and post-development
• Piloting a new service

Antonio Perini, CEO and founder of Milkman, joins me to talk about advanced e-commerce delivery options:

• Competing on delivery service levels
• Flexible delivery options
• Giving customers the power to reschedule deliveries
• The personalised delivery experience
• Making flexible, time-slot delivery work in practice
• The premium on flexible delivery options
• Consolidating deliveries for residential addresses
• Transparency of delivery pricing
• An overview of the Italian delivery sector
• The complexity of Italian logistics, including delivery density
• First-time delivery success rates and driver punctuality rates
• Porch piracy

Three guests this week! First up, Marek RÃÆ'³Å¼ycki from Last Mile Experts talks about Amazon's latest push into the last mile:

• Is it a new idea?
• Does it make sense for Amazon?
• What does it mean for other carriers?

Then Duncan Buchanan, Policy Director at the Road Haulage Association, talks about the environmental challenges facing the trucking sector. The interview was recorded at Post&Parcel Live: Solving the Inner City Challenge.

• EURO emission standards
• Access to clean city zones (low emission zones)
• Congestion issues and how this affects efficiencies and emissions
• Strategies to improve driver behaviour
• Driver training and being a professional driver

Finally, Cathy Morrow Roberson from Logistics Trends and Insights joins me to analyse the recently announced partnership between Alibaba and French logistics group BollorÃÆ'©. We cover:

• Alibaba building out a global logistics network
• The regions that will be targeted by this deal
• Expansion into developing markets
• Implications for Alibaba's customer experience
• Alibaba's delivery goals

Patrick Gallagher, Group CEO CitySprint, is my special guest. We cover:

• CitySprint's transformation from B2B only to include e-commerce time slot delivery via On The Dot
• How the internet affected "traditional" B2B courier firms like CitySprint
• The importance of branding
• How technology drives same-day delivery
• CitySprint's expansion plans
• What B-to-B-to-C is
• How tight a time slot do consumers want?

Tiemen van Bruggen, Transformation Director at PostNL, joins me to talk about delivery and strategy. We cover:

• Different residential delivery modes in various European countries:
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • UK
• Insights into setting up a new letter delivery network from scratch
• Delivery/return of mis-addressed mail
• Overcoming addressing issues
• Measuring and monitoring productivity
• Agile ways of working in the post

Paul Anastasiou, ASDA's Senior Director for Parcel Services joins me to talk about ASDA's interesting click-and-collect service called toyou. We cover:

• How the toyou click-and-collect service differs from "traditional" click-and-collect services
• Network coverage and hours of collection
• Customer communications
• Innovative in-store and mobile technology
• The infrastructure behind toyou
• Speed of parcel collection
• E-commerce returns via the toyou network
• The parcel tower

Brody Buhler, Global Managing Director of Accenture’s Post & Parcel business, is my special guest. We cover:

• How smartphone proliferation is changing delivery expectations
• Target fulfilling e=commerce from its massive network of stores
• How distributed fulfilment differs from central fulfilment, including cost
• Alternative delivery solutions
• Customer delivery preferences
• Inter-generational differences in e-commerce delivery
• Trends in cross-border delivery
• Innovation and trust in "the crowd" in delivery
• The future of the global cross-border postal system
• The new "continuous delivery" concept