In this special end-of year episode, Jonathan Bouaziz (Kardinal), Kevin Seller (Escher), Will Simpson (Kantar) and David Spottiswood (Hurrican) cover different aspects of the postal and delivery world.   Jonathan Bouaziz, CEO at Kardinal, discusses:

• Optimising PUDO networks
• Understanding the implications of making changes to a PUDO network
• Merging letter and parcel delivery
• Creating delivery efficiency in combining letter and parcel last mile delivery
• Frequency of delivery, including in rural areas

Kevin Seller, Chief Sales Officer at Escher, covers:

• Analysis of major issues facing post office networks
• Variabilizing costs in fixed networks
• Using self-service in post office networks
• Tailoring range of services in different post offices
• Returns at post offices
• Post offices at e-commerce distribution hubs
• Simplifying IT in post office networks

Will Simpson, Client Direct at Kantar's Postal & Logistics unit, discusses:

• Changes in postal regulatory environment
• Service quality, price, and competition
• Regulation and parcel delivery
• Sustainability in delivery and logistics
• Measuring effectiveness of mail

David Spottiswood, co-founder at Hurricane, covers:

• ICS2 implementation update
• Providing the right data to ensure uplift with airlines
• New legislation and de minimis changes
• Enforcement of existing cross-border legislation
• Customs and border protection
• Cross-border returns
• C2C cross-border shipments, including post office lodgements

 

Mike Plunkett, President at PostCom, and Mark Fallon, President of the Berkshire Company, discuss the state of affairs at the US Postal Service.

• Vacancies on USPS Board of Governors and impact on day-to-day USPS operations
• Employee headcount
• Letter pricing and price increases
• PRC's role in postal pricing
• Letter volume decline
• Ambiguity in the USA's Universal Service Obligation
• Driving efficiencies in letter delivery
• USPS losses and legislative reform
• Optimized Collection, Delivery Unit consolidation and changes to mail collection times
• Leveraging the USPS post office network
• Handling non-postal business at the post office
• Upgrading and improving the USPS logistics network in 2024
• Are postal employees prioritising Amazon parcels?
• USPS parcel lockers
• Optimising post office locations

 

Dean Maciuba, Managing Partner (USA) for Crossroads Parcel Consulting, analyses the major trends in the US last mile over the past 12 months.

• Observations on 2023 peak season parcel volumes
• Technology allowing shipper diversifications and managing multiple carriers
• Surcharges pushing shippers to find alternatives to UPS or FedEx
• UPS and FedEx being aggressive in discounting
• Retailers taking delivery in-house
• Local delivery services allowing retailers to offer fast delivery
• Using local stores as delivery centres
• Retailers setting up sortation centres
• Walmart GoLocal delivery service delivering for other companies
• Delivery allowing Walmart and Target to compete with Amazon
• Amazon shipping more parcels than UPS and FedEx
• Amazon's B2B e-commerce business
• Amazon up-selling to businesses
• Economic conditions impacting e-commerce and delivery

 

Denmark has been at the vanguard when it comes to changes to letter delivery and digitisation of letter services. But new changes to the universal service obligation will have far-reaching implications for letter and parcel delivery in Denmark. Mindaugas Cerpickis and Jacob Østermann from Copenhagen Economics analyse the changes and implications for the postal world.

• Background to the USO being "abolished"
• Post Denmark's freedom to vary letter pricing and delivery schedules to save costs
• Digitisation of government communications
• USO as we know it being abolished
• Drastic letter volume declines
• Parcel volumes reaching parity with letter volumes
• Internet penetration in Denmark
• e-Boks digital mailbox
• Centralising government services
• Replacing USO with tender process for targeted services
• Market delivering services
• Post Danmark's ability to provide USO without government support
• EU Postal Services Directive and UPU requirements
• Three aspects of USO being put out to tender: island communities, services for the blind, and international mail
• Expectations that the market will cover the rest of the USO
• Letterboxes and parcel lockers in island communities
• Universal access to delivery infrastructure
• Monitoring the market to see if there are any shortcomings in providing letter services
• Could the Danish model be used in other postal markets?
• Future of postal regulation
• Understanding social expectations of postal services

 

Roel Gevaers, Professor in Last Mile Logistics and Supply Chain, University of Antwerp, discusses new Belgian legislation targeting last mile parcel delivery.

• Definition of parcel delivery companies under the new law
• Obligations on delivery companies
• Minimum payment rates
• Intention behind this legislation
• Past scandals in Belgian parcel delivery
• Pay rates and social security payments
• Lack of oversight in delivery sector
• Complexity in the new legislation
• Returns seem to be exempt from the regulations
• Application to international companies delivering in Belgium
• Increasing compliance costs for delivery operators
• Huge administrative burden on small companies
• Last mile costs
• Out-of-home delivery
• The political cycle
• What will happen if other countries follow Belgium's lead?

Jack Hopkins, CEO and co-founder of Tradeaze - a same-day delivery service for the building and trades sector - shares how Tradeaze started and the delivery need it fills:

• What drove Jack to found Tradeaze
• The need for tradespeople (tradies) to have access to fast supply of parts
• How the parts market works
• How merchants service spare parts needs
• The Tradeaze platform for shipping spare parts
• Offering a same-day service alongside merchants' existing "milk-run" delivery services
• Using Tradeaze as a back-up delivery service
• The range of delivery options Tradeze offers, from vans down to e-bikes
• One hour, three hour, any time today
• How the B2B delivery service saves tradies time and money
• Timeliness of delivery as a critical factor in the building sector
• Engagement model with drivers (employee and self-employed)
• Delivering large and heavy items
• The tech that underpins the Tradeaze delivery service
• Tracking consignments
• Matching vehicles to orders
• Consolidating deliveries and getting vehicle loading right
• Managing damaged, partially fulfilled, or missing consignments
• Role of CCTV in accountability
• Tradeaze looking to expand beyond London
• Dealing with returns
• Potential for value added services

Thibault Guez, Out-of-Home Project Director Europe at Geopost, discusses out-of-home delivery, including PUDOs, parcel lockers, delivery preferences and more:

• What is out-of-home delivery?
• Size of Geopost's out-of-home network
• Getting closer to the consignee
• Dominance of residential B2C delivery in some European markets
• Understanding local cultural habits
• Refrigerated parcel lockers
• Striving for innovative out-of-home delivery solutions
• Location of temperature-controlled lockers
• Format of PUDO points / Parcel Shops
• Changing rooms in Geopost Parcel Shops
• Label-free returns
• Digital labels
• Increasing interconnection between Geopost delivery services
• In-flight redirections
• Maximising usage of parcel lockers
• Anticipating parcel drop-offs at lockers and PUDOs
• Role of consignee-facing app
• Improving the customer experience via the app
• Encouraging recipients to collect parcels quickly

 

Robert Jordan, CEO at the Information Factory, discusses how data can be used to drive profitability in delivery and logistics. We cover:

• Harnessing logistics and delivery data
• Data is not just about reporting
• Falling letter volumes, volatile parcel volumes, labour pressures
• Postal operators dealing with operational issues in the network and the last mile
• Revenue optimisation
• Using data for performance and sales reporting
• Being price competitive in delivery and logistics
• The importance of having a data strategy
• Receiving and transmitting data
• What to look for when it comes to data quality in logistics
• Making sure data is fit for purpose
• Creating a cost model (activity based costing)
• Tying in with the general ledger
• Allocation of costs
• Ops cost per move
• Assessing profitability of customers and lanes
• Data underpinning optimisation of logistics operations
• Ensuring data is fit for purpose
• Observability

 

Dean Maciuba, Managing Partner (USA) for Crossroads Parcel Consulting, discusses the ramifications of the UPS - Teamsters deal, FedEx’s cost-cutting, USPS reform, and Amazon delivery contractors.

• Impact of UPS’s deal with Teamsters
• How UPS was travelling prior to striking a deal with the union
• FedEx’s efforts to reduce its operating costs
• Amalgamation of FedEx’s Ground and Express networks
• FedEx’s improved competitiveness with UPS
• UPS parcel volume loss
• Losing low-margin residential e-commerce business
• Potential for lay-offs at UPS
• UPS’s focus on high-revenue express business
• FedEx’s low-cost contractor model
• Potential for UPS-Teamsters deal to raise wages across the sector
• Earning potential of Amazon drivers
• The war for talent in the last mile
• Amazon remuneration of Delivery Service Partners
• Employee/contractor classification issue
• FedEx’s experiences with mis-classification
• Dynamic pricing and surcharges in the USA
• The costs behind peak season
• Granularity of dynamic pricing
• Lack of transparency in parcel pricing
• US Postal Service reorganisation under PMG Louis DeJoy
• Volume decline at USPS
• Changes to USPS ground services
• USPS investing more in sales and communications
• Amazon’s encroachment into non-metro delivery
• Rural delivery surcharges
• Peak season preparations
• The extension of peak season

 

Margaret Persico, Senior Director of Postal and Logistics Unit at Kantar, and Will Simpson, Client Director at Kantar's Postal and Logistics Unit, discuss what external measurement means for postal, parcel, regulators, and e-commerce players:

• Transformation of postal operators
• Changes in capturing and reporting transit measurements
• Accurate real-time results powering improved reporting
• Transition from letters to parcels and impact on USO and regulation
• Complex delivery requirements need better data and measurement
• Consumer expectations on speed and reliability of letters and parcels
• The risks of poor customer experience in the last mile
• Competing on quality of delivery, and how data powers that
• Benchmarking against other delivery competitors
• Using measurement to evaluate the impact of operational changes
• Driving efficiency through external measurement
• What is important to measure? Why isn't looking at scanning data enough?
• Kantar's sample-based approach, including panels and tracking items
• Real-time data capture and speed of reporting
• Identifying under-performing parts of the delivery network
• Simple and clear metrics on items travelling through delivery network
• Identifying cause of delays and bottlenecks
• Future of measurement, including regulation, customer expectations, and use cases for measurement
• Monitoring call centre customer support
• Using data to have a comprehensive view of delivery performance