1. UPS Recaptures 40% of Volume Lost to Strike Fears
Last week, UPS shared that they lost roughly 1.5 million daily packages during their negotiations with the Teamsters union, higher than previous estimates. However, they also claim to have won back about 600,000 daily packages, with nearly half of that being taken from FedEx.
Overall daily volumes have risen as well. UPS reported that their average daily volume in August was 16 million daily packages, and that they’re now up to 19 million in October.
Article from Mark Solomon, FreightWaves
2. Amazon’s Network Shift Cuts Delivery Times, Triples Profits
Amazon’s decision to switch from a national hub-and-spoke network to a regional fulfillment model is paying off. According to CEO Andy Jassy, the new model puts Amazon on pace for “the fastest delivery speeds for Prime customers in our 29-year history.”
Amazon credits the improved delivery speeds for driving a 13% increase in sales in Q3 YoY. Coupled with efficiency improvements, this increased net revenue to just below $10 billion in the quarter, up from $2.9 billion the year before.
Article from Randyl Drummer, CoStar News
3. UPS Acquiring Happy Returns
UPS has agreed to purchase Happy Returns from PayPal. Happy Returns is a reverse logistics service provider that allows no-box and no-label returns from customers to merchants.
UPS CEO Carol Tomé said “By combining Happy Returns easy digital experience and established drop off points, with UPS’s small package network and footprint 5,200 UPS store locations, box freight label free returns will soon be available at more than 12,000 convenient locations in the U.S.”
