30-Minute Sifted Group Demo Register Now

Sifted logo

5/1/23 Monday Parcel News Update

by Grayson Gilbert

May 1, 2023

2 min read

1. UPS Fighting to Retain Major Clients

Last week, UPS shared their Q1 earnings report with investors, citing volume slowdowns and lowering their earnings forecast for the rest of the year. This, paired with fears of a potential strike from their Teamsters employees, has UPS hyper-focused on retaining volume from major clients.

CEO Carol Tomé shared that the company has assigned 127 “high-impact executives” to 380 important customers to keep them from taking volume elsewhere. The 380 customers represent about one-third of UPS’ total parcel volumes.

The purpose of the assigned executives is to keep their clients updated on the state of the Teamsters negotiations and keep them at ease.

Article from Max Garland, Supply Chain Dive

 

2. UPS Optimizing Air Operations

Another step being taken by UPS to address their profit declines, which fell 22% in Q1, is reducing flight activity. In their earnings call, they shared plans to optimize package flows in the U.S. to maximize the usage of Next-Day Air flights. By maximizing use of Next-Day flights, which would need to operate regardless in order to deliver on-time, they hope to minimize the need for less-urgent day flights.

Internationally, the carrier has reduced scheduled flights, including a 14% reduction in aircraft utilization in Asia.

FedEx and Amazon have both shared similar plans to reconfigure their air networks this year.

Article from Eric Kulisch, FreightWaves

 

3. Amazon Spending Less on Fulfillment Network and Investments

After rapid network expansion during the pandemic, Amazon is shifting their focus to optimizing their network, rather than further expanding. In an earnings call last week, Amazon executives shared that capital expenditures will be lower in 2023 than the prior year, largely due to slowing spending on fulfillment network infrastructure.

This comes as Amazon shifts their fulfillment model from one national network to a hub-and-spoke network (much like that of FedEx and UPS) that features 8 regional hubs.

CEO Andy Jassy has said they’re “bullish” on the early returns of the network shift. The regional-hub model places inventory closer to customers, which simplifies operations, reduces costs, and speeds up delivery.

“Not surprisingly, shorter travel distances means lower cost to serve and customers getting their orders faster,” Jassy said.

Article from Sarah Zimmerman, Supply Chain Dive

Grayson Gilbert

Grayson is the Marketing Specialist at Sifted. He leads our earned media efforts, podcast production, and review generation, all the while tracking industry news for our team and clients. His media relations skills have landed Sifted’s thought leaders in top publications like FreightWaves, Supply Chain Dive, PARCEL Magazine, and Yahoo! Finance. Connect with Grayson on LinkedIn here.
Topics

Check out related resources at Sifted.

Sifted Celebrates Achievement as 2023 Top Tech Startup by Food Logistics, Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Sifted Celebrates Achievement as 2023 Top Tech Startup by Food Logistics, Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Kansas City, Mo – Sifted, a leader in Logistics Intelligence, has been recognized as a 2023 Top Tech Startup by ...
Read More
11/27/23 Parcel News Update

11/27/23 Parcel News Update

1. Amazon’s Volumes Surpass FedEx and UPS Amazon delivered more parcels in 2022 than UPS, according to internal ...
Read More
11/20/23 Parcel News Update

11/20/23 Parcel News Update

1. USPS Announces Tentative Rate Increases for 2024 The United States Postal Service has announced rate increases ...
Read More
11/13/23 Parcel News Update

11/13/23 Parcel News Update

1. Experts Share Attention-Grabbing Items from 2024 GRIs Supply Chain Dive interviewed industry experts, including ...
Read More
2023 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

2023 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

It’s the most wonderful time of the year? It will be if your customers receive their orders on time. The major ...
Read More
11/6/23 Parcel News Update

11/6/23 Parcel News Update

1. FedEx Encourages Pilots to Find New Work According to a memo, FedEx Express is “significantly overstaffed” and ...
Read More
10/30/23 Parcel News Update

10/30/23 Parcel News Update

1. UPS Recaptures 40% of Volume Lost to Strike Fears Last week, UPS shared that they lost roughly 1.5 million ...
Read More
What’s Next for Shippers: 2024 FedEx & UPS GRI Analysis

What’s Next for Shippers: 2024 FedEx & UPS GRI Analysis

It’s General Rate Increase (GRI) season once again. In true duopoly fashion, FedEx and UPS have announced the same ...
Read More
10/23/23 Parcel News Update

10/23/23 Parcel News Update

1. FedEx Announces Deadlines for Holiday Shipments FedEx has published dates that domestic packages must be sent ...
Read More
10/16/23 Parcel News Update

10/16/23 Parcel News Update

1. UPS Releases Full 2024 GRI Over the weekend, UPS published their 2024 General Rate Increase (GRI). An average ...
Read More
10/9/23 Parcel News Update

10/9/23 Parcel News Update

1. Peak Season Brings Hiring Goals for Carriers With Peak Season around the corner, carriers are ramping up hiring ...
Read More
PARCEL Forum 2023: Key Takeaways and Insights

PARCEL Forum 2023: Key Takeaways and Insights

A few weeks ago, PARCEL Forum brought logistics professionals from around the industry to Nashville. They ...
Read More

Are you an FBM (fulfillment by merchant) Amazon seller?

Check out our Marketplace Intelligence solutions to protect your bottom line.

Shipping Insights & Alerts
Get updates and track the things impacting your business most

Decision Support
See how supply chain adjustments pay off before you pay out

Carrier Management
Streamline how you manage your carrier operations and contracts

Business Automation
Let software do what it does better than people can

Seller Insights
Measure and monitor with confidence.

Sales Visualization
Shed new light on your sales data.

Fee Analyzer
Understand the impact of ever-changing FBA fees.

FBA Audit & Recovery
Secure money you’re owed from Amazon.

Blog
Discover news, tips, and industry best practices

DIM Weight Calculator
See how DIM is impacting you

Podcast
Hear from industry experts on LeaderShipping

Customer Stories
Learn how other brands use
Logistics Intelligence

Carbon Calculator
Calculate your CO2 Emissions

Thought Leaders
Meet the people behind the technology

Guides
Download free reports and expert how-tos

Demo
Get a personalized tour of our software

About Sifted
Get to know Logistics Intelligence

Logistics Intelligence
For parcel shippers

Marketplace Intelligence
For Amazon FBA sellers

Let's get you to the right place!

SIFTED DASHBOARDS
For parcel shippers

AMAZON Marketplace Intelligence

Not sure if you have an account? Email [email protected].