I’m Jay Kent, managing director of SLB Performance, a consulting firm that helps companies reduce supply chain costs, implement BI tools, and improve in-stock and customer service. After 25 years of leading some of the most complex supply chains in the industry, I began advising companies in multiple industries and verticals. To mitigate costs and improve efficiencies, it’s important to understand the market. So, twice a month, I’ll share parcel news and thoughts. Be sure to hit the subscribe button to receive the latest newsletter in your LinkedIn notifications.
A bit of a hodge podge of parcel news this week – basically, the parcel market continues to ‘normalize’ from pandemic highs, and carriers are investing in automation to mitigate costs and improve efficiencies.
- U.S. retailers and other delivery customers, for the first time in more than four years, are easily winning discounts from United Parcel Service and FedEx, according to a Reuters story. Third–quarter ground delivery rates are forecast to fall 0.55% per package versus the year-earlier period, according to the TD Cowen/AFS Ground Parcel Freight Index.
- Analysis from Prologis found that ship-from-store and click-and-collect models require bigger supply chains to pool inventories in large, centralized facilities, offer rapid replenishment to stores from local or regional facilities, and augment stores with online fulfillment operations.
- Peak season hiring round-up from Supply Chain Dive– Amazon and DHL e-Commerce are increasing the number of seasonal hires, while UPS plans to hire the same number as last year, and the USPS plans to hire fewer seasonal workers.
UPS Automation Investments
UPS shows off its recent automation investments, including – Pick-and-place technologies from Dexterity, Fortna, and Plus One Robotics and autonomous guided vehicles (AGV) from Dane Technologies, Geekplus, Locus Robotics, Crown Lift Trucks, and Toyota-Raymond.
The automation share came close on the heels of a Citigroup report that noted that UPS planned to use automation and efficiency on package sorting to reduce some of its non-driver headcounts.
UPS is also using artificial intelligence (AI) to crack down on package theft by “porch pirates” and help consumers get what they ordered. According to Security.org, 49 million Americans had at least one package stolen in the last 12 months as of 2022. The median value for stolen merchandise was $50, which, based on incident rates and average loss, amounted to $2.4 billion in stolen goods last year.
That’s it for now. Comments are always welcome. Let me know what I missed. Stay tuned for the next newsletter on Oct 18, and don’t forget to hit the subscribe button to ensure you receive it in your LinkedIn notices.
– Jay