I’m Jay Kent, CEO/Founder of SLB Performance, a business advisory group that helps companies, like yours, reduce supply chain costs, implement BI tools, improve in-stocks 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.
It’s important to understand the market to mitigate costs and improve efficiencies. 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.
In addition, on those weeks that Parcel Notes does not go out, we send a market update and analysis email to subscribers. ***If you would like to be added, please DM me***.
- FedEx spent nearly $12.7 million on lobbying in 2025 , about 16% more than the previous year, and its highest total since 2014. UPS reported $6.3 million in lobbying expenditures in 2025. Both carriers were focused on a number of issues but primarily on the USPS according to analysis from Open Secrets.
UPS
- UPS is embedding RFID tags into its shipping labels and estimates the tags will help eliminate about 20 million manual scans per day writes WSJ’s Liz Young. UPS’ Press Release – https://about.ups.com/us/en/our-stories/customer-first/ups-is-the-first-major-logistics-provider-to-broadly-roll-out-rf.html
- The Bluegrass UPS facility in Louisville will close on June 2. According to the WARN filing, 21 part-time, 24 full-time union employees and 20 management employees will be affected writes Louisville Courier Journal’s Olivia Evans.
FedEx
- After five years of bargaining, the Air Line Pilots Association announced that negotiators for Fedex pilots and the company had reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract with the help of the federal government’s National Mediation Board writes Freightwaves’ Eric Kulisch.
- During its analyst day, FedEx Freight executives outlined plans to increase its small- to medium-size business, grocery, health care, and data centers and energy market shares. “We’re doing very little business in these verticals,” incoming President and CEO John Smith said write Transport Topics’ Keiron Greenhalgh.
- FedEx One Rate pricing will increase on April 20 writes Supply Chain Dive’s Max Garland.
Amazon
- Amazon has opened operations facilities in the West Virginia communities of Davisville and Beaver as it pushes for faster deliveries in more rural areas writes Supply Chain Dive’s Max Garland.
- Amazon plans to ramp up Prime Air drone capacity this year writes Freightwave’s Eric Kulisch. CEO Andy Jassy said in his annual letter to shareholders that Prime Air service will be able to serve communities with 30 million customers by the end of the year, with a much wider catalog of goods to choose from, and is expected to annually deliver 500 million packages by the end of the decade in under 30 minutes.
- Amazon and Winn-Dixie have announced their expansion of a grocery delivery partnership in Florida. The expansion increases same-day delivery availability for online grocery orders across the state writes Digital Commerce 360’s Abbas Haleem.
- A new Amazon facility will make it possible to deliver packages in as fast as one hour for the first time in the Reno area writes Reno Gazette Journal’s Jason Hidalgo.
- Amazon reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Postal Service that will reduce the number of packages Amazon ships through the postal service writes New York Times’ Jenny Gross and Aimee Ortiz.
USPS
- The Postal Service has informed the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of its intention to temporarily suspend its employer’s contributions for the defined benefit portion of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to conserve cash and preserve liquidity due to its ongoing, severe financial crisis.
- USPS plans to increase the price of first-class mail stamps from 78 cents to 82 cents effective July 12 if the proposal by the U.S. Postal Service is approved writes CNBC’s Kamaron McNair.
Other Parcel Carriers
- GLS US announced the launch of delivery services in the Greater Houston metropolitan area, effective April 13, 2026 according to its press release.
That’s it for now. Stay tuned for the next newsletter April 29. Don’t forget to hit the subscribe button to ensure you receive it in your LinkedIn notices. In addition, if you like what you’re reading, sign up to receive additional insights and analysis via emails twice a month – DM me for more info. In addition, be sure to check out our growing number of videos on our YouTube channel and our website for more information.
Most important though, reach out if you’d like to learn how to lower or even possibly eliminate any parcel fees. 📦
– Jay