Mail carrier was recently named the most endangered job in the U.S., but the U.S. Postal Service seems to have other ideas. Its plan to deliver groceries to households in major metropolitan areas is the latest among several strategic moves that would mean more work for employees who handle the “last mile” of delivery. The…
The U.S. Postal Service will start Sunday home deliveries this week throughout Northern California, thanks to a special deal with Amazon. The online retailer, which has massive distribution centers in Patterson and Tracy, began testing Sunday deliveries in several big cities earlier this year. Apparently Amazon liked the result, because it’s expanding the service to…
The Post Office grew revenues 2 percent in the third fiscal quarter of 2014, raking in $16.5 billion in operating revenue. (Hurray!) But it still managed to lose $2 billion on its business. (Boo!) So what’s the real story with the United States Postal Service? Is business booming, or is the Post Office going bust?…
(August 10, 2014) KENT, Wash. – As Mike Roth steps into Amazon.com’s newest warehouse here, he spreads his arms wide and asks what is different about this facility from the 96 other warehouses the Web giant operates around the world. To anyone who has ever set foot in one of those 1 million-square-foot buildings, known…
In a move aimed at expediting its promise of Sunday delivery via the U.S. Postal Service, Amazon has announced plans to open 15 specialized sortation centers this year, which gets packages to nearby USPS offices for last-mile service. The move is also seen by experts as part of Amazon’s larger plans to own more of…
FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc increasingly are moving their own packages through the U.S. Postal Service, putting pressure on the quasigovernmental agency and raising questions about whether the USPS is charging enough for the service. For FedEx alone, the post office delivers an average of 2.2 million packages a day, or about 30%…
Delivering Amazon parcels on Sunday is amazingly easy. No scheme knowledge is required. A clerk scans the parcels using a Passive Adaptive Scanning System or ring scanner. The computer calculates and prints out the most efficient delivery routes, giving explicit turn-by-turn directions. It’s a piece of cake. The long term plan of USPS is to…
After starting in selected cities around the country, Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service are closer to rolling out Sunday parcel delivery on a nationwide scale. In recent weeks, Sunday delivery has launched in Seattle and Portland, and various other cities are potentially only weeks from going live — including the Boston area and a…
