Category: Industry News

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Industry News

FAA grounds Amazon’s drone delivery plans – arstechnia

The Federal Aviation Administration has said that online shopping powerhouse Amazon may not employ drones to deliver packages, at least not anytime soon.

The revelation was buried in a FAA document (PDF) unveiled Monday seeking public comment on its policy on drones, or what the agency calls “model aircraft.”

The FAA has maintained since at least 2007 that the commercial operation of drones is illegal. A federal judge ruled in March, however, that the FAA enacted the regulations illegally because it did not take public input before adopting the rules, which is a violation of federal law. Flight regulators have appealed the decision, maintaining that commercial applications are still barred.

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FedEx Price Update Delivers Sour Note to Online Shoppers – Motley Fool

By now, you’ve probably heard the news: FedEx is changing how it charges for delivery of light weight, but large size, packages to your home or business. Dubbed “dimension-based pricing,” FedEx’s pricing scheme isn’t exactly a new idea in the shipping business. But how FedEx plans to use the scheme here in the U.S. is. And it’s directly relevant to you both as a consumer — and also as an investor.

What dimension-based pricing is
Here’s how FedEx describes the plan:

“Effective January 1, 2015, FedEx Ground will apply dimensional weight pricing to all shipments. Currently, FedEx Ground applies dimensional weight pricing only to packages measuring three cubic feet or greater.”

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Industry News UPS News

UPS or FedEx: Which Company Is Best at Keeping Its Customers Loyal? – Motley Fool

Why customer loyalty matters to the parcel delivery industrySectors that are a veritable duopoly, such as parcel delivery, may not seem like a business where a high emphasis on customer engagement and loyalty would come into play. However, with digital technologies weighing on the need to send mail and packages in the first place, both companies’ margins are under constant pressure. There’s pressure to “outgrow the other guy,” while also maintaining margins through price increases. Unfortunately for FedEx and UPS, they can’t simply raise their prices to their hearts’ content because they would otherwise drive away their core customer. Thus is born the balancing act between going the extra mile for the customer and growing their business.Therefore, both UPS and FedEx attempt to court customers with attractive but consistent pricing as well as instilling the “delivery guarantee,” which is so important to the consumer. Through physical stores that are easily accessible and scattered throughout the world, these parcel delivery services have a better chance at proving their dependability and convenience to the customer and being able to pass along what are inevitable price increases in the future without losing this sorely needed source of cash flow.

In other words, without loyal customers, FedEx and UPS would be in big trouble.

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Industry News UPS News

Amazon’s Going the Extra Mile to Deliver Your Packages – Motley Fool

Amazon.com is testing its own in-house delivery service in a few key cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company hopes to save money and reduce delivery times by cutting out package delivery companies like United Parcel Service  and FedEx.

At first glance, the prospect of having Amazon.com go its own way might seem like a big problem for UPS and FedEx. In reality, while Amazon may “insource” some deliveries, most of its packages will continue to be delivered by other companies for the foreseeable future. Moreover, other retailers will become ever more reliant on UPS and FedEx to compete with Amazon.

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Industry News

FedEx CEO: Airlines will track planes better – USA Today

As the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet continues, the head of FedEx said Thursday that airlines will move quickly to better track aircraft over the ocean.

Frederick Smith, CEO of the cargo-delivery company, told the International Aviation Club that maintenance and navigational equipment aboard most airliners could be adapted to better keep track of planes. That would help reduce the gaps between planes, making flights more efficient and saving money on fuel, he said.

“It is unacceptable to the public for a 777 airplane in 2014 with 239 souls on board to go missing,” Smith said, “so there’s going to be a response.”