U.S. Businesses Brace for Shipping and Mailing Rate Increases
January 18 2018 - 10:00AM
Business Wire
Rate Increases and Rising Parcel Volume are
Prompting Businesses to Adopt Digital Technologies for Office
Sending
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), a global technology company that
provides innovative products, solutions and data to power commerce,
today cited 2018 carrier rate increases – including the pending
January 21 U.S. Postal Service (USPS) rate change and increases
announced by UPS and FedEx – among factors driving office sending
transformations. These factors are prompting businesses of all
sizes to adopt cloud-based shipping and mailing solutions to
maximize savings, remove complexity and ensure compliance. Digital
sending solutions enable organizations to select the best carrier
and service level for each package and save 3 cents per letter with
the metered mail discount.
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“Finding ways to drive growth, streamline workflows and manage
costs are priorities for businesses of all sizes. Optimizing the
mailing and shipping process can positively affect the bottom line,
generating considerable savings in both hard and soft dollars,”
said Jason Dies, executive vice president and president, Pitney
Bowes SMB Solutions.
Carriers have announced the following changes for 2018:
- UPS – Effective December 24, 2017, UPS
Ground, UPS Air and International services rose by an average net
4.9 percent. UPS Air Freight rates, within and between the U.S.,
Canada and Puerto Rico, also rose an average net 4.9 percent.
- FedEx – Effective January 1, 2018,
FedEx Express package and freight standard list rates rose by an
average of 4.9 percent for U.S., U.S. export and U.S. import
services. FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery standard list rates
also rose by an average of 4.9 percent.
- USPS – Effective January 21, 2018,
mailing services products will increase 1.9 percent on average and
shipping services products will average a 3.9 percent increase.
First-Class 1 ounce letter stamp will rise to $0.50 (from $0.49),
and metered letters rise to $0.47 (from $0.46).
Opportunities to save
As prices increase, meter and online postage solutions offer
savings alternatives, including 3 cents per piece of First-Class
Mail letters (up to 3.5 ounces). In addition:
- Commercial Base prices will, on
average, reflect a 9.4 percent discount off of retail prices.
- Commercial Plus prices will average
12.7 percent off retail prices.
The Pitney Bowes Guide to Office Shipping estimates general
shipping rates may be as much as 35 percent higher by 2025, and
parcel volume growth is estimated to rise at a rate of 17-28
percent each year, between 2018 and 2021, according to the Global
Parcel Shipping Index.
“With parcel volume and spend on the rise, cloud-based
multi-carrier solutions help businesses make smart choices every
time they send. They provide a comprehensive view of mailing and
shipping needs, savings opportunities, and data and analytics
businesses can use to ensure the right carrier and the right rate
at the right time,” added Dies.
Sending tips
Recommendations for mailing and shipping optimization
include:
- Address correction: Incomplete or
incorrect addresses, like invalid house numbers or missing Zip
Codes, can be problematic and costly. If a destination address does
not match the corresponding address in a carrier’s system, an
address correction fee may be charged. Office shipping technology
verifies addresses and can help businesses – from small offices to
large enterprises – avoid fees.
- Dimensional (DIM) weight rating: In
addition to charging for weight and distance, carriers often
include DIM charges based on the height, width and length of the
package, so using the smallest package possible is ideal.
Multi-depth shipping boxes can be cut to size, and help senders
avoid the added expense of fillers, like foam peanuts or sealed
airbags.
- Peak shipping charges: Peak surcharges
may arise during high-demand periods, and with residential or heavy
packages. Multi-carrier shipping software can be used to compare
prices and delivery choices, simplifying the task of viewing and
selecting carrier options.
Additional ship tips and rate change information are available
online.
Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global technology company powering
billions of transactions – physical and digital – in the connected
and borderless world of commerce. Clients around the world,
including 90 percent of the Fortune 500, rely on products,
solutions, services and data from Pitney Bowes in the areas of
customer information management, location intelligence, customer
engagement, shipping, mailing, and global ecommerce. And with the
innovative Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud, clients can access the
broad range of Pitney Bowes solutions, analytics, and APIs to drive
commerce. For additional information visit Pitney Bowes, the
Craftsmen of Commerce, at www.pitneybowes.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180118005802/en/
Pitney Bowes Inc.John Spadafora,
518-708-3466john.spadafora@pb.com
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