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Feb 3, 2017

COURIERS' HARD WORK * China - University survey: Cause, low-paying and difficulties

* Beijing - For Couriers, China’s e-commerce boom can be a tough road

  (Video from News Live 7/24 - Jan 31, 2017: Ling Lianjun is a critical cog in the world’s largest market for package delivery. China’s e-commerce industry has boomed on the backs of hundreds of thousands of couriers. Follow Mr. Ling on his busy Beijing route) 

 --- Zhang Heng it's one of the legions of package couriers in Beijing who help power China’s online shopping boom. He spoke as he blitzed through a surgical wing, medical storeroom and patient ward delivering parcels small and large, soft and square, to doctors and nurses in an effort to ensure the right person gets the right package... The Chinese e-commerce industry has been built on the backs of couriers — called kuaidi, or express delivery, in China — like Mr. Zhang. They number 1.2 million, by one survey, and online retailers like Alibaba use them to zip packages to customers by scooter or three-wheeled electric cart. Across China, the world’s largest market for package delivery, a courier shouting “kuaidi!” through a door or a phone signals your package has arrived... But for the couriers — who are largely unskilled workers from China’s interior — the work can be low-paying and difficult. It is coming under scrutiny from labor activists and legal experts who say many couriers face punishing hours and harsh working conditions... Nearly one-quarter of them work more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the survey, which covered 40,000 couriers and was conducted by Beijing Jiaotong University and Alibaba’s research and logistics arms. A majority work more than eight hours a day each day of the week...

(Photo Credit Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times: Couriers by a pile of packages they will deliver in the afternoon. Drivers say they can make 150 deliveries on a weekday)

 ... Labor standards in the industry vary widely, but many couriers work under arrangements that might, for example, provide no overtime pay or no employer contributions to their government health care and pension benefits. Just as in the United States, where Uber drivers and many others work as contractors, those arrangements raise questions about what defines work and employment... Meanwhile, tough conditions have led to unrest among couriers, said Keegan Elmer, a researcher for China Labor Bulletin, a workers’ rights group based in Hong Kong. His group has seen disputes in a number of Chinese cities, he said, along with a rise in strikes as economic growth slows... In December, a weeklong strike brought deliveries by one package company partly owned by Alibaba, YTO Express, to a halt in Baoji, a city in Shaanxi Province... A spokeswoman for YTO Express said the strike was caused by a franchisee who did not promptly calculate fees or properly communicate with couriers... 
Beijing, China - THE DAILY 360 By SARAH LI, RYAN MCMORROW, VEDA SHASTRI and SAMANTHA QUICK - JAN. 31, 2017

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III - COURIERS & RETAILERS' WAR * USA: UPS stock suffers biggest drop in 2 years

* Georgia - As e-commerce surge is still causing problems
--- Profit and revenue miss expectations, as a bigger-than-expected surge in e-commerce sales came at a cost... Shares of United Parcel Service suffered Tuesday their biggest one-day selloff in two years, as disappointing fourth-quarter results suggest the package-delivery giant was still having trouble adapting to the surge in online holiday shopping... The results were also a stark reminder that not all business is good business... E-commerce business increased sharply during the peak holiday season, as many expected it would, but by a lot more than UPS had anticipated. Chief Financial Officer Richard Peretz said that the normal percentage of business-to-consumer (B2C) revenue to total revenue is 55%, and that spiked to 63% in December, marking the biggest swing in 10 years... While that might seem like a good problem to have, that B2C business is a lower-revenue, narrower-margin business, so it came at a cost to the company. Peretz said roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of the earnings miss was a result of this big change in product mix... Basically, UPS is still having issues adapting to the rapid ramp in its e-commerce business...
Sandy Springs, GA, USA - Marketwatch, by TOMI KILGORE - Feb 1, 2017

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II - COURIERS & RETAILERS' WAR * USA: Wal-Mart to scrap its Amazon prime rival

* Arkansas - Wal-Mart abandoning effort to create a rival to Amazon.com Inc.'s membership program
--- The service, called ShippingPass, was introduced almost two years ago and offered free two-day shipping for customers that paid the $49 annual membership fee. Instead, Wal-Mart will offer free shipping on more items it sells online and lower the minimum purchase required for free shipping on all orders to $35, from $50... Wal-Mart declined to say how many people had signed up for ShippingPass, which was similar to Amazon's $99 Prime program... Under the change Tuesday, Wal-Mart plans to offer free two-day shipping on about 2 million products on Walmart.com. The site sells about 30 million items, mostly from third-party sellers... Wal-Mart has spent billions boosting e-commerce sales and speeding up deliveries of online orders. Last September, Wal-Mart bought Mr. Lore's company Jet.com Inc. for $3.3 billion, placing him at the head of e-commerce operations... Now Wal-Mart is able to ship millions of products to any house in the U.S. in two days, Wal-Mart's e-commerce chief Marc Lore said... 
 (Photo:)   --  Bentonville, ARK, USA - The Morning Star, by Sarah Nassauer - 31 JAN 2017

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I - COURIERS & RETAILERS' WAR * USA: Amazon.com plans first air cargo hub

* Oregon - Retailer expects facility at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport


--- Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday it plans to build its first air cargo hub to accommodate its growing fleet of planes, signaling the company is ramping up its expansion into transporting, sorting and delivering its own packages... The Seattle-based retailer said it expects the new air hub, located at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport in Hebron, Ky., to create more than 2,000 jobs. The move will lessen its dependence on traditional carriers, including United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp., both of whose largest hubs are nearby... Last year, Amazon said it was planning to lease 40 cargo planes, 16 of which are currently in its fleet. It also brought on a dedicated network of 4,000 semi trailers to increase trucking capacity and has a fleet of citizen courier Flex drivers making deliveries in major metro areas... Amazon’s goal is to eventually haul and deliver packages for itself as well as other retailers and consumers—making it a direct competitor with UPS and FedEx, according to people familiar with the matter. The air cargo hub follows Amazon’s recent ocean debut, handling shipment of goods by ocean to its U.S. warehouses from Chinese merchants selling on its site, taking on a role it previously left to global freight-transportation companies... It appears—for now—Amazon is more concerned with shoring up its own volume to ensure it has enough capacity during busy times like the holidays than competing with the carriers, analysts said... Amazon’s airport location choice means it will be neighbors with Deutsche Post AG’s DHL, a major provider of international shipments to the e-commerce giant. DHL also has a big hub at the Cincinnati airport. That could facilitate transferring shipments between planes and further lessen Amazon’s dependence on UPS and FedEx... 
(Photo by GREAVES/REUTERS: FRED Workers prepare orders for customers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Tracy, Calif., in 2015)   --  Seattle, ORE, USA - The WSJ, by LAURA STEVENS - Feb. 1, 2017

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Feb 27, 2016

* TRUCKING E-COMMERCE * USA - It's Amazon or Logistics Firms wich compete with

* Illinois - The evolution of the middleman in trucking

... In 2008, Robert Nathan co-founded Load Delivered. In 2015 the Chicago-based third party logistics firm’s revenues were approximately $82.5 million. This year it moved to a new office building in the technology epicenter of Chicago to begin the next stage of growth... Nathan, its 34 year-old chief executive, plans to grow revenues from $100 million in 2016 (projected) to $1 billion with a staff of fewer than 500... Over the past year, Load Delivered has become more than a freight brokerage provider by adding supply chain engineering, omni-channel delivery, and a higher level of managed transportation services to its portfolio, he says... Load Delivered fulfills online orders of LTL-sized freight, such as outdoor furniture, for omni-channel retailers that spend between $3 and $10 million in transportation annually; these companies are often looking to outsource logistics... In summary, motor carriers that have a presence in e-commerce will either be pulling Amazon trailers or working for a 3pl that competes with Amazon... 
(Photo: Load Delivered has an Innovation Department focused on creating new technologies that add value for its shipper and carrier customers)   --  Chicago, ILL, USA - CCJ digital, by Aaron Huff - 24 Feb 2016

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