Category: CA Fulfillment Services

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How the Changes to the United States Postal Service Affect Businesses

USPS has raised rates.

To decrease its staggering financial losses the U.S. Postal Service is considering closing up to about 250 processing facilities and eliminating about 28,000 jobs. The U.S. Postal Service lost $5.1 billion dollars in 2011. According to a U.S. Postal Service press release, mail volume decreased by 3 billion pieces in 2011, a 1.7 percent decrease from 2010. According to spokesman Dave Williams, the proposed changes will save the U.S. Postal Service $2.1 billion annually.

Ruth Goldway, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, which has oversight but not total authority over the U.S. Postal Service, said “The Internet does have an impact on first-class mail, but that’s not the major cause of the deficit. People are still using mail. Packages are growing and mail can adjust to the niche environment.” Goldway believes the major reason for the losses isn’t the Internet; she stated “The Postal Service is overly burdened to prepay health care benefits and to pay for that at a high rate has really drained the Postal Service” (Source: Wauwatosa Patch).

Closing Processing Centers

Williams mentioned the closing of post offices in small town and eliminating Saturday delivery are being studied. Local businesses throughout the nation are concerned the closing of processing centers will affect their business. However, in Terre Haute, Indiana, one business owner stated he received some assurance from officials that businesses will still have a place to drop off mail for a discount, although the new place is not official. Businesses should check with their local Postal Service officials.

Proposed Service Standard Changes for Package Services

The Postal Service reports it doesn’t have any plans to change service standard business rules for Package Services due to network rationalization. However, changes will be made in the service standards applying to specific three-digit to three-digit ZIP Code origin-destination pairs based on the reconfiguration of the network as well as changes to the labeling lists which implement the current service standard business rules. Relatively minor service standard business rule changes for Package Services unrelated to network rationalization are being proposed for mail addressed to non-contiguous U.S. destinations. No service changes associated with the request will be implemented before May 15, 2012 (Source: United States Postal Service).

Beginning January 22, 2012 the cost of mailing services are expected, on average, to increase by 2.1 percent and shipping services are projected to increase, on average, 4.6 percent. Price changes affect the full range of Postal products:

Mailing products include:

  • First-Class Mail Letters, Flats, Postcards and Parcels
  • First-Class International Mail
  • First-Class Mail Presort Letters
  • Standard Mail
  • Package Services
  • Extra Services

Shipping products include:

  • Priority Mail
  • Priority International
  • Global Express Guaranteed
  • Express Mail
  • Parcel Select
  • Express Mail International

FedEx and UPS will increase prices for expedited and ground shipments on January 2, 2012.

First-Class Mail

The USPS plans to end overnight delivery for first-class mail. The USPS has stated letters and many bills and bill payments will have a two to three day standard service. This could affect businesses requiring prompt billing which rely on the Postal Service instead of the Internet.

Williams mentioned beginning in spring the USPS plans on changing the geographic reach of its two-day standard from a 12-hour drive from a letter’s place of origin to approximately four hours, thus the Postal Service will guarantee delivery in two days or less within a four-hour window. Anything beyond that has a guarantee of three days or less. Only commercial bulk mailers might be able to have first-class mail delivered the next day; if they’re able to get it properly bundled to the Post Office early in the morning.

Beginning January 22, first-class mail will increase by one cent to 45 cents and post cards will cost 32 cents to send instead of the current 29 cents. The good news is mail weighing up to 1.9 ounces (as apposed to only one ounce) can be sent first-class mail, allowing businesses to place additional inserts in their packages at no additional cost.

It’s not certain all the proposed changes will be enacted or enacted without modifications. Due to pressure from Congress the Postal Service has delayed the changes until the middle of May. If the changes are enacted, some businesses using the services of USPS, including fulfillment centers, may have to make adjustments due to longer mail processing times and the possibility of the elimination of Saturday deliveries. Some experts claim the changes made by the Postal Service will likely just make slow delivery a little slower. We shall see.

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A Great Press Release Gains Media Attention and Valuable One Way Inbound Links

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Many companies use a press release to announce their product, website or special offer to the world. An engaging, informative press release has the potential to reach thousands or even millions of people. The challenge is writing a press release in the format of a news article but maintain the basic aspects of a good sales letter. Editors and reporters seek interesting press releases to fill up their publications.

Submitting a press release to a wire service helps ensures journalists can find information about your product, services or company. A Middleburg/Ross survey shows 98 percent of journalist go online daily and 73 percent of them look for press releases.

A press release should actually announce news. Editors seek information which benefits their readers, typically about a product or service that solves a business problem saves money or provides a new way of doing something.

Gain Media Attention with a Press Release

To gain media attention, focus on pleasing editors and communications professionals. They read hundreds of press releases; to grab their attention using approaches and angles which make your product or service stand out from the competition. When considering what to publish, editors consider the demands of their audience.  Find out what’s popular in the target publications and find a way to connect your press release to a current hot subject.

Press Releases and Search Engine Optimization

Submitting press releases via a wire service is a great way to enhance a search engine optimization plan. After the press release goes out it’s picked up by publications, news organizations and search engine news services such as Google news, which link back to your website. An array of online news portals may also syndicate the content. Also, some social media websites monitor newswire syndication.

The more legitimate links you have pointing to your website the better the search engine rankings. Search engines respond favorably to one way inbound links from relevant websites. These links help a website move higher in search engine results for specific keywords. Also, include a couple of relevant links in the press release to your website.

A press release shouldn’t praise the company. Don’t use words such as “unique,” “revolutionary” or “best” in the press release. Editors prefer testimonials or quotes from customers instead of praise coming from someone representing the company. Write simply and clearly and don’t include jargon.

A Useful Press Release Concept

One approach is stating a problem and writing about a solution. The problem should be a pressing issue of your target audience. Discuss how the benefits of your product or service deal with the stated problem, but take a business approach, don’t make it look like a sales pitch.

Tips for Writing a Press Release:

  • Editors and reporters get bombarded daily with press releases so it’s best to keep it to one page.
  • Include quality keyword rich content and a couple of links to your website.
  • Use a short title and clearly display your news announcement. The title should entice people to read the press release.
  • Grab the reader’s attention, put the important information in the first paragraph; who, what, why, where, when and how. Impress the editors and readers with the first two lines or else they won’t continue to read it. Subsequent paragraphs expand on the important points with more details and relevant information. Don’t jump from subject to subject, stay focused. If appropriate include an image.
  • Link some information in the press release to something else that’s newsworthy. Communications professionals and publishers seek ways to connect your story to something else that’s popular. They’ll appreciate it.
  • Near the end of the press release, but before the “About the company” paragraph inspire the readers to find out more about your products or services with an interesting statistic, a quote, how your product or service ties into a current trend or provide a thought provoking question.
  • Provide details about the company in the “About the company” paragraph but keep it short and don’t use a lot of praise; it turns off editors and journalists.
  • Base the tone of the article on the audience.
  • Provide contact information at the end of the press release.
  • Make sure all the facts in the press release are correct and make sure the press release has no typos. Proof read it several times and have a few staff members proof read it. Errors can easily harm the reputation of a brand.

Send the press release to editors and writers of relevant newspapers, magazines and trade journals and obviously send it out online. Free newswire services such as pr.com and prleap.com are a possibility, however many companies prefer to pay a newswire service such as prweb.com or prnewswire.com to give the press release its best opportunity to gain attention.

An informative, engaging press release, connected to a popular topic easily grabs attention and enhances your search engine rankings.

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QR Codes: The Future of Marketing

What to Know About QR Codes

Make room for the next big thing — QR codes. What’s a QR code? It’s essentially a wacky looking, matrix barcode users scan with a camera-enabled smart phone. Scanning the QR code connects the user to a mobile-optimized web page, video or photographs or activates functions such as email, SMS and IM. The free QR codes are simple to produce, distribute and display.

QR codes, also known as Quick Response codes, were invented in 1994 by a Toyota subsidiary, Denson-Wave. QR codes are well known in Japan and South Korea. Recently, QR codes have created a buzz among US marketing specialists. In the US, well known companies such as Macy’s, Best Buy and Post Cereals use them to enhance their marketing campaigns.

The Nielsen Company forecasts, by the end of 2011, more than half of all US citizens will own a phone capable of scanning QR codes. The user just needs to add a phone app. QR codes are appearing in major print publications, on buildings and storefronts.  In the US, the demystification of QR codes has a ways to go but it won’t be too long before they’re immediately recognized, understood and scanned by US consumers of all ages, shapes and sizes.

Ways Your Business can Take Advantage of QR Codes

Savvy marketers use QR codes to drive customers to a specific web page. Simply placing a QR code in a print add is not enough. Grab the consumers’ attention with an enticing call-to-action statement placed next to the QR code. For example “scan for a great offer” or “scan to enter to win a prize.”  Don’t harm your brand with a disappointing offer or prize. If you do it right they’ll eagerly come back to your website. Something to think about: Why should the audience take the time to scan my code?

Americans like freebies. Entice consumers to complete your mobile-friendly survey with giveaways. What’s the objective? With their permission, gather their email addresses for additional marketing messages. Surveys can lead to sales.

  • Provide additional company and product information with Quick Response codes on product packages and literature.
  • Use QR codes in print ads to bring traffic to focused information on your website.
  • QR codes linked to videos can help bring your products to life.
  • It’s not common, but some companies design a QR code to automatically dial a predetermined telephone number. Before using this bold marketing technique, think about this: From the consumers’ perspective, what’s in it for me?
  • Linking a QR code to a desirable coupon entices users to scan the code. The coupon is automatically saved on the users’ mobile phone, providing the user an easy way to keep the coupon. They can also provide a copy to friends, aka other consumers.
  • Quick Response codes properly placed in retail stores make it easy for customers to sign up and become part of the store’s social community.
  • You can provide access to user manuals in an array of languages through a QR code link.

Where to Place QR Codes

QR codes can be printed on almost anything. Marketers incorporate QR codes with billboard ads, posters, in-store displays, business cards, contests, print ads, direct mail campaigns, coupons, email marketing etc.

For major events, put your QR codes on all your promotional material such as stickers, flyers, press kits, merchandise tags etc. Use a plug-and-play CMS to update the landing page throughout an event.

Create your own QR codes for free at websites such as at Kaywa.com and rasoftwarefactory.com. Learn how to make attention grabbing, attractive QR codes.

Analytics

Set up your QR code and the associated mobile webpage with analytics. Now you’ll be able to follow and optimize your campaign. You’ll learn how many scans a Quick Response code gained and how long the average user spends at your website. You can measure how advertisements containing QR codes are driving your sales.

Expand Your Social Media Audience

Design a QR code to connect directly to your company’s Twitter stream or Facebook page – it provides users the opportunity to “follow” or “like” your company.

Near Field Communication (NFC)

NFC is a wireless communication technology which lets devices exchange data over distances of about ten centimeters. Google uses a mobile payment system, relying on NFC. Google stated they’re “exploring new ways to enable customers to quickly and easily find information about local businesses from their mobile phones”. Some experts in the field suggest Google will someday push businesses to use NFC for some of their communications.

For now, the QR code is the hot marketing tool. When used effectively, QR codes gain the attention of customers and produce sales. They also help your company maintain a modern image.

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Could the Price Changes for FEDEX and UPS Drive More Customers to the USPS?

California and Massachusetts Fulfillment Services

For several years, the United States Post Office (USPS) has struggled to remain a viable mailing and shipping option. Email and the Internet have steadily eroded first-class mail, its most profitable segment, while FedEx and UPS have cornered the package delivery business. Ironically, a significant portion of the shipping done through the USPS comes from its two private sector rivals.

FedEx and UPS both move a significant portion of their ground shipping business through the USPS. UPS won’t reveal actual numbers, but the post office delivers approximately 2.2 million packages per day for FedEx, which accounts for 30 percent of its total ground business. The good news is that the USPS desperately needs this increased volume. The bad news is that it’s taking its toll on an antiquated, overtaxed system.

Contracted shipping, by these two mammoth shippers, to the USPS falls under the umbrella of the post office’s Parcel Select service, which is designed to accommodate extraordinary high volume resources. Parcel Select accounts for about one-third of the USPS’s annual package-delivery volume, with a staggering 500 percent growth between 2009 and 2013 for a current total of 1.29 billion packages. Projections call for a healthy 12 percent growth next year.

Parcel Select, started in 2008, is incorporated in the less expensive two- to seven-day services of FedEx (Smartpost) and UPS (Surepost). These two companies move the packages across the bulk of the distance then sort them by ZIP code and take them to the local post office for final delivery. This final leg of the process is the most costly because it involves multiple stops to deliver single packages at each and FedEx and UPS are glad to do the handoff as a cost saving action.

The huge volume of business and dire financial straits of the USPS have many people wondering if the post office is undercutting itself by not charging enough for Parcel Select. UPS is even questioning whether or not the USPS is unfairly cross-subsidizing other services to keep prices down.

Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe dismisses criticism of the Parcel Select pricing, saying that the delivery stops are being made anyway so there’s no appreciable increase in labor or costs. He has also stated that the USPS’s goal is to more than double its package delivery business in the next few years, seeing that as the area with the most potential for growth.

However, the post office is already starting to show signs that it may not be well-equipped to handle this surge. The agency was formed in 1775 as a way to handle correspondence during the Revolutionary War and has remained first and foremost a service to handle letters. When it comes to package delivery, the USPS is light years behind UPS and FedEx in terms of sophisticated technology, continuing to do many functions manually.Our new warehouse location.

In addition, almost three-quarters of the post office’s vehicles are more than 20 years old. Donahoe has plans to invest $10 billion in much-needed improvements over the next four years, but given the depleted coffers it’s a bit murky as to where this money will come from. The Postal Service exhausted its $15 billion credit limit with the Treasury Department back in 2012, so Donahoe is hoping for help from a proposed Congressional bill that would allow some flexibility in finances.

The USPS is at a serious crossroads with its Parcel Select service. If it misjudges its ability to effectively handle the business, it will create a domino effect putting all its other functions in jeopardy. Additionally, with the pending rate calculation changes scheduled to go into effect at UPS and FEDEX the United States Postal Service’s shipping options for businesses are looking like a deal, but can the USPS step up to take on the increase load?

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Taking Care of Business While You’re On Vacation – Cool Things to Check Out

Tech Tips for Vacation from Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics

Like it or not, your work may be going with you on summer vacation this year.

Don’t get us wrong – a little R&R is vital to your physical and mental well-being. If you can completely detach yourself from the office or the warehouse and enjoy your time off, more power to you.

But by the same token, you’re not going to relax very easily if you spend your vacation time fretting over missing vital messages or constantly phoning in to stay apprised of new order-fulfillment opportunities.

Aware of this conundrum, technology providers have graciously stepped up to create devices, data plans, programs and apps that help you manage your business and your email from wherever you are. They go a step beyond texting and Skype to deliver some rather cool options.

Summer business tips for keeping up while chilling out

Whether you’re hitting the road or hanging out at home, you can enjoy some time away from the workplace without worrying about falling behind. You may find the answer in free apps, or opt to pay a monthly surcharge or subscription rate – but you may discover that the investment pays off in peace of mind.

The Choices Are All Yours

Single-number convenience
If you’re the kind of manager who gets tons of voicemails, there’s no need to subject your fellow vacationers to the sound of a fulfillment or shipping challenge being addressed. Free – at least until the end of 2012 – Google Voice is an app that delivers phone and texting from the same number and, even cooler, voicemail transcription. This means Google Voice lets you download your voicemail and read it like email. The app also boasts of “cheap international calls” outside North America.

Computer access programs
Stuck on the tarmac? Ditch the Skymall magazine and catch up with the folks back home. GoToMyPC is a screen-sharing subscription program that uses the Internet to connect your mobile device (laptop, netbook, tablet or smartphone) to the computer back home. Available in different pricing tiers for individual and multiple users, this program enables full access to the “host” computer, from email to documents to downloads – you can even transfer files between devices. Just remember to keep your work computer running and connected online before you leave, and GoToMyPC will do the rest.

Windows Live Mesh does GoToMyPC one better – it’s free. This app also recreates the host-computer experience, though you do need to have Windows Vista or Windows 7 or above. You’ll also need Internet Explorer downloaded on your computer to make it work – remember that if you’re tied to Firefox or some other browser.

Personal WiFi
The days of ducking into a McDonald’s or parking behind a Panera Bread to score some need-it-now WiFi are over. Now you can tote your personal WiFi hotspot in your pocket with a data-plan-enabled mobile phone. A variety of hardware and software options – at varying price points – can attach your phone to your laptop or tablet and enjoy Internet access anywhere. Just remember to carry a charger with you – WiFi functions are notorious battery-suckers on phones.

If your spouse and kids are similarly tied to the Internet, you can keep everyone happy on vacation using portable devices. Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot connects up to five phones, tablets, game systems, laptops and other devices simultaneously, while Droid Razr Maxx is a tiny powerhouse that fuels up to seven devices and frees you from the slow access and annoying service charges of hotel and airport WiFi.

Email folders
You use email folders at home; now you can use them anywhere. Creating email folders on your smartphone or tablet takes little time and goes a long way toward helping you organize your communications while away from the workplace. Most plans work with the most popular mail servers, like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Microsoft Exchange. If you have the iPhone 4, Siri will even transcribe and send your email for you.

It’s Your Time

You earned your summer vacation – make it a meaningful one. With robust technology at the ready, you can keep up at your convenience, return to the warehouse rested, ready – and without millions of emails and voicemails waiting to bury you.