The US parcel delivery sector may be ripe for an overhaul, says industry consultant Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting, who argues that it’s time to replace some long-standing practices.
Some have been around for 40 years or more, he explained, and notwithstanding far-reaching changes in the business, like the rise of e-commerce and shorter transit time on the ground, service offerings, operational networks and technology have remained largely unchanged.
He pointed to the zone concept, first developed by the US Postal Service (USPS), and transit time commitments, which may no longer be in line with customer expectations.
Among the three national carriers – FedEx, UPS and the USPS – the latter has been the only one to realign its parcel service offering, when it combined its first class, parcel select ground and retail ground last year into the Ground Advantage offering with $100 of insurance.