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What Do Google’s Privacy Changes Mean For You?

Starting March 1st, Google’s new privacy policy will become effective. So what does this mean for you? In short, Google will be able to share more information- especially your search history, in particular-among its various services. Recently, this has become a very controversial subject, especially as Facebook prepares for their massive initial public offering this year.

“Google now watches consumers practically everywhere they go on the web,” says Christopher Soghoian, an independent privacy and security researcher in Washington D.C. “No single entity should be trusted with this much sensitive data.”

Read the complete Wall Street Journal article here

Online Shoppers Are Rooting for the Little Guy

“Folks are exercising their desire to support local stores where local is not just in their town, but anywhere in the country,” said Michael Walden, a professor who studies regional economics at North Carolina State University. “A large number of Americans have a general suspicion of bigness in the economic world — they equate bigness with power, monopoly.”

Full New York Times article here

New Year, New Prices for USPS Products/Services

If you haven’t already heard, USPS will be increasing the cost of various mail products and services in the coming weeks. Starting January 22, the price hikes will affect both domestic and international shipping.

Some new changes to keep in mind include:
• Letters (1 oz.) – 1-cent increase to 45 cents
• Postcards – 3-cent increase to 32 cents
• Letters to Canada or Mexico (1 oz.) – 5-cent increase to 85 cents
• Letters to other international destinations – 7-cent increase to $1.05

Although USPS prices have fluctuated over the years, this will be the first price increase for a First-Class Mail stamp since May 2009.

Priority Mail Flat Rate Products retail pricing will also be increasing. Some of the changes to look for include:
• Small box – $5.35
• Medium box – $11.35
• Large box – $15.45
• Large APO/FPO/DPO box – $13.45
• Regular envelope – $5.15.
• Legal-size and Padded envelope – $5.30

In addition to rate changes, USPS will be offering a few new products and services for customers’ growing need of shipping options. For those in need of an overnight delivery but are unable to fit the items in an Express Mail Flat Rate Envelope, there will now be an Express Mail Flat Rate Box. Priced at $39.95, the new box will overnight shipments to domestic locations.

Another up-and-coming product will be a new, larger Regional Rate Box C. This 12” x 12” x 15” box will be added to the existing two sizes of Regional Rate selections. Any Regional Rate Boxes entered at retail will now incur a 75-cent additional charge at time of purchase.

Commercial mailers will now be able to intercept packages that are shipped using Priority Mail. For $10.95 plus postage for Priority Mail, customers can request mail to be intercepted before final delivery is attempted to the initial delivery address. The shipment can then be returned to the sender, held for pick up at a Post Office, or redirected to an alternate address.

To view a list of other changes, as well as price adjustments that will be taking place on January 22, you may visit http://pe.usps.com.

Merchants Expected to Dig Deep in 2012 for E-Commerce Spending

With a new year quickly approaching, retail merchants are reviewing budgets, including their allotted spending for e-commerce technology and services. More consumers are shopping online, whether it’s to better research products and services available, or simply because of the convenience to stay home in their pj’s.

Studies suggest that a majority of merchants’ budgets will be spent on a new e-commerce platform sometime in 2012. Other high priorities include more money for mobile commerce, social media and better order management systems. In addition, smaller budgets have also been set for advanced web analytics, better site searches, more effective customer relationship management and customer reviews and ratings tools.

Why is there such a trend when it comes to updating and investing more money in e-commerce systems and services? As the online market continues to strengthen and grow, merchants are now focused on staying up to speed with what the consumers are looking for. For instance, approximately 68% of merchants have stated that increasing spending on e-commerce solutions will help them attract new customers. These larger budgets will also assist in boosting conversion rates, generating more sales from repeat customers, gaining attention through mobile sales and reaching out to larger target audiences through social media platforms.

Many e-commerce businesses had a successful year in 2011 and are now looking to improve their numbers in 2012 by digging deeper in their pockets for the latest and greatest e-commerce tools. Over the next year, merchants will place an emphasis on making their sites easier and faster for customers to shop, research, make purchases, as well as share their experiences with family and friends on Facebook, Twitter or other social media outlets. Shopping online has dramatically changed the way customers interact with merchants and will continue to do so in coming years.

Surviving Holiday Shipping

Each year, leading up to the holidays, companies make promises of Christmas deliveries if you order by mid-afternoon, two days prior. This holiday season alone, shoppers spent almost $32 billion online, which is a 15 percent increase from last year. If you are the type of person who completes your Christmas shopping weeks in advance, then your gifts are already waiting under the tree waiting for Christmas morning. However, if you’re like the many others who dash around the stores trying to find last-minute deals, you may want to brace yourself for the shipping costs to get them there on time. Often times, waiting until the final hour to ship could actually cost more than the gift itself. For example, sending a five-pound package from New York to Los Angeles on December 23 to arrive by Christmas Eve, will cost upwards of $140 in shipping with UPS and FedEx. After taking a journey on a couple jets, going through scanners, and riding along conveyor belts, your package will arrive at its destination with enough time to make it under the Christmas tree.

So you’re fine with paying the extra money to get that perfect gift there on time, what could possibly go wrong? One factor many don’t tend to take into consideration is the weather. Although it may not seem like a big deal, weather can have a huge impact on shipments when airports are shut down or roads turn to ice. All of the jets, trucks and workers ready to ship your package as quickly as possible won’t matter if the weather decides to slide downhill causing a nightmare for many.

Although some circumstances may be out of their control, shipping companies continue to deliver millions of special holiday packages each year. It’s as if the workers are elves, ensuring the perfect gift is under the tree Christmas morning for those near and far.

Shipping Facts That Save You Money – Dimensional Weight

Did you know it could cost more to send an empty box than a full one?

All carriers use weight as the baseline to charge you for delivering your packages. However, if you get the biggest box you could find and try to send it empty, then you would be taking up valuable space in the carrier’s van that could be used for shipping heavier boxes worth far more to them. So to discourage you from doing this and to maximize their earning potential they invented dimensional weight.

Dimensional weight will only apply if your shipping box/container is equal to or greater than 5,194 cubic inches (3 cubic feet) in size. Sounds like a lot, right? Before thinking you can rest easy since it won’t apply to you, guess again.

A box 17x17x17= 4,913 cubic inches and slips through dimensional weight. Put on that extra inch making it 18x18x18= 5,832 cubic inches and you are in dimensional weight territory.

Let’s fill both boxes with 10lbs of goods and ship them to California from Florida. The first box sails through at about $12.00. The second gets hit with a dimensional weight premium and comes back with a hefty $33.00 bill!

Currently, the dimensional weight factor for most domestic ground shipments is 166. Be forewarned though that this can be changed by shippers at short, if any, notice. So in our case the bigger box got a billable weight of 36lbs (here’s the math:5,832/166= 35.5 lbs). It’s not just restricted to regular small item shipping; many LTL freight carriers are quickly adopting their own version of dimensional weight, called density weight.

If you think dimensional weight may be an issue for you, we recommend the following:

•Talk to us before you ship about your particular shipping issue or if you have the time and inclination visit UPS, FedEx, USPS and DHL websites to become familiar with their unique rules and calculations. Any changes and modifications to the cubic inches allowed, the dimensional factor, international vs. domestic rules, etc. are not done with the desire to save you shipping costs.

•Pack your shipments as tight as possible. Remember, the goal is to keep your boxes under the 5,194 cubic inches. In fact, there may be cost advantages in shipping in 2 separate packages that fall under the 5,194 cubic inches, rather than 1 large box that goes over and applies dimensional weight.

•Dimensional weight virtually always applies to international shipments, as these are sent via air. Also, if you have an international import that is on your shipping account, and a vendor overseas will be packing the shipment, remind them to pack it tight. Do your best to make them aware of your concern and hope that they have your best interest in mind when preparing the shipment.

Are you ready for the holiday season? We are!

As Bricks and Mortar retailers anticipate a soft holiday season, ecommerce-related residential service business is looking forward to a bumper season. With the growth in volume largely expected to come from shoppers scouring the Web for cheap deals

FedEx expects to handle about 260 million shipments between Thanksgiving and Christmas, or 12% more than last year. With the anticipated increase in volume coming from inexpensive, e-commerce shipments through its SmartPost residential service.

(FedEx smart post uses USPS for the final delivery yo the door step ask Matt 904 733 0667 for details),

UPS also forcasts a holiday volume boost from online shoppers because 35% of its packages are now shipped directly to residences, rather than to businesses. That proportion is up from 10%.

The predictions suggest that while consumers aren’t expected to spend a lot more during the holidays, they are likely to do more of their shopping on the Web. The National Retail Federation, which predicts that nearly 47% of consumers will buy something online during the holidays, up from nearly 44% last year.

Don’t Get Caught Out

That’s all good news for package-delivery companies and ecommerce fulfillment houses. Except that internet technology allows customers to get products more quickly and websites declare “Ships same day” so shoppers put off placing orders until the last minute.

This inclination has drifted the peak season, which used to be Thanksgiving to Christmas, into 14 days before Christmas.  Putting a huge strain on the order fulfillment companies and leaving some smaller e-commerce businesses suddenly out of inventory and missing business.

If you want to do Junk-Mail go to your Post Office

Most likely is that  you, me and many akin to us  are chagrined by the unsolicited catalogs, credit-card offers and other “junk mail” we receive.  

At Shipping and Handling we do not accept customers that want to do unsolicited mailings – we disagree with it and our terms and conditions say so. 

But the United States Postal Service on the other hand loves it—and wants to deliver more.

Plagued by recurring losses and a plummet in first-class mail the USPS sees Junk mail as a way back to the black and is running promotions and planning television and radio ads to encourage more businesses to send pitches by standard mail, (the official term for bulk mailings used to prospect for customers).

First-class mail—used for everything from Bank Statements to Birthday Cards is in [terminal] decline with  7% year on year reductions.

Standard Mail – is on the increase again and now accounts for 48% of all mail.

USPS is encouraging small businesses to use direct mail and easing rules on bulk mailing. Businesses can bring as many as 5,000 pieces of advertising mail a day to the post office, to be delivered by a carrier to every home on a route, without an exact name or address on the envelope, for only 14.2 cents apiece. In the past, the postal service required envelopes to be fully addressed, which meant merchants had to purchase mailing lists.

So if you want to do direct mail go to the USPS but beware  typically only 1.4% of households make a purchase  or respond according to the Direct Marketing Association. That’s a downward trend  from 1.7% in 2005.

USPS Costs Cuts Will Slow Mail Deliveries

The USPS announced yesterday ending one day delivery of First Class Mail. As it closes more than half of its facilities in the latest attempt to arrest money losing operations.  This  move is expected to save $ 3 billion and result in the loss of 35,000 jobs in small mail processing. Megan Brennan [Chief Operating Officer] “We simply need fewer facilities to process less mail” .  The USPS had already proposed ending Saturday deliveries, (a change yet to get approval from Congress) and now seeks to close 252 of its 487 small mail processing facilities across the USA.   This plan whilst still requiring a time for interested party comment does not require Congressional approval. 

And the big looming problem?

A $5.5 Billion retiree health benefits payment due at the end of this month, mandated in law,  which USPS has asked Congress to change to avoid a default.

POST OFFICES TO CLOSE

Is yours on the list???

3,700 post offices over the next year was announced July 26,2011 to be coming to a close due to decreasing revenues.

” We are losing revenue as we speak, we do not want tax payer money, we want to be self sufficient, so like any other business you have to make choices.” – Postmaster General Pat Donahoe

Facing an 8.3 billion budget deficit this year. Post offices in every state except for Delaware are up for closure and will be reviewed accordingly…

• How much money is bringing in
• How many hours of work are performed
• How close they are to other post offices

Though the public seem to be very interested in following this, I’m sure The post office would appreciate if these same people would show their appreciation by taking the simple step of just sending more mail! But for now that is to be the unthinkable LAST resort.