Happy New Year from all of us at Harvey Software! We would like to congratulate all on a successful holiday shopping season. Online sales from November 1st through December 18th were over $35 billion, the equivalent of every American spending more than $100 online. This represents 15% growth from 2010 figures, compared to 4% or less among brick and mortar stores. This year’s growth outpaced last year’s growth by a full percentage point and online shopping continues to be the highest growth sector in the retail economy.
Now that the New Year has begun, it’s important to know the changes passed along by the carriers. If you are a CPS shipping software customer, you have likely updated your software already and see the 2012 shipping rates for each shipment. If the rates look slightly higher, it’s because they are. Both FedEx and UPS raised rates for most services, with the average increase hovering around 5-6%. This, however, comes with a January DECREASE in the fuel surcharge. Although predicting oil prices is a speculator’s business, recent unrest in the Middle East has caused oil prices to creep up past $100 per barrel again. Since this is 5-10% higher than it was in mid-December, you can expect to see the fuel surcharge rise in the coming months.
Major changes are coming to the United States Postal Service regarding international shipments. New federal laws are tentatively scheduled to take effect on January 22nd, 2012 requiring electronic submission of customs documents PRIOR to shipping Express Mail and Priority Mail International (EMI and PMI). Right now it appears this will impact international shippers who print their own international customs documents. We are currently working with the Post Office on this issue since it directly affects shippers who use CPS shipping software for international mail manifesting. We will provide updated information about this as we work with the Post Office on this issue. For companies using international USPS services but do not use a manifest, CPS allows the use of an Internet postage service such as Endicia, which will correctly handle international shipping documents. A major advantage of CPS vs. carrier shipping systems is the versatility that allows CPS users to change shipping methods without an overhaul of an entire shipping system.
We continue to stay in contact with the USPS regarding changes to their services. They have many potential changes in the upcoming year. Watch for new updates that will be announced through this blog as well as through our other communication channels.
With so many carrier changes, CPS shipping software customers continue to be able to select competing carrier services for each and every package. We look forward to providing our customers with our software services and unparalleled customer support. For more information, please visit www.HarveySoft.com.
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