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Miami Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
USPS lowers overnight shipping prices to take down Fedex, UPS
Remember back in the olden days, circa 2015, when we had to wait six whole days to get our Amazon orders delivered? By 2018, the delivery window had shrunk to a barely tolerable three days (I joke). And today? The average delivery time is closer to two days, according to a 2024 Science Direct report. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter The expectations around e-commerce delivery have certainly changed in a short time, and increasingly, plenty of us want our goods delivered on the same day we order them. The demand can be crushing for retailers and carriers, including small businesses that are trying to compete with the Amazons and Walmarts of the world. They're looking for ways to deliver quickly at an affordable cost. The United States Postal Service (USPS) may be a much-maligned institution, often criticized being slow and overpriced, but this time it's trying to be a problem-solver. To meet consumers' expectations, the USPS has quietly launched Priority Mail Next Day, a new service aimed at online retailers and small businesses. The new service allows businesses to get their goods into the hands of their customers within a day. In order for packages to be eligible for the next-day service, the packages (20 pounds or less) have to be delivered to a USPS processing center by 6 p.m. If they arrive after that cutoff, they'll be delivered in two days. Priority Mail Next Day is available by contract only, meaning it's for businesses with an agreement with the USPS. It is currently available in 62 U.S. markets with plans to expand. Related: Major logistics and trucking company files Chapter 11 bankruptcy Despite its limited rollout, USPS officials hinted at nationwide ambitions for Priority Mail Next Day, according to a USPS informational webinar. Since each contract is based on a business's volume, the USPS does not publish shipping rates for the new service. The launch of Priority Mail Next Day highlights the intensifying competition among the "big three" carriers: USPS, FedEx (FEDEX) , and UPS (UPS) . All three are racing to serve the growing needs of e-commerce sellers, particularly in regional and last-mile delivery zones. While FedEx and UPS have long dominated premium overnight shipping, their services often come with complex rate structures, fuel surcharges, and rural delivery fees, all costs that eat into retailer margins. USPS is working to position itself as the simpler and more cost-effective alternative to UPS and FedEx, without frills or complicated fees. The new Priority Mail Next Day is an extension of the USPS Ground Advantage program which launched in 2023 and offers a two- to five-day delivery window. Unlike the new overnight service, anyone can ship via Ground Advantage, no contract required. Both options make USPS attractive to small and mid-sized online retailers that need reliable regional shipping but lack the volume to negotiate steep discounts from FedEx or UPS. More retail: Aldi releases viral Trader Joe's item that is always out of stock Home Depot, Lowe's rivals strategic growth planTrader Joe's making huge mistake not copying Walmart, Target Nearly 70% of consumers say fast shipping influences their decision to complete a purchase, according to Digital Commerce 360, and Capital One Shopping says 80% of consumers expect retailers to offer same-day delivery. This growing expectation is putting increased pressure on retailers and carriers alike, so businesses, including mom-and-pop independent retailers, are constantly searching for shipping solutions that meet customer expectations without breaking their logistics budgets. One issue that is likely to increasingly plague retailers and that no carrier can solve: the faster the delivery time, the more likely the products are to be returned. That's according to a Science Direct study that looked at how shorter delivery times affect returns. Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Business Standard
27-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Snowman Logistics Q4 PAT surges 81% YoY to Rs 4 cr
The temperature-controlled logistics provider reported 81.4% surge in consolidated net profit to Rs 3.90 crore on a 8.27% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 137.01 crore in Q4 March 2025 over Q4 March 2024. Profit before tax (PBT) fell 58.55% year-on-year to Rs 3.25 crore in Q4 FY25. EBITDA also declined 18.35% YoY to Rs 24.38 crore in Q4 FY25. In Q4 March 2025, Snowman received a deferred tax credit of Rs 1.45 crore, effectively reducing its total tax expense to Rs 0.65 crore. This negative tax expense boosted the net profit in Q4FY25. In comparison, in Q4 March 2024, the company incurred a deferred tax expense of Rs 4.52 crore, taking the total tax expense to Rs 5.69 crore. As a result, the PAT fell to Rs 2.15 crore in Q4FY24. On the segmental front, revenue from trading and distribution stood at Rs 43.46 crore (up 21.84% YoY), revenue from transportation services was at Rs 35.73 crore (up 5.49% YoY), and revenue from warehousing services was at Rs 57.82 crore (up 1.46% YoY) during the quarter. On a full-year basis, the company's net profit declined 55.2% to Rs 5.69 crore on a 9.8% rise in revenue to Rs 552.53 crore in FY25 over FY24. Prem Kishan Dass Gupta, chairman of Snowman Logistics, said, The company delivered strong revenue growth during the year, driven by continued expansion of its distribution business and the strategic shift towards a 5PL model. This performance was achieved despite a challenging market environment, marked by muted consumption trends across India. Additionally, the companys earnings were impacted following Amazons decision to shut down the fulfillment center operation model in India, which led to the exit of dedicated warehousing operations previously provided to them. Our new projects at Kolkata and Krishnapatnam have faced some delays, and we expect our Kolkata facility to be operational any day now, with Krishnapatnam coming in the second quarter. In addition, we plan to continue expanding our network and are in the process of finalizing new locations for cold storage as per the requirements of both our existing & potential customers, for which the projects should commence in the second half of the year. Snowman Logistics is engaged in the business of temperature-controlled logistics, including, but not limited to, storage, transportation by road, and distribution of products requiring a temperature-controlled environment. Shares of Snowman Logistics fell 1.45% to Rs 58.99 on the BSE.
News.com.au
29-04-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
US politics live: ‘Hostile': White House's bizarre new enemy
Welcome to our live coverage of US politics. It has been 100 days since Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president. How time flies. Expect lots of self-congratulatory remarks from the White House and claims of Mr Trump's successes as well as a key note from the man himself from Michigan on Tuesday evening, US time. On Tuesday morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it had been the 'most historic start' of an US presidency. But the Trump administration seems to have found a brand new enemy: retailer Amazon. The giant's firms sin? According to reports, Amazon will begin highlighting price hikes online that are due to Mr Trump's tariffs. 'This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,' said Ms Leavitt who accused the company of being a 'Chinese propaganda arm'. She theatrically held up a photo of Amazons founder Jeff Bezos. Across the border in Canada, the Liberals (the equivalent of Australia's Labor Party) have won the election. The party of former prime minister Justin Trudeau had been expected to be kicked out of power after a decade long run. But then Mr Trump began threatening Canada and Mr Trudeau was replaced with economist Mark Carney. While the Liberals didn't get a majority, they will likely have enough seats to form power. To rub insult into injury, opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, the man who was likely pretty convinced he would be PM, lost his own seat.
Business Insider
29-04-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
I'm a chief technologist at Morgan Stanley. Here's what comp-sci students need to know to succeed on Wall Street.
Over the past few years, banks have become technology giants in their own right with big budgets, a focus on research and developing patents, and a constant demand for tools and products that will keep customers happy. Wall Street has become a technologist destination that rivals the Googles and the Amazons of the world. An example of that trend is Hina Shamsi, the chief technology officer for the divisions that serve Morgan Stanley's wealth management and institutional businesses. Shamsi, who also sits on the technology operating committee that drives tech and strategy across the firm, tells us about her career path and what she believes people should know about a career in technology at a bank. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shamsi, who's based in New York City. It has been edited for length and clarity. I'm of South Asian descent. I grew up in Kuwait and Pakistan in a very conservative environment with very forward-thinking parents. I was the first in my family to leave home and go to North America for higher education. If you had asked me years ago: Did I see myself on Wall Street as a chief technology officer? I would have said no. I went to school at the University of Texas at Austin. I got a degree in mathematics and then a master's in operations research with a focus on computer science. Think about operations research as the mother of the modern-day AI used in solving large-scale problems. There were a couple of industries where this was being done, like the defense industry, airlines, and, to some extent, healthcare. I always knew that I wanted to solve really big, hairy mathematical problems. A friend in the airline industry told me his work was very much related to my academic background. I took a call from his company, Sabre. It's headquartered near Dallas and is very big in creating systems that help airlines plan out and optimize schedules, routes, and other decisions. I took the job and fell in love with the industry. I spent almost 17 years in it before I got my first call from a financial services firm. See more stories from BI's Path to Wall Street series here, including what firms young people want to work for today, data showing where the average banker went to school, and what i t's really like to work for a hedge fund. What attracted me to finance was the enormous opportunity it presented for innovation and transformation. This is a very dynamic industry, and it continues to mature. There's never a dull moment. As a technology leader, you get an opportunity to work on wide-ranging emerging tech, like machine learning and artificial intelligence — you name it. But you also get to solve some of the most challenging business problems, as evidenced by our work rolling out our first two generative-AI products for financial advisors, in partnership with OpenAI. Learning the business Like the very large-scale systems I worked on in airlines, fintech is a very complex environment. There are high-scale, high-availability transactional systems. So my technology experience lent itself really nicely to financial services. But I didn't know about the business. I had to learn it. I read every material that was available to me in the bank's enormous amount of training content. But I think you can only go so far reading on your own. I sat down with business leaders to really probe what's top of mind for them, the problems they are thinking about: What are your top three? You always want to have a pulse on what your industry is thinking about. The second thing I did, which I really encourage people to do, is not just talking to senior people. Sometimes you get the best information by talking to people who are on the ground working on problems day in and day out. Whether you're sitting with the financial advisor and just watching them take a call, or you're sitting on the trading floor at an equity desk watching a trader use technology — there's no better way to know how good or bad your technology is until you observe it being used. Even today, I take the time to sit with a financial advisor and ask them what their pain points are, what they like, and what they don't like. You'll be surprised how much you learn from putting yourself in their shoes. Encouraging 'healthy debate' between tech and business leaders Today, technologists have a bigger role in shaping the business through its products and the strategy itself, not just the gone are the days when requirements came through over the wall and we were told, "Go develop this." I can't underscore enough how important it is for us to be involved in the business-case development. The company leaders understand the business well, but they don't understand the art of the possible; they don't understand technology well. I describe it this way: The heads of the lines of business know the "what" and the "why," but they don't understand the "how." That is where the technology comes in. Sometimes, business needs and technical realities don't align. It's a healthy debate, and it's critical to the creative process. Business leaders have ideas and expectations that are sometimes, quite frankly, unreasonable because their role is to push and look at it from the customer's perspective. Then you also see technologists creating tech just for the sake of tech. When you bring those two together, that debate is really good for the creative process. We encourage that because we want diverse ideas, so that when we produce something, it's been thought through well. Advice for new grads The single most important thing a computer science student today can do to prepare for working in tech on Wall Street is to think more broadly about their role, not just as a technologist but also as a business technologist. What makes you stand out — and we interview thousands of candidates every year — is the niche skills, like expertise on cloud, as well as any experience with AI and machine learning. Those are the skills we're looking for. Once you have the technical skills, the next step is to focus on learning the business through tangible experiences, like internships, as early as possible. Develop the skills you learned academically, and apply them to business-specific environments with the security and data privacy guardrails. Complement the business mindset with the technical knowledge, and that's where you maximize the value.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jim Chanos Says Biggest Risk for Markets Is DeepSeek-Like Event
(Bloomberg) -- Legendary short seller Jim Chanos says no one can see the biggest risks facing US markets over the next six to 12 months — because the challenges are going to be unpredictable events, like last month's DeepSeek collapse that wiped out roughly $1 trillion in market value from US stocks. State Farm Seeks Emergency California Rate Hike After Fires Citadel to Leave Namesake Chicago Tower as Employees Relocate Transportation Memos Favor Places With Higher Birth and Marriage Rates NYC's Newest Transit Leader Builds a Worker-Driven Strategy San Francisco Wants Wealthy Donors to Help Fix Fentanyl Crisis 'The real risks will be something like DeepSeek that comes out of left field that changes people's thinking,' Chanos said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Wednesday. 'By definition, we do not know what that is.' Chanos said he's seeing signs of speculative froth in the stock market, but added that it hasn't reached levels seen in the 2021 boom when the S&P 500 soared 27%. But investors need to be able to spot the companies that deserve their rich valuations, and those that don't, he said. Chanos is probably best known for his extremely prescient bets against Enron Corp. in late 2000 and early 2001, well before the firm's accounting fraud came to light. He converted his hedge fund into a family office in 2023, after a nearly four-decade run. He has complained that it's difficult for bearish money managers to raise capital, even though he sees this as a 'golden age of fraud.' Political Theater Beyond concerns of another DeepSeek-live event, Chanos sees markets responding most to political theater these days. Indeed, he thinks that will become even more intense. He's closely watching how President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs unfold, in particular the 10% levy against China. 'I think 10% is not going to do it,' Chanos said, referring to the size of tariffs needed for the government to generate significant revenues. 'You would have to raise them substantially on both China and, the EU, and we haven't seen that yet. We'll have to see what exactly comes within 30 days, 60 days. Does it escalate, or does it cool off?' 'If we cannot differentiate valuations, capitalism is broken,' Chanos said. 'You do not want to be sending a lot of money to Enron and Theranos. You want to send it to the Amazons.' Of course, some of Chanos's recent wagers have been less successful than his Enron call two decades ago. He was short Tesla Inc. for more than five years as the stock soared. And in 2022, he bet against data centers, which have proven to be a lucrative part of the artificial intelligence boom. Over the past two years, the Goldman Sachs AI Data Centers & Electrical Equipment Index has gained roughly 100%, more than twice the rise in the S&P 500 Index. Last year, Chanos was sued by a partner, accusing him of embezzling company funds for personal use. He called the lawsuit 'puzzling and baseless.' Orange Juice Makers Are Desperate for a Comeback Amazon and SpaceX Want In on India's Satellite Internet Market Inside Elon Musk's Attack on the US Government Believing in Aliens Derailed This Internet Pioneer's Career. Now He's Facing Prison Elon Musk Inside the Treasury Department Payment System ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
