Latest news with #BrieCarere
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FedEx exec brushes off Amazon competition concerns
This story was originally published on Supply Chain Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Supply Chain Dive newsletter. Amazon still lacks the requisite logistics capabilities to be a top competitor to FedEx, Brie Carere, FedEx's EVP and chief customer officer, said at a Bank of America conference earlier this month. Carere said Amazon's shipping services still have catching up to do in terms of pickup offerings. She added that the company doesn't have the sortation operations needed to compete with FedEx's Express portfolio and falls short in terms of large-package and rural deliveries. "So right now, no, I don't see them as a pure competitor," Carere said. "I'm not trying to be dismissive or defensive … when we think about who I have to compete with, they're not at the top of my list." Amazon Shipping, which offers delivery services for sellers to use across channels, could become a force in the parcel industry, experts told Supply Chain Dive upon its relaunch in 2023. But for now, FedEx is brushing off concerns that Amazon's offering could draw away its customers. "We'll continue to prepare for that moment, but it's not imminent from my perspective," Carere said. For one, Carere cast doubt over Amazon's current ability to provide package pickups at scale. Amazon Shipping offers warehouse pickups in 16 U.S. metro areas, according to an October post from EasyPost, a partner of the service. "For the most part, those drivers get up in the morning and they run a straight optimized route," Carere said of Amazon. "Trust me, putting pickups in your routing capability is very difficult. You also then have to be prepared to wait and manage the customer expectation." Amazon did not respond to a request for comment about Carere's remarks, but the e-commerce giant is making strides in some of the shortcomings she pointed out. Beyond its launch of Amazon Shipping, the company is pushing to expand its rural delivery network, accelerate shipping speeds and make its sorting operations more efficient with automation. Despite Amazon's growing in-house delivery capabilities, the company also uses UPS, the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx to handle a portion of its website's orders. Amazon tapped FedEx specifically for large-package delivery to residential addresses under an agreement announced earlier this month. By focusing on heavier parcels that tend to be more profitable, the deal will increase FedEx's average per-package revenue and weight, Carere said. However, the arrangement won't result in Amazon volume flooding FedEx's network like it has historically at UPS. "This will not be our largest customer, period," Carere said. Recommended Reading How Amazon Shipping could shake up the parcel delivery industry Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FedEx Exec: Amazon Delivery Partnership ‘Will Push Up Our Yield'
Amazon and FedEx are reviving a ground delivery partnership after a six-year hiatus. The companies reached a multi-year deal in which FedEx would provide last-mile residential delivery of select large packages for Amazon. More from Sourcing Journal Amazon's Latest AI Feature Allows Sellers to Upgrade Old Listings Amazon CEO: Tariffs Haven't Brought Down UPS Slashes 20,000 Jobs as it Weans Off Amazon The deal resuscitates a relationship that ended in 2019, when the last contract between the two companies expired. FedEx stopped performing ground deliveries for Amazon packages at the end of the deal as the logistics firms operated more as competitors, and the e-commerce giant expanded its logistics network. Third-party sellers using Seller Fulfilled Prime on Amazon's marketplace could still use FedEx as a shipping option. Full terms of the deal were not disclosed. 'We've reached an agreement with FedEx to serve as one of several third-party partners to deliver packages to our customers,' said an Amazon spokesperson. 'FedEx joins our other third-party partners like UPS and the USPS, that work alongside our own last mile delivery network to help us balance capacity to best serve customers.' A FedEx spokesperson called the partnership 'mutually beneficial.' 'The yield will be accretive to our system average in the domestic market,' said FedEx chief customer officer Brie Carere during a Bank of America investor conference Monday. Carere touted the logistics company's ability to 'move heavy-to-handle packages better than anyone.' 'You will see that this business is predominantly large-package, so it is not the average weight that Amazon and UPS have,' said Carere. 'It will be part of the FedEx Ground portfolio. It will be parcel, but it is heavier weight. It's going to push up our average weight per package, and it will push up our yield.' Amazon's team-up with FedEx comes months after UPS revealed its goal to cut shipment volumes for the tech titan by more than 50 percent by the second half of 2026. Amazon is UPS's largest customer, accounting for 12 percent of its revenue in 2024. But according to Amazon, the FedEx deal is not meant to replace UPS volumes, with a spokesperson saying claims otherwise are 'flat wrong.' 'My initial read of the situation is that Amazon views these shipments as harder to move through its in-house delivery network than smaller packages (and UPS has the same view),' said Jason Miller, interim chairperson, department of supply chain management at Michigan State University's Eli Broad College of Business. Miller told Sourcing Journal these shipments could offer 'FedEx an opportunity given its network structure to take advantage of UPS' strategic decision to reduce business with Amazon (which isn't as profitable as package deliveries for other e-commerce platforms because Amazon's volume discount cuts into UPS' margin per delivery).' Business Insider first reported the news of an Amazon-FedEx partnership Monday afternoon. The publication said it viewed an internal document that gave Amazon 'cost favorability,' but didn't reportedly specify the extent of how many packages would be handled by FedEx. That document also apparently pointed to 'capacity constraints' in Amazon's network that 'securing FedEx capacity' would help solve. Although Business Insider said the document outlined FedEx's work within Amazon's Extra Large delivery network for bulky items like TVs and furniture, the e-commerce giant called the reference to that element of the partnership 'premature at this point.' Amazon is still largely self-reliant. More than two-thirds of Amazon packages are delivered via Amazon's own logistics network in the U.S., the company says. Of the four major American parcel carriers, Amazon saw the biggest year-over-year jump in volumes at 7.3 percent in 2024, according to Pitney Bowes. Amazon's 6.3 billion parcels delivered were only behind the USPS, which delivered 6.9 billion packages. FedEx was the only of the U.S. carriers that saw a parcel volume decline, at 3.6 percent from the year prior to 3.7 billion. In partnering with Amazon, FedEx gets another revenue stream to help fill that it lost its air cargo contract with the USPS to UPS last year. Last year, another report from The Wall Street Journal had said the logistics companies had entertained a returns partnership in 2023, in which FedEx would accept returns of Amazon packages at its more than 2,000 FedEx Office locations. A FedEx spokesperson called the conversations 'normal course of business' for the company. A deal never materialized. The recent partnership also comes as Amazon furthers its rural delivery push, investing another $4 billion into its network. The investment is geared to expand the network's rural footprint to over 200 local last-mile distribution centers and is estimated to create over 100,000 delivery and warehousing jobs. Upon scaling the network, delivery time are expected to be cut in half on average. When the expansion is complete in 2026, Amazon said it will triple its rural network, enabling the delivery of over 1 billion more packages per year to customers in more than 13,000 zip codes spanning 1.2 million square miles. According to supply chain consulting firm MWPVL International, Amazon's U.S. delivery network has 1,445 active facilities and 164 future facilities as of the 2025 first quarter. Of the facilities set to be built, 104 are the local last-mile distribution centers that the company refers to as 'delivery stations.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon taps FedEx for big-and-bulky residential deliveries
Six years after breaking up, Amazon and FedEx are back together. The retail giant has reached a long-term agreement with FedEx to provide limited residential package delivery, the companies have confirmed. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) recently added FedEx (NYSE: FDX) to its roster of vendors providing last-mile transportation of goods purchased on its marketplace, Amazon said in a statement provided by spokesman Steve Kelly. 'FedEx joins our other third-party partners, like UPS and the U.S. Postal Service, that work alongside our own last-mile delivery network to help us balance capacity to best serve customers,' the statement said. FedEx said in a separate statement that the multiyear agreement covers 'residential delivery of select large packages for Amazon.' FedEx Chief Commercial Officer Brie Carere, speaking Monday evening at a Bank of America investor conference, noted the Amazon contract will be financially accretive with yields and weights above system average in the U.S. ground market, according to a transcript of the event. She said the deal leverages FedEx's ability to move heavy, hard-to-handle packages across all U.S. ZIP codes. More than two-thirds of packages shipped by Amazon are delivered by its own network of warehouses and delivery drivers, according to the company. Few details of the deal, including expected volumes for FedEx, were disclosed. Amazon vehemently denied that the deal is intended to replace service provided by UPS, which decided in January to reduce Amazon volumes by more than 50% by mid-2026 because the business wasn't profitable. UPS recently said the decoupling with Amazon, its largest customer in 2024, will result in 20,000 jobs being eliminated. Business Insider broke the story on Monday with a report, based on an internal Amazon email, that said FedEx will take over the Amazon package business previously handled by UPS (NYSE: UPS). FedEx offered better pricing than UPS, according to the publication. The report also said that FedEx will support Amazon's Extra Large delivery network, AMXL, which is responsible for fulfilling orders, delivery and installation for large, heavy and bulky items, such as furniture and appliances. Amazon said that 'the reference to AMXL is premature at this point.' In 2019, FedEx ended its domestic ground-delivery contract with Amazon because of what it perceived as difficult service requirements and low yields. Estimates at the time suggested FedEx transported 4% of Amazon's ground traffic. Prior to the split, Amazon had diverted much of its business from FedEx's SmartPost service (since removed), in which FedEx Ground tendered packages to the U.S. Postal Service for final deliveries to residences. 'Given this new business [for heavy and large packages] is likely to support above average revenue per shipment, we expect the mix contribution from new Amazon deliveries should support higher yields for FedEx's core domestic package network operation,' said Barclays' transportation analyst Brandon Oglenski in a research note. 'We suspect this new deal with Amazon is likely to be more favorably priced than in the past and aligns with the company's broader focus on improving revenue quality within the network.' Oglenski said he suspected higher pricing from UPS at least partially explains Amazon's motivation to add another delivery partner. FedEx is likely able to take a second look at Amazon now because the company's business optimization and efficiency campaign, combined with the merger of the Express and Ground networks, is significantly reducing its cost structure. With lower operating costs, FedEx can offer more competitive pricing, Oglenski said. As UPS downsizes domestic capacity to reflect the departure of Amazon volumes, it will likely increase parcel prices with remaining customers to offset reduced economies of scale, he added. 'We expect higher pricing from UPS over the long-run will create incremental opportunities for FedEx to capture market share given the cost disparity we see developing between the two package delivery competitors,' Oglenski said. Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch. UPS to eliminate 20K jobs as Amazon decoupling accelerates Analyst: Amazon's $4B rural delivery investment aimed at slowing Walmart DHL cuts ties with cargo airlines as efficiency initiative ramps up FedEx converts parcel freighter to heavy cargo operation The post Amazon taps FedEx for big-and-bulky residential deliveries appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
UPS and FedEx Once Handled a Deluge of Packages From China. That's Changing.
Less than a year ago, executives from FedEx and UPS were talking about how they were handling a flood of packages from China to American consumers. 'Explosive' is how Carol Tomé, UPS's chief executive, in July described the volume of shipments from e-commerce companies selling Chinese goods in the United States. And FedEx's chief customer officer, Brie Carere, said about those companies in June, 'No one carrier can serve their entire needs.' But that torrent is expected to slow to a trickle after President Trump on Friday closed a loophole that had allowed cheap goods from China to enter the United States without paying tariffs. The business of transporting hundreds of millions of low-value shipments on as many as 60 freighter flights a day between China and the United States could now wither. A falloff in such shipments could deprive companies like UPS, FedEx and DHL of a big source of revenue. Airlines, mainly those that carry only cargo, and smaller logistics companies could also suffer. Passenger airlines may also be hurt somewhat because they carry some of those packages, too. UPS said last week that it expected the revenue from shipping packages from China to the United States — its most profitable trade lane — to decline roughly 25 percent in the second quarter of this year, from a year earlier. UPS also announced that it would cut 20,000 jobs this year as part of a long-term plan to reduce costs, and said 'macroeconomic uncertainty' prevented it from updating its forecasts for revenue and profits for 2025. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FedEx's China-to-US fee returns as it preps for de minimis changes
This story was originally published on Supply Chain Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Supply Chain Dive newsletter. FedEx is levying a demand surcharge for parcel shipments from China, Hong Kong and the Philippines entering the U.S. starting Tuesday, according to a notice from the delivery giant. The fee, which ends May 2, is $0.45 per pound with a minimum charge of $1 for each shipment. FedEx previously instituted the surcharge on imports from those countries between September and January at a $1 per-pound rate. "FedEx continues to make adjustments within our network to best deliver for our customers," per the notice. UPS implemented a similar fee on Sunday, charging $0.29 per pound for shipments from China, Hong Kong and Macau going to the U.S., but it did not list an end date for that surcharge. FedEx and UPS are reinstating China-to-U.S. surcharges as volatility on the trade lane persists. Many shippers are pushing to bring inventory into the U.S. earlier than normal as they seek to limit their exposure to tariffs installed by the Trump administration. Many cross-border parcel shippers lean on the de minimis exemption, which enables shipments less than $800 to enter the U.S. duty free, to avoid added costs like tariffs. But the exemption will no longer apply to products from China and Hong Kong starting May 2, with other countries to follow once systems are in place to collect duty revenue. On that date, FedEx will adjust the fees it charges for clearing de minimis-eligible imports through customs. FedEx shipments imported into the U.S. with a customs value of $800 or less will begin seeing a Disbursement Fee of $4.50 or 2% of duty and tax, whichever is greater, per the company's service guide. The fee applies to its international package and express freight services. If a shipper uses a third-party billing service in which duties and taxes are paid outside of the destination country, they will be charged a Duty and Tax Forwarding Fee instead. Through the surcharge, sub-$800 shipments will be charged the greater amount of $8.50 or 2% of duty and tax starting May 2. The cost of both fees will remain unchanged for shipments of more than $800, according to the service guide. FedEx rolled out the surcharge adjustments after executives expressed confidence in a March earnings call that the company's clearance capabilities were ready for any de minimis changes. EVP and Chief Customer Officer Brie Carere said FedEx was working with customers to help them navigate the market as well. "Probably the largest impact would be customers coming out of the Asia market, and so from an operational perspective, we feel very ready to execute the necessary change," Carere said. While de minimis shipments direct to consumers have helped fuel growth in a soft parcel market, the majority of FedEx's export volume remains linked to business-to-business shipments, EVP and CFO John Dietrich said on the call. Recommended Reading UPS reinstates China-to-US fee — with no end date
