Delivery companies are positioning themselves to grow market share through more sustainable, emissions-free city logistics initiatives, particularly in Europe, but this trend is going to go global, writes Ian Kerr.

Swiss Post is transporting mail for the Engadine region of Switzerland by electric truck. Two electric trucks transport mail at night from Zurich. Previously, diesel-powered vehicles were used. From now on, a pure electric truck will be used on this route, saving about 40,000 litrers of diesel and around 120 tons of CO2  per year.

Continue reading Emissions-free delivery at Parcel and Postal Technology International.

Lockourier has introduced the Luxer One Mobile App offering contactless deliveries and pickup services for its parcel lockers.

The app lets users interact with the locker and room by allowing them to manage their packages and settings all in one place.

Users can control access remotely using their cell phones, making the system completely key-free.

Items are delivered to the lockers via an onboard touchscreen, with a one-time code sent to the recipient.

Continue reading Lockourier optimized with mobile app at Parcel and Postal Technology International.

Australia is a big country with a relatively small population – which makes delivering e-commerce a real challenge. Locals love shopping online, and competition in the last mile is intensifying. A look at the state of the Australian delivery market, by Ian Kerr (Postal Hub Podcast).

The island continent of Australia is a challenging environment. From the tropical north to the isolated Tasmanian highlands, with major cities and deserts in between, the land throws up no end of tests for delivery companies.

Continue reading Australian delivery market overview at Parcel and Postal Technology International.

Chinese e-commerce giants could well be prepared to invest in the last mile in Europe. Marek Różycki (Last Mile Experts) and Ian Kerr (Postal Hub Podcast) analyze why and how the likes of Alibaba might make their presence felt in the last mile.

Alibaba and its logistics arm Cainiao have invested US$1.38bn in ZTO Express for a 10% equity stake, as reported on the Postal and Parcel Technology International website.

Continue reading Chinese e-commerce and Europe’s last mile at Parcel and Postal Technology International.

Poste Italiane has announced it will deliver on evenings and weekends. Ian Kerr (Postal Hub Podcast) and Marek Różycki (Last Mile Experts) analyze how these and other initiatives will help the Italian postal operator grow its e-commerce parcel volumes

Poste Italiane recently announced that it would expand its parcel delivery services to include evening and weekend deliveries.

The parcel delivery sector in Italy is fragmented. Just the same, Poste Italiane recently announced a 50% increase in parcel deliveries, driven by growing e-commerce volumes.

Continue reading Poste Italiane delivering every day and every night at Parcel and Postal Technology International.

Amazon is cracking down on customers abusing its returns policy. It’s a complex issue to solve, and has implications for the burgeoning e-commerce returns sector.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that even Amazon has its limits and bans shoppers from the site for infractions such as returning too many items, sometimes without telling them what they did wrong.

Amazon is known for its customer obsession and one element of this is ease of returning unwanted purchases.

Continue reading How can returns backfire on Amazon customers? at Parcel and Postal Technology International.

Delivery from Fulfilio warehouses will be via Australia Post. Fulfilio currently has fulfillment centers in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, offering same-day deliveries in metropolitan areas.

This is the latest example of last-mile operators getting into the e-commerce fulfilment world. DHL e-commerce has a network of fulfillment centers around the globe, Singapore Post operates a massive regional e-commerce logistics hub, and FedEx has its FedEx Fulfillment solution.

Continue reading The evolving world of e-commerce fulfillment at Parcel and Postal Technology International.

The wind seemed to be at Uber’s back when it launched UberRUSH. Uber had turned the taxi industry on its head and many observers foresaw it doing the same thing for parcel delivery. So what went wrong?

Uber gave no official reason for closing UberRUSH, but the fact that it never extended beyond its initial three cities suggests that RUSH wasn’t the slam-dunk success that some analysts thought it would be.

Attracting drivers
There’s currently a battle for drivers in the crowdsourced delivery world.

Continue reading What happened to UberRUSH? at Parcel and Postal Technology International.