Postal Hub podcast

An Post CEO David McRedmond is my special guest this week, talking about the postal workforce: How sustainability relates to the concept of decent work What offering decent work means for the workforce and for customers The connection between the post and the community The flexibility of other work engagement models (such as the gig economy) The pressure and innovation springing from e-commerce Th...

To kick off this episode, Marek Różycki (Last Mile Experts) and I discuss parcel hold times at parcel lockers. Then we get a bit carried away, covering: How long a parcel should be held at a parcel locker Refilling parcel lockers multiple times per day How to encourage customers to collect parcels faster Linking event management systems to customer rewards I'm pleased to welcome back Ivan Čulo, CE...

In the wake of probably the most tumultuous week in the Universal Postal Union's history, UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein is my special guest. In this interview, we discuss: Background to the debate over the compensation system How discussions progressed over an extended period Resistance to attempts at reform Tensions between different countries at the negotiating table When countries can...

This week is all about the USA. First of all, three announcements from the US Postal Service, then a look at the recent UPU Extraordinary Congress. John Callan, Managing Director of Ursa Major Associates, joins me for some extra commentary: USPS's current parcel locker network Should the parcel lockers be carrier agnostic or carrier specific? A very big contract for delivery vehicles at the USPS T...

Doddle Chief Commercial Officer Mike Richmond joins me to discuss the reinvention of delivery: Why customers make the delivery choices they do - a behavioural science approach How "nudge" works - and what it could mean for e-commerce and delivery The manifesto for reinventing delivery! Improving co-ordination - can retailers work together to make sure the customer receives parcels when and where t...

Marek Różycki ( Last Mile Experts ) discusses carrier-specific and carrier-agnostic parcel lockers: What this means in terms of parcel volumes in the network Cost of setting up the network Then Mark Fallon, CEO and President of the Berkshire Company , joins me to discuss letter pricing in the age of parcels: Australia Post's application to increase the basic postage rate The forces driving costs i...

Marek Różycki ( Last Mile Experts ) discusses research on the out-of-home delivery market (parcel lockers and PUDOs) in Poland: Why the Polish out-of-home delivery market is important to understand What's driving the push for delivery to parcel lockers and PUDO points Size of the various parcel locker networks in Poland compared to other European markets Carrier agnostic or carrier specific? Compa...

Marek Różycki ( Last Mile Experts ) and I preview our seminar and workshop at Parcel+Post Expo this year, including: The advantage of being first PUDO or locker network What is holding back the development of some PUDO networks Dean Maciuba, Director of Consulting Services at Logistics Trends & Insights , joins me to discuss the world of heavy parcel delivery, with a focus on FedEx Freight Direct:...

Marek Różycki joins me to preview our seminar and workshop at Parcel+Post Expo this year, including: Unattended delivery (in-car, in-home) vs out-of-home delivery Delivery density and the advantage of being first to market Customer experience in delivery Cathy Morrow Roberson, founder and lead analyst at Logistics Trends & Insights, joins me to discuss UPS's recently announced delivery initiatives...

Marek Różycki joins me to preview our seminar and workshop at Parcel+Post Expo this year, including: Defining the parcel locker Technology and lockers Paul Donohoe, Manager Digital Economy & Trade Programme at the UPU, joins me to discuss the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA): What the TFA means for cross-border e-commerce What it means for postal operators How cross-bo...

Pieter Kunz, senior advisor at Escher and an experienced international postal executive, joins me to continue our discussion on the changing world of delivery: Striving to reduce costs while maintaining quality of service Speed and frequency of letter delivery Flexible delivery models Volume declines, automation, and head count Limitations on work hours, and part time work Combining letters with p...

Marek Różycki, Managing Partner at Last Mile Experts, joins me to discuss in-store parcel lockers and in-fridge grocery delivery: Click-and-collect and parcel lockers Location of lockers in-store or near-store Types of articles that can be collected The customer experience and putting the customer in control Returns via parcel lockers Additional purchases made by customers who click-and-collect in...

Experienced international postal executive Pieter Kunz, senior adviser at Escher, covers change management in the postal and delivery sectors: How can posts cope with change? The conflicting needs of falling letter volumes and rising parcel volumes Developing new services taking into account the USO and the dynamic nature of the parcel delivery market Key talent for change management People who un...

Mark Fallon, President and CEO of the Berkshire Company, covers recent developments in postal reform, including recent Congressional hearings: An update on the underwhelming Postal Task Force Report UPS court action on postal pricing Politicians' awareness of core postal issues Is a crisis being manufactured? Some positives from the Senate Hearing USPS Board of Governors Calls to privatise the US...

Juan Sotolongo from 722 Consulting joins me to analyse trends and strategies in Chinese e-commerce delivery: Why Amazon is pulling out of China Cultural and business considerations in selling in China JD.com exiting the Australian market Comparing Alibaba and JD's delivery networks JD.com slashing delivery costs and the impact on share price How Alibaba is managing delivery costs Alibaba's stakes...

Dean Maciuba, Director of Consulting Services at Logistics Trends & Insights, analyses FedEx Express's decision to dump Amazon: The factors behind FedEx's decision Bad blood between FedEx and Amazon What does one-day Prime have to do it? Peak season volumes Is Amazon a true competitor in the last mile? FedEx Ground and Amazon going forward FedEx capacity concerns and network renewal Then we get on...

Patrick Leysen, VP Future Lab at bpost, talks about bpost's approach to innovation, including its recent in-home delivery trial with Zalando: The importance of trust in enabling in-home delivery How new sharing platforms enable trust between strangers Impact on transparency and a two-way relationship on repeat business Creating the Parcify delivery start-up How bpost acquired Parcify Crowd-sourced...

Professor John Manners-Bell, Chief Executive at Ti Insights, joins me to analyse the causes and potential cures for the global driver shortage: What's behind the driver shortage Ensuring quality of drivers The importance of driver welfare Money! Driver remuneration Supply and demand being driven by e-commerce Women participation in trucking Government's role Emissions standards Autonomous trucks,...

Wayne Haubner, CTO at the Escher Group, talks about advances in technology in the post office world: Keeping POS technology simple while offering a greater range of over-the-counter transactions The user experience and what that means for training costs and error rates Integration between retail systems and other internal systems Communicating between different POS platforms - including mobile POS...

Amazon Prime will soon promise next-day delivery for its members in the USA. Marek Rozycki, Managing Partner at Last Mile Experts, joins me to analyse this move: Amazon: the catalyst for change in the last mile The scale of Amazon's investment in the last mile Proximity to the customer and density of fulfilment centres Shipping by air to please the customer Walmart's response - motivated by compet...

John Callan, co-founder and Managing Director at Ursa Major Associates, and co-founder of the PostalVision2020 initiative , joins me to talk about the Trump-quake in the US postal sector, including: How President Trump has injected excitement into the postal sector Is the USPS's plight all Amazon's fault? The Postal Taskforce The political interest in the US Postal Service… and Jeff Bezos's politi...

Marshall Hughes, co-founder and CEO of delivery start-up Passel, joins me. We cover: The technology and reasoning behind Passel Accessing excess capacity compared to professional or "gig economy" couriers What cocooning is and what it means for a startup - and how it's different to pivoting E-commerce returns and exchanges The experience for passers (Passel's delivery people) and why it's importan...

Pierre Morin, International Relations at Canada Post, is back to fill us in on what has been happening at the UPU: Net importers vs net exporters A detailed discussion of the three options that have been proposed: Accelerating minor increases previously agreed (including modelling of how this would affect Canada Post) Self-declared rates (the only option that currently seems acceptable to the USA)...

First up this week, a quick update on the status of the UPU's terminal dues discussions. Check out episode 146 for a full discussion on this topic from Canada Post's Pierre Morin . It's a topic that I'll revisit in full in a future episode. Then Dean Maciuba from Logistics Trends & Insights joins me to talk about a new development in e-commerce returns: Walgreens and Nordstrom (a department store,...

Nick Manolis, CEO of the Escher Group , is my guest. In a wide-ranging discussion, we cover: Escher's transformation and engagement with postal operators Technology that spans operating systems and platforms Product development and innovation Posts seeking to modernise the post office network Diversification and transforming the post - including improving the customer experience Protecting the cor...