Raising the Cost of Doing Business
Effective April 17th 2011, the U.S. Postal Service will be raising rates by an overall average of 1.74%. The hike was recently scheduled to be filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission, which needs to confirm the accuracy of the Postal Service’s numbers. The average increase is limited to the Consumer Price Index as required by the Federal Postal Law of 2006.
New rates will not impact companies with pre-negotiated rates until their current contracts are due for renegotiation. The increased rates do not affect parcels shipped by Express Mail or Priority services.
It has been nearly two years since the last rate changes. The USPS posted a fiscal loss of $8.5 billion for the first quarter of 2011; the U.S. Postal Service is in dire need for additional revenue. Total mail volume has increased 1.5% or 707 million pieces from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011, but the increased revenue from Standard Mail is not sufficient to offset the losses incurred from First Class Mail. Total Mail Volume remains far below the 2006 peak.
FedEx and UPS, the largest competitors to the U.S. Postal Service, also experienced rate hikes averaging 5.9% in the early part of 2011. However, the fuel surcharge reductions drop the increases to 4.9% for UPS and 3.9% for Federal Express.
How will these rising costs affect your business? Let us know in the comments below.
Company Introduction: Commodity: Used rail scraps
Quantity:2,100,000 metric tons (m/t)
Price: Us$135 per metric ton
Terms: CIF
PAYMENT TERMS: within 14 days of arrival of materials at buyers port of target on presentation of B/L to buyer. Inspection is compulsory.
Shipment in for 30 to 50,000 metric tons/30 days mother vessel allowed. We can be arranging up to 30, 000, and 50,000 to 150,000 metric tons continuously and exclusively until we completely exhaust the stock. Photos updates available at buyer request…Contact me on infowithjilasso@gmail.com