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US postal service’s biggest customer EBay plans to shift more business to UPS amidst speedy delivery issues

 eBay, the global giant of the auction sites which is also one of the U.S. Postal Service’s biggest customers, has said that it is shifting some of its business to private-sector rival United Parcel Service pertaining to issues of safety, speed, and reliability.

“Customers want and expect to receive their packages in the fastest and most reliable way possible, which is why our collaboration with UPS comes at such a critical moment,” eBay vice president Marni Levine commented in a message to eBay sellers while announcing the deal with UPS.

He had previously expressed his thoughts about the decreasing on-time delivery rate of the US postal service.

The company said that by Sept. end, eBay sellers will be able to print out discounted UPS shipping labels, at a cost going up to 62 percent cheaper than the  UPS rates.

As per statistics, the US postal service had shipped more than 130 million items up till springtime last year and was its second-largest retail customer. The US postal service generated more than $743 million in revenue from eBay packages in that fiscal year while struggling with a daunting  $160.9 billion deficit.

For the Postal Service, the loss of eBay revenue could be substantial as eBay is second only to Amazon, which generated more than $2.3 billion in revenue for it during the same time frame, and whose business top Postal Service managers were fearful of losing, The Washington Post reported this week.

eBay is an American MNC e-commerce corporation based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website which involves shipping hundreds of millions of items to buyers’ doorsteps each year.

In August,  e-bay started cautioning its sellers amid growing complaints of the US postal service delivery slowdowns.“US Postal Service is experiencing significant delays across their delivery network. Please consider using other carrier options that may provide a better buyer experience”, it said.

 The US postal service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy had come out with new policies after taking office in mid-June aimed to cut costs. This included stricter, leaner and meaner dispatch schedules that forced postal workers to leave mail behind and prohibited extra mail trips, a blaming reason for mail backups across the country.

Managers under him also cracked down on overtime, which postal workers commonly rely on to complete routes. Although DeJoy has denied playing role in those decisions, the loss seems to be evident.

Congressional Democrats have claimed that DeJoy’s changes held up a whopping seven percent of the country’s first-class mail. On-time delivery rates dropped from above 90 percent to 81.5 percent, as per a Senate report.

While facing mounting criticism about abrupt changes in agency operations, DeJoy was adamantly said that he would stop removing mail sorting machines and postal boxes and would restore overtime until after the election.

The final trigger was pulled on Friday when matters went overboard as a federal judge ordered the Postal Service to halt its operational changes, saying that DeJoy and President Trump are carrying out “a politically motivated attack” on mail delivery.

eBay had been treading carefully during the Postal Service’s tumultuous months.

“We are continually monitoring shipping developments and USPS delays. We are working on other affordable, more reliable delivery options for sellers. Stay tuned for important developments in this area in the coming weeks.”, Levine wrote to sellers in mid-August.

As the election fever is heating up, e bay has been vocal on its website about its lobbying stances that it supports “a viable postal system.”

Meanwhile, an eBay spokeswoman declined to comment when asked how many sellers would likely use UPS instead of the  US Postal Service.

James Miller
James Miller
I am passionate about technology and writing. I have 10+ years of experience in working with different digital media companies. If you have an interesting story, please feel free to send a mail to james@ecommercenext.org
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