DHL Cutbacks to Impact Online Retailers

[mandy]

The cutbacks announced this week by delivery service DHL will force online retailers to update their shipping software and likely will mean changes in shipping labels, say executives at shipping software vendor Kewill Americas. And larger e-retailers that ship in bulk directly to DHL hubs may have to revise their operations, they say.

DHL announced Wednesday a $2 billion restructuring of its U.S. Express delivery service, which DHL says will lose $1.3 billion this year. The plan includes closing 34% of the company’s stations in the U.S., outsourcing air transport within the U.S. to UPS and having the U.S. Postal Service take over delivery of shipments in rural areas that represent about 4% of DHL’s U.S. delivery volume...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=26571

[xwpopper]

[quote author=mandy link=topic=17952.msg70582#msg70582 date=1212661099]

The cutbacks announced this week by delivery service DHL will force online retailers to update their shipping software and likely will mean changes in shipping labels, say executives at shipping software vendor Kewill Americas. And larger e-retailers that ship in bulk directly to DHL hubs may have to revise their operations, they say.

DHL announced Wednesday a $2 billion restructuring of its U.S. Express delivery service, which DHL says will lose $1.3 billion this year. The plan includes closing 34% of the company’s stations in the U.S., outsourcing air transport within the U.S. to UPS and having the U.S. Postal Service take over delivery of shipments in rural areas that represent about 4% of DHL’s U.S. delivery volume...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=26571
[/quote]

That article goes right along with this from the first of the year:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRele...BW20080109

They aren't planning to abandon the U.S. but will be making it very difficult for businesses to use. Outsourcing labor to other U.S. workers... what a novel approach!

[mandy]

Update: DHL to close its US DHL Express operations:

In an announcement surprising few logistics industry watchers, Deutsche Post, parent company of DHL, said this morning it is shutting down its DHL Express business in the U.S. as of Jan. 30, 2009.

DHL Express will discontinue all domestic air and ground services within the U.S. -- but will continue to offer international service. The company said it is shutting down all ground hubs and reducing the number of stations from 412 to 103.

What’s more, DHL is cutting 9,500 jobs...

full article: http://multichannelmerchant.com/opsandfu...c-service/