After the sellers’ crazy restocking spree, the logistics department poured cold water on them!

After Amazon FBA lifted its shipping restrictions last week, sellers began to let go and frantically restocked thousands or even tens of thousands of items.

But the ridiculously high logistics costs poured cold water on the sellers. One seller complained: Thinking of the shipping costs ... it only took me two seconds to go from joy to calm.

Screenshot from Zhiwubuyan Community

Not only are logistics costs high, but due to a severe shortage of logistics personnel abroad, some warehouses have been overwhelmed and some international express delivery services have had to be interrupted: FedEx's back-end delivery of some sea and air shipments from China to the United States has been stalled, with goods piling up in warehouses with no one to deliver them; UPS has suspended all refund guarantee services; and USPS international delivery services have been interrupted.

According to foreign TV station: wtkr news 3, piles of packages sit outside the FedEx ground center in Hampton, attracting the attention of many customers.

Fedex Ground customer Ray Miltier captured the video Wednesday after he arrived at the Hampton distribution center to pick up a package that he said was a week past its delivery date.

Affected by the epidemic, less than a quarter of FedEx staff are now at work in the United States, and there is a serious shortage of manpower. This has also affected the back-end delivery of some sea and air shipments from China to the United States.

According to people familiar with the matter, this situation has been going on for about two weeks. The goods sent by sea and air were delivered to the FedEx warehouse in the United States early, but the FedEx has been slow to pick them up. Moreover, if the goods are not scanned, if the recipient asks about it, FedEx will inform the recipient that the FedEx warehouse has not received the goods from the agent.

For overseas air delivery agents, on the one hand, customers are anxious to get the goods, and on the other hand, FedEx is slow to pick up the goods, which makes the freight forwarders feel really stressed. Combined with reports from foreign TV stations, this large-scale delay of the US federal government should continue for some time. It is best for everyone to make adjustments according to the situation and communicate with the recipients in a timely manner.

Not only will FedEx delivery be delayed due to staff shortage, but UPS pickup time will also be delayed by 2-5 days.

In addition, UPS recently issued an announcement, which mentioned that it will suspend the UPS Service Guarantee, also known as the "UPS Refund Guarantee", for all shipments (any place of shipment and any place of receipt).

Recently, an Amazon seller posted a piece of news from the backend - USPS international delivery service was interrupted.

According to the news, the United States Postal Service has temporarily suspended international mail service to certain destinations due to widespread shipping cancellations and restrictions. Before shipping an order, sellers can check the USPS website for the latest status. To change the shipping region at any time, go to the Shipping Settings page.

In fact, since mid-April, news about the USPS's operational difficulties has been coming out. As one of the largest employers in the United States, the USPS employs as many as 630,000 people, but before the end of April, thousands of people in the company had been infected with the new coronavirus, and even more employees needed to be quarantined.

Previously, the USPS said that its business volume has dropped by nearly one-third compared with the same period in 2019, and its net operating loss will exceed $22 billion in the next 18 months. Its cash flow may be exhausted before September 30, 2020, and the possibility of bankruptcy cannot be ruled out. Without additional financial support, the USPS may close before June.

At present, air freight prices are ridiculously high, and international express services have been interrupted. Many sellers prefer sea freight for their first leg of transportation, but the timeliness of sea freight is suffocatingly slow.

Therefore, when choosing the first-leg transportation method, sellers should still consider their own product costs, weight, inventory, etc., and make a careful choice after weighing the pros and cons. Otherwise, they may really lose money on every sale.

I hope sellers can survive this logistics winter!

Source: Seller Growth Academy