Parcel-delivery industry pundits predicted at the start of 2023 that it would be the year of the shipper. For the most part, that forecast has come to pass. Now as 2024 begins to come into fuller view, indications are that shippers will be in even higher cotton than they are in 2023, or for that matter, in the past four years or longer.
The two national carriers, FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and UPS Inc. (NYSE: UPS), are pushing discounts that are extraordinary in their depth and breadth, according to parcel consultants who have reviewed contract proposals presented to their shipper clients. At a minimum, one needs to return to the pre-pandemic period to see pricing as shipper-friendly as what is being offered today, consultants said. Nate Skiver, founder of consultancy LPF Spend Management LLC, said he doesn’t recall a period of such heavy discounting pressure since the Great Recession of 2008-09.
