PUDO Inc announces 3PL partnership with logistics pioneer Frontier Distributing
by CM Staff
Agreement will help expedite increased parcel volumes, returns, and new client services
TORONTO &mdash PUDO Inc. announces an agreement with Frontier Distributing of Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York, to utilize Frontier’s warehouse space and customs-clearing expertise to expedite e-commerce parcel traffic, most particularly returns, crossing the Canada-US border in either direction.
“As we expand our PUDOpoint Counters in the United States and in Canada to accommodate increased parcel volumes, we want to fortify the competitive advantage of speed in the parcel traffic equation, most particularly as it applies to e-commerce returns,” says PUDO CEO and founder Frank Coccia. “Frontier has been in the cross-border clearance and logistics business for 40 years and have unique expertise that will help us help our retail clients receive returns merchandise more quickly and economically.”
Reducing returns costs and friction are crucial elements in reducing last-mile e-commerce gridlock in North America, as the industry has been facing unsustainable costs associated with offering free returns. In 2019, the cost of return deliveries within the US and Canada exceeded $363 billion, a number 42% higher than that incurred by the entire Asia-Pacific region.
In some industries, particularly retail fashion where customers are allowed to order multiple colours and sizes and return unwanted items for free, the cost of returns can exceed one-third of revenues, and in some cases returns costs exceed total revenue. A major contributor to the problem domestically, has been the lack of a virtually consolidated, carrier-neutral logistics Network.
Expediting e-commerce returns and reducing costs makes sound environmental sense also, as gridlock stalls and friction create stale-dated mountains of so-called un-sellable merchandise that is very often easier to write-off and dispose of than it is to re-sell or re-cycle. Currently in the U.S. alone, over 2.5 million tonnes of new e-commerce merchandise ends up in landfills annually, contributing 15 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
