An ambitious new express parcel delivery company has launched in the US, claiming that it willbreak the ‘duopoly’ currently enjoyed by FedEx and UPS with small-to-medium customers.
Describing itself as “America’s new fourth parcel carrier”, EquaShip said it has been designedspecifically to meet the needs of small to medium sized business (SMB) shippers, and promised to “give shippers of any size access to the low rates that only much larger companies can ordinarilyaccess”.
It claimed SMBs could expect savings of 26-77% compared to FedEx and UPS Residential Groundretail rates, while rivalling their speed, and savings of 70-88% compared to FedEx, UPS and DHLinternational air express deliveries, while offering additional services not available from USPSand parcel consolidators.
Although originally intended to mainly serve the business-to-consumer market, particularly thoseinvolved in online retail, the company is understood to have also received a warm welcome frombusiness-to-business shippers.
CEO Ron Wiener said EquaShip’s “disruptive business model” was formed when shipping andretailing industry leaders — including veterans of UPS, Amazon and DHL — came together “to createan affordable, scalable alternative to the majors. For the past 25 years since deregulation, theFedEx-UPS duopoly has favoured major enterprise shippers, these days charging them up to 80% lessthan the little guy,” Wiener said.
The company said parcels shipped through EquaShip.com will join the millions of packages alreadyshipped each week through the same back-end delivery network that is used by Amazon and othermajor-brand retailers today, following several months of discussions and negotiations.
“EquaShip now appears as a new fourth carrier option on the shipping screens of over two millione-commerce sellers who use one of the popular order-management platforms that EquaShip has beenstealthily integrating with over the past few months,” Wiener added.
“EquaShip took a page from the Amazon playbook, using the same ultra-reliable line-haul carriersand leveraging the USPS for the final delivery leg — a technique also used by FedEx and UPS. Theaim is to allow smaller shippers to viably compete with mega-retailers offering free shipping onthe majority of their orders.”
The company is offering a ground network domestically — with service currently originating inthe lower 48 states — and an air network internationally. The US Postal Service delivers all of itsdomestic packages the “final mile” to customers’ doorstep or mailbox, and all of its internationalpackages to the foreign postal carrier.
EquaShip claims to be far faster than other consolidators’ networks, and quicker than USPS’sParcel Post, “while dramatically less expensive than UPS Ground and FedEx Ground. Within Zones 1 to4, metro-to-metro (under 1,000 miles) deliveries are typically delivered overnight or second-day,”the company said. “Zone 5 to 8 deliveries typically take 3-9 days. In the shorter zones,metro-to-metro, our delivery times will be roughly equivalent to FedEx/UPS Ground and PriorityMail,” the company claimed.
It also claimed to add significant value to services available directly with USPS, or viaresellers.
“You will not find a lower price on Priority Mail and Express Mail anywhere, and no other USPSreseller bundles in $100 of real insurance coverage with every parcel,” the company claimed. “ Of course you can drop off your Priority or Express Mail parcels at any USPS location, hand it toany USPS carrier, or get free pickup service from the USPS just like you do today. Freetrack-and-trace is always included with Priority Mail and Express Mail, too.”
Josh Leichtung, EquaShip’s chief marketing officer, also promised a far simpler, as well as lessexpensive price structure than its rivals, including elements such as insurance coverage andsurcharges in the price. “We are dedicated to total transparency in our pricing and businesspractices,” he said. “EquaShip has only one price table for all customers, with none of the hidden ‘ accessorial’ fees that major carriers routinely use to inflate their billings. EquaShip’s fairpricing policy helps to level the playing field for small businesses.”
The price structure is also based on weight and distance only
The company claimed the major carriers tend to make their pricing tables hard to compare, and incontrast intends to offer an interactive pricing map that enables customers to make instant “apples-to-apples comparisons” against FedEx, UPS and USPS, although this feature is not yet live onits website, which is only in its “beta launch” phase. However, its pricing scales are available onits website.
EquaShip said that with today’s beta launch of the EquaShip.com website, new customers are onlybeing accepted on an individual basis, in order to maintain service quality.
Post and parcels industry veteran Frans Nelson claimed EquaShip had “pulled a brilliant flankmanoeuvre that UPS and FedEx clearly didn’t see coming”, adding: “By seamlessly integrating anetwork of existing carriers who already move millions of packages a week for the e-commercegiants, and funnelling in smaller shippers’ volumes in such an elegant fashion, they haveeffectively launched the nation’s fourth carrier without buying a single truck or airplane.
“UPS and FedEx haven’t had a run for their money like this since DHL Home pulled up stakes in2008.”
A spokeswoman for UPS told CEP-Research: “Consolidators working with the USPS or Internationalposts have been around for years. We’re mindful of the competition, and it keeps us focused oncontinually enhancing our services to streamline business processes for our customers. “Small andmedium-sized companies choose UPS because of consistent reliability, visibility about shipments andtools that help them save time and money.”
She said large numbers of online merchants like the accessibility of UPS functionality that islicensed as part of other business software, such as Intuit’s QuickBooks or PeachtreeAccounting.
“Other examples include communities built through eBay or Yahoo! Small Business, where onlinemerchants integrate UPS applications for shipping, rating, service selection, etc.,” she added. “Weprovide billing data where these small businesses can directly allocate costs, populate theirgeneral ledgers or match invoices to payables. There’s value to them for the information managementthat goes beyond shipment processing. And with that we give them the different service levels tobalance speed and economy with one pickup.
“We believe this is the differentiator they see when evaluating UPS versus a competitor.”
