UPS reaches agreement with the union, expands cooperation with USPS; Amazon invests over $25 billion in Canada | Cross-border e-commerce daily news

UPS reaches agreement with union, expands cooperation with USPS, while Amazon invests over $25 billion in Canada

【UPS reaches agreement with union to expand cooperation with USPS】 UPS and the Teamsters union have reached a new agreement involving their SurePost service. SurePost is a collaboration project between UPS and USPS, which helps UPS reduce costs and expand coverage by delivering packages to USPS for final delivery.

The agreement also involves improving working conditions and welfare benefits for UPS employees, as well as promoting employee career development and training opportunities. This helps maintain a good labor-management relationship between UPS and the Teamsters union and ensures that employees’ rights are protected.

The agreement still needs approval from members of the Teamsters union and will be voted on in the coming months.

【Amazon invests over $25 billion in Canada】 On May 31, Amazon Canada announced that its investment in Canada has exceeded $25 billion since 2010, including capital expenditures (construction of distribution and data centers) and operational expenditures (job creation).

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Regarding infrastructure investment, Amazon currently has 65 office locations and logistics facilities in Canada. In the past year alone, Amazon has opened two new distribution centers and three sorting centers in the country. Since 2021, the company has opened more than 20 distribution stations in Canada.

In June 2022, Amazon’s tech center in Toronto will officially open with three permanent offices, totaling nearly 500,000 square feet. Amazon is also preparing to launch a delivery station in Vancouver, with a total office space of nearly one million square feet.

01

North America

【Amazon AWS and Elastic NV reach three-year cloud cooperation agreement】 On May 31, Dutch search company Elastic NV and Amazon AWS reached a three-year cloud cooperation agreement. Elastic builds self-managed and software-as-a-service products for search, logging, security, observability, and analysis use cases.

【FedEx Launches Sustainability Insight Service to Track Carbon Emissions】 FedEx has launched a new service called “Sustainability Insight” aimed at helping its shippers understand and track the carbon emissions of their cargo transportation.

Through the service, shippers can access sustainability data and metrics related to their cargo transportation, including carbon emissions, energy consumption, and transport efficiency. This data can help businesses evaluate the environmental impact of their shipping activities and develop corresponding sustainable development strategies.

【Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard to Receive Early Court Hearing】 A UK judge has said that the court can hold a hearing on Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard several weeks earlier than the UK antitrust regulator had hoped. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) argues that a hearing this soon is neither realistic nor fair and has urged for a hearing to be held at the end of September or in October.

【TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi to Oversee ByteDance’s Lemon8】 On May 30th, it was reported that Lemon8’s leader, Chen Ying, is currently based in Shanghai and reports to ByteDance executive Zhu Jun. She is preparing to move to Singapore and report to TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi. In addition, Cao Zhen, the head of ByteDance’s overseas music product Resso, is currently working in Singapore and reporting to Zhou Shouzi.

【Head of Goldman Sachs’ Sovereign Wealth Business to Leave】 Dina Powell McCormick, who is in charge of Goldman Sachs’ sovereign wealth business, plans to leave the firm to join a commercial bank run by a former Goldman partner. Sources said McCormick, who was a member of Goldman’s management committee, will join BDT & MSD Partners.

【AI chip startup Tenstorrent announces partnership with LG to develop chips】 On May 30th, Canadian AI chip startup Tenstorrent and LG Electronics jointly announced that they will collaborate to develop a new generation of RISC-V architecture AI video codec chips, which may provide potential support for LG’s future high-end TVs and automotive products, as well as Tenstorrent’s data center products.

02

Europe

【Significant decline in May’s Economic Sentiment Indicator in Eurozone】 According to survey data released by the European Commission on May 30th, the Eurozone’s Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) in May had the largest drop since September last year, well below the market’s expected median. From the main components of the ESI economic sentiment index in that month, the confidence indices of industry, retail, and services all decreased significantly from the previous month, falling short of expectations; the confidence index in construction still continued to decline, and consumer confidence only slightly improved. Among the countries, except for France which saw an increase in the index from the previous month, all major economies experienced a significant decline.

【Belgium’s inflation rate in May drops to 5.2%】 Data released by the Belgian Federal Ministry of Finance on May 30th local time showed that Belgium’s inflation rate in May fell from 5.6% in April to 5.2%. The main reason for the decline in inflation rate is the decrease in energy costs.

【Switzerland’s economy achieved slight growth in the first quarter of the year】 According to the latest economic data from the Swiss Federal Government on May 30th local time, the Swiss economy achieved slight growth in the first quarter of 2023, with a gross domestic product growth of 0.6% from January to the end of March.

【German antitrust regulator expands investigation into energy suppliers】 German antitrust regulator stated on Tuesday that it is expanding its investigation into whether energy suppliers are abusing energy price caps. The regulator had previously stated that it was investigating whether gas suppliers were overcharging customers, but now a wider investigation will involve the behavior of more than 100 heating supply companies.

【Carrefour reportedly to cut nearly 1,000 jobs at its French headquarters】 On May 30th, it was reported that Carrefour will cut nearly 1,000 jobs at its French headquarters. According to insiders, Carrefour will carry out the layoffs on a non-compulsory basis and plans to start negotiations with employee representatives in the next few days.

03

Other regions

【South Korea’s retail sales in April reach KRW 14.08 trillion, up 4% YoY】 On May 30th, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Tuesday that due to the increase in outdoor activities and various promotional activities of large discount stores, retail sales in South Korea in April increased by 4% year-on-year.

Last month, the total sales of 25 major offline and online retailers in South Korea reached KRW 14.08 trillion (approximately USD 10.67 billion), compared with KRW 13.54 trillion in the same period last year.

【Toyota’s global output in April up 13%, hitting a new high for the same period】 Toyota Motor Corporation announced on the 30th of May that its global output in April was 787,800 vehicles, an increase of 13.8% from the same period last year, setting a new record high for April’s output. Last year, due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the tight supply and demand of semiconductors, production was reduced. This time, due to the base effect, both sales and production increased year-on-year. This is the fourth consecutive month that Toyota has achieved a year-on-year increase in global production.

【Nestle and Unilever announce new CFO appointments】 On May 30th, Nestle and Unilever announced the appointment of new CFOs.

Among them, Nestle stated that François-Xavier Roger, who has been serving as Executive Vice President and CFO for 8 years, has decided to step down and “pursue new career challenges.” Anna Manz, currently CFO and board member of the London Stock Exchange Group, will be his successor.

BYD wins bid for a new industrial site in Shenzhen at a cost of CNY 1.368 billion On May 30th, BYD won a new industrial site in Longgang at a cost of CNY 1.368 billion, planning to build a global research and development center and advanced manufacturing base.

The Baltic Dry Index falls for the 13th consecutive day The Baltic Dry Index continued to fall on Tuesday, marking the 13th consecutive trading day of decline and reaching the lowest level in nearly three months. The Baltic Dry Index fell 49 points or 4.2% to 1129 points, the lowest level since March 1. The Capesize Index fell 39 points or 5.3% to 1594 points. The average daily profit of Capesize vessels fell by $735 to $13221. The Panamax Index fell 29 points or 2.6% to 1090 points, the lowest in more than three months. The average daily profit of Panamax vessels fell by $261 to $9811. The Supramax Index fell 36 points or 3.8% to 910 points.

eBay Japan launches commission rebate campaign On May 30th, eBay Japan launched the Do It Now! eBay Challenge Campaign, offering commission rebates to sellers who successfully join the eBay market and make transactions.

The campaign runs from May 15th to June 23rd. During the campaign, sellers who have posted items on eBay for the first time, whether individuals or companies, can receive a commission rebate of up to $200 for successfully selling their products.

eBay Canada and FedEx launch a lottery campaign On May 30th, eBay Canada announced that it has partnered with FedEx to launch a lottery campaign for sellers. Sellers who print FedEx shipping labels on eBay Labels between May 29th and June 30th have the opportunity to win gifts and transportation coupons worth up to CAD 4250.

【Shopify Introduces New Functionality for Calculating Tariffs/Import Taxes】 On May 30th, Shopify added a new feature to calculate tariffs and import taxes in draft orders, making it easy for customers and sellers to see the actual checkout fees.

The cost of tariffs and import taxes is an estimated cost based on the available information at the time the customer places the order. Inaccurate product information (such as missing shipping country/region or incorrect HS codes) may result in additional tariffs being charged when the product is delivered. Enabling the functionality to collect tariffs and import taxes at checkout will require international orders to pay tariffs and import taxes.

【Lazada Reminds Sellers to Set Gift Prices in Compliance with Customs Regulations】 On May 30th, it was reported that Lazada announced that since customs has clear regulations on the price of gifts, please follow these rules when setting gift prices in the seller center (such as setting gifts through the Gift with Purchase page):

First, sellers should set the selling price based on the actual value of the gift.

Second, taxes and fees will be charged based on the actual value of the gift according to the tax policies of each site.

【Shopee Seller Center is Being Upgraded with Completion on June 1st】 On May 30th, to make it easier for Chinese sellers to manage cross-border direct mail stores (CB SLS) and localized fulfillment third-party warehouse stores (CB 3PF) in the Chinese seller center (CNSC), Shopee will migrate third-party warehouse stores (3PF) operated by sellers in the local seller center (Local SC) to the Chinese seller center (CNSC).

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