Transcripts
Welcome to Unboxing Logistics.
Speaker:I'm your host, Lori Boyer from EasyPost, and today I am gonna
Speaker:be introducing a new regional carrier option out in the industry.
Speaker:I'm really excited about this because I know that in our community out there, so
Speaker:many of you are looking at diversifying, you are looking at additional carriers,
Speaker:and this is a really, really cool one.
Speaker:And it's kind of a sneak peek kind of thing.
Speaker:They're just kidding, kicking off.
Speaker:You're gonna know the name when you hear it.
Speaker:But I have got John Kruzan here today with us from Maersk Parcel.
Speaker:John, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Maersk?
Speaker:And that name is gonna be really familiar to people, but
Speaker:maybe not in the parcel space.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Well, good morning, Lori.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:Well, Maersk, I mean, if you've ever sat on a beach and looked out across
Speaker:the horizon and seen a, a container ship odds are that it's a Maersk vessel,
Speaker:but Maersk is much more than that.
Speaker:We're 120 year old company.
Speaker:We started out obviously in in container shipping or, or, or ocean
Speaker:carriage, but now we are a full end-to-end logistics provider.
Speaker:We are in we're a global player.
Speaker:We're one of the top logistics services companies and we are now very excited
Speaker:to, to introduce our new parcel product.
Speaker:I am so excited about this.
Speaker:So everyone today, hang in there.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about what Maersk Parcel does, if it might be right
Speaker:for you, you know, why is it different and how does it work?
Speaker:And, and all of those good details that I know that you're
Speaker:all just dying for that tea.
Speaker:But before we do that, John, we've been starting this season with a great segment
Speaker:where we are checking AI, doing a little bit of an AI reality check AI ChatGPT
Speaker:specifically is what we're doing here.
Speaker:But AI is amazing, incredible, love it, but sometimes it
Speaker:might not be totally accurate.
Speaker:And that's why having experts on the show are giving us
Speaker:this, just kinda some grading.
Speaker:I think that it's been hitting B to B plus for most of its
Speaker:answers so far this season.
Speaker:But I have asked it, John, let's see, what do we got?
Speaker:What are, what does ChatGPT think are the biggest challenges in the
Speaker:parcel shipping industry in 2025?
Speaker:So I'm gonna tell you what it says.
Speaker:And, and you tell me if you think it's missed something, if you
Speaker:think it's spot on, whatever it is.
Speaker:Sound good?
Speaker:Sounds great.
Speaker:Let's give it a shot.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:Okay, ChatGPT believes the top three issues facing the parcel industry, are
Speaker:number one, escalating shipping costs.
Speaker:Says that major carriers are continuing to announce large increases in rates.
Speaker:And coupled with all the extra surcharges and fees and all that
Speaker:complexity, you know, that, that's making it it tough for people.
Speaker:Number two, it says labor shortages.
Speaker:Ongoing labor shortages, workforce challenges that we've been seeing forever.
Speaker:And number three, consumer expectations.
Speaker:It says consumers are increasingly sensitive to shipping costs, and
Speaker:they're pushing back against high fees.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Consumers, workforce, and escalated shipping costs.
Speaker:Do you agree?
Speaker:Do you disagree?
Speaker:It didn't do a bad job.
Speaker:ChatGPT, my antiseptic old friend.
Speaker:It did not do a bad job.
Speaker:I think that obviously rates have been a concern for, for over the last decade.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And, you know, if you were shipping a package 10 years ago with the
Speaker:compounding effects of GRIs, you're, it is now 53% more expensive to ship a
Speaker:package today than it was a decade ago.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:But I think, but one of the things I'd like to kind of hone in on, which.
Speaker:Because I cheat a little bit.
Speaker:I, I asked ChatGPT myself, and one of the things that I love to hone
Speaker:in on is the idea of customer or consignee expectations.
Speaker:And I think that's one of the things, and, and quite frankly as we go through this
Speaker:conversation today, is one of the reasons why we decided to build Maersk Parcel.
Speaker:Was that, you know, consumer expectations are not only about
Speaker:the sensitivity around cost.
Speaker:But it's also the sensitivity around how, when, where a package gets to them.
Speaker:And this is really becomes very important.
Speaker:For 30 years, we've honed in on what's the customer experience in ecommerce, but yet
Speaker:that that final mile, that last piece of the post-purchase experience, it's really
Speaker:been about the carriers doing their thing.
Speaker:And I think more and more now, consumers are really starting
Speaker:to say, hey, wait a minute.
Speaker:We also wanna be part of this conversation.
Speaker:And we want to be able to start making some decisions
Speaker:about you know, when or where.
Speaker:And the least, you know, the, the least of which would be what cost we're
Speaker:paying for that parcel to get to us.
Speaker:So it's, it's something I think that over the course of, at least the last
Speaker:decade, if not the last two decades, is something that the legacy carriers have
Speaker:not really leaned into enough and have not really made those considerations
Speaker:and potentially kind of changed a little bit of their business model.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:That really, really fascinating.
Speaker:I think as consumers we are way more engaged and involved and, and
Speaker:want to know a lot more than I think sometimes the really, really large
Speaker:carriers, you know, those, those swings and changes are really slow.
Speaker:And, and it's a little bit hard to keep up with just a lightning fast evolution.
Speaker:So what, what's the grade you'd give it, A to F?
Speaker:I would give a, I would give a solid B. And, you know, I'm feeling like
Speaker:a, you know the good grader today.
Speaker:Maybe a B plus.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Another thing that we've been doing is.
Speaker:I have been asking everyone.
Speaker:This is honestly, John, just been my favorite thing so far this year.
Speaker:It just makes me feel, it is just such a reminder that relationships are so
Speaker:key in this industry, that we work together to make all of this work.
Speaker:And so who is somebody that you particularly admire from the industry?
Speaker:It could be someone who was a mentor, it could be somebody who was in the industry
Speaker:and is, you know, retired since then.
Speaker:Is there somebody that you really admire and why?
Speaker:It's a group of people, and I think they are all have kind
Speaker:of the same characteristics.
Speaker:I think that.
Speaker:I started, I started my career in logistics 25 years ago.
Speaker:So if you're thinking about a gift, it is my silver anniversary.
Speaker:Oh, yay.
Speaker:And you know, I started with Airborne Express out of Seattle, Washington.
Speaker:And, and if anybody's been around for a minute in this industry, they'll
Speaker:know the name Jerry Hempstead.
Speaker:Jerry Hempstead was the original Mr. Parcel, but he
Speaker:was also he was also a mentor.
Speaker:He, he, he taught me a lot about what those customer expectations are.
Speaker:And that it's not just about rate, but it's the whole package.
Speaker:And then you consider people like, you know, that, that are
Speaker:firmly in the industry, like Satish Jindel with ShipMatrix.
Speaker:Here's a, here's a man who knows this industry inside and out and
Speaker:likes to give his opinion about it.
Speaker:And then you take a look at kind of the, the some of the, the, the
Speaker:newer companies, the newer breeds.
Speaker:I, I, I'm very fascinated and I really like what Jason Murray
Speaker:and Shipium are doing right now.
Speaker:I, I love watching, watching the evolution of that product.
Speaker:So I think that, you know, as you start to kind of look a little bit
Speaker:in the rear view mirror and say, who are the people that influenced me?
Speaker:I think that it's, it, it's, it's the people that really kind of took the time
Speaker:to understand the insides and outs of this industry and are willing to share
Speaker:it with the, with, with, with, with, with the next generation and next group.
Speaker:I, love that.
Speaker:I love, there are a couple of things there that really stood out to me.
Speaker:Some of those people you like really were the basics, the customer expectations.
Speaker:Some of 'em were kind of the innovators, you know, how can we
Speaker:push the industry to the next level?
Speaker:But all of it, exactly what you were saying related to listening, understanding
Speaker:and sharing that information.
Speaker:Because if you do have great insights, but you never tell anyone and you
Speaker:never get that point out there.
Speaker:Yeah, that's fantastic, John.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I'm gonna look those people up on LinkedIn, see if I can follow them
Speaker:and, and get a little more info.
Speaker:So, okay.
Speaker:John, you teased us a little bit at the beginning.
Speaker:In talking about some of the challenges and, and the issues going on in the
Speaker:parcel shipping industry that kind of led maybe to Maersk Parcel coming about.
Speaker:Let, let's talk about maybe what do you feel like are the frustrations businesses
Speaker:have been facing and then how does that relate back to why Maersk Parcel started?
Speaker:Well, I, I, I think that you, you, you take a look at, you know, kind of
Speaker:the, the, the, the long view, right?
Speaker:So the runway from where we were to where we are today, again, look
Speaker:at that, you know, that 10 year span of time where we've, you know,
Speaker:where price rate has increased.
Speaker:That's one thing.
Speaker:But I think that now we're in a different type of environment and that is really
Speaker:about, we've got prices going up.
Speaker:We've got fees going up, but we've also got in, in many
Speaker:respects, services going down.
Speaker:And the idea that we're elongating service times, or we've got some carriers
Speaker:are saying, hey, you know, that those rural areas really are, are really
Speaker:expensive for us to, to, to service.
Speaker:We're gonna have to change the way that we engage after a hundred years.
Speaker:All those things are, you know, are foundational.
Speaker:But it's also about the expectation again, that the consumer has, that the
Speaker:shipper has that, what they're going to, you know, if they're going to
Speaker:give a package to a, to a carrier, that that carrier will
Speaker:move it along as expeditiously as possible and get it there.
Speaker:So their customer, especially in the ecommerce space, that
Speaker:their customers are satisfied.
Speaker:Because that customer is the lifeblood of that merchant.
Speaker:And if that experience isn't good, then that customer potentially goes.
Speaker:All of this really combines to, you know, create a, a, an environment
Speaker:where we could take a look at the market and maybe we can change it and
Speaker:elevate it a little bit with, with a new product that does new things.
Speaker:The thing about Maersk Parcel is that we are very you know, we, we
Speaker:were very specific on the target market that we wanted to address.
Speaker:Maersk Parcel isn't like a legacy carrier.
Speaker:In terms of we're not looking at being able to be all things to all people.
Speaker:We are very specifically built for the small and mid-size business market.
Speaker:More pointedly, even the the SMB ecommerce market.
Speaker:And the reason why we did that was really twofold.
Speaker:Number one, we saw that these, that's the cohort that's getting really beaten
Speaker:up, especially, you know, with rate fees, new new charges, things like that.
Speaker:But I think also is that relationship, and again, this is gonna be a theme,
Speaker:Lori, that we're gonna go through throughout this entire webcast, is
Speaker:the idea that those relationships are the lifeblood of a small merchant.
Speaker:And if that experience isn't just spot on, then that merchant has to
Speaker:do more work to retain that customer
Speaker:No, I love it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So there are a couple of things that I thought were huge.
Speaker:When you said that prices have gone up.
Speaker:I think that we often focus on that, but also service levels have gone down.
Speaker:That was just absolutely true.
Speaker:And I think that small businesses have experienced that.
Speaker:Things have slowed down.
Speaker:And so it, that percentage, you said earlier, 53% more expensive, but
Speaker:for often, many times worse service.
Speaker:I think that as well, that regional kind of offering.
Speaker:And we're gonna kind of talk a little bit about Maersk Parcel,
Speaker:where you are offered and, and, and hone in on who that audience is.
Speaker:This is kind of, I like to say everyone in the community out there,
Speaker:a little bit of a sneak peek almost.
Speaker:Maersk Parcel is just kicking off, barely opening up as a new carrier
Speaker:and will be continuing to expand.
Speaker:But right now is is heavily focused in specific areas.
Speaker:So we're gonna talk about that, John.
Speaker:But I think that some of it has to do with those exact consumer expectations,
Speaker:John, that you were talking about.
Speaker:The need for regional carriers, the need for these kind of more rural
Speaker:areas or the areas that haven't been traditionally those big, big routes
Speaker:has expanded as ecommerce and consumer expectations and demand for things
Speaker:have have grown in areas that, you know, previously weren't so huge.
Speaker:Most definitely, and I think that, you know, the ubiquity of
Speaker:ecommerce has, you know, changed the landscape you know, historically.
Speaker:I mean, this is, this, this is going back to, we have not seen
Speaker:over the course of the last 20 years or so changes to this industry.
Speaker:I mean, the, the, the last change that is probably applicable is when you
Speaker:know, UPS was, was delivering packages, in a horse drawn carriage in Seattle.
Speaker:I mean.
Speaker:This is what, and, and the changes that have, have, have come from
Speaker:the ubiquity of, of ecommerce have really been, you know, foundational
Speaker:to how the industry worked, right?
Speaker:I mean, again, it's, you know, hey, it's gonna be two day service, so it's gonna
Speaker:be free shipping, or it's going to.
Speaker:Our entire lexicon, our entire expectations have changed in a very short
Speaker:period of time, and what I think needs, what the next phase of that is, is really
Speaker:being able to, especially for again, that that small mid-market merchant or that
Speaker:small mid-market business is to give them an alternative to what they've previously
Speaker:known and make sure that alternative is number one, solving their, their pain.
Speaker:And number two is giving real value to their customer.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:One, one of the interesting kind of challenges I've often seen with
Speaker:this small business is, they're exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker:They're the kind of people.
Speaker:And if that's you out there in the community, shout out, love you.
Speaker:But often you as a, as an ecommerce small business get
Speaker:stuck using only those traditional carriers because you don't know.
Speaker:And it feels a little bit scary sometimes to branch out to alternative carriers
Speaker:and to regional carriers and, and, and it feels complex and and scary.
Speaker:But that is so not what I would ever recommend for any of you.
Speaker:There are those opportunities.
Speaker:There are so many great regional carriers out there who can help
Speaker:you save a ton of money or have a better service level or both.
Speaker:That you shouldn't just be stuck using just really those
Speaker:specific traditional models.
Speaker:So I just, I really, really encourage my small businesses out there.
Speaker:Don't be, don't let fear, don't let that keep you from being able to be really
Speaker:successful in that shipping field.
Speaker:One thing I love though about Maersk is the fact that you
Speaker:are a really trusted name.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Like you said, I've seen Maersk out on those shipping out in the shipping
Speaker:lanes, those big ships for ages.
Speaker:A hundred, 120 years, I think you said.
Speaker:So how was it then?
Speaker:I guess let's, let's step back just a bit.
Speaker:How did Maersk decide to jump into parcel and, and, and let's really
Speaker:define this audience, maybe the regions you're in right now, who is it that
Speaker:you're serving and how does it work?
Speaker:I think it's, it, it's two pieces, kind of the, the, the motivation
Speaker:you know, and, and as I said at the beginning, you know, we are a
Speaker:full end-to-end logistics provider.
Speaker:So the goal for Maersk is from, you know, a, a factory overseas to your front porch.
Speaker:And that, you know, to get it to your front porch is, you know,
Speaker:that piece of, it's the final mile.
Speaker:And this goes squarely along with, you know, what our value proposition
Speaker:is to our, our global customers is that, you know, we are an end-to-end
Speaker:provider and one of the best end-to-end providers in on the globe.
Speaker:Now what we've built here is something a little different for Maersk.
Speaker:Because Maersk typically has been, you know, their, their, their typical
Speaker:customer is a little bit larger.
Speaker:But again, in this market in North America and in where we saw real
Speaker:pain points for, you know, different cohorts within the shipping community,
Speaker:that this is why we leaned into this.
Speaker:And that doesn't not mean that Maersk doesn't have products that go farther
Speaker:upstream and services larger customers.
Speaker:But this particular product is really focused on that group.
Speaker:And the reason why we focused on this particular part of the market was
Speaker:because we realized really where a lot of those pain points were when work,
Speaker:when small businesses are working with kind of the legacy carriers.
Speaker:And, and quite frankly, again, when you're looking at rising costs,
Speaker:diminishing services, there becomes an opening there for us to develop
Speaker:something that really speaks to them.
Speaker:And I believe that's what we did with, with Maersk Parcel.
Speaker:The way that we've built Maersk Parcel in, for this particular segment of
Speaker:the market is that we've taken Maersk assets and regional partner assets,
Speaker:and we've combined them together to build a a, a PU and D, a pickup
Speaker:and delivery network that can move packages for these customers to their
Speaker:customers at a very competitive rate, at a very competitive time in transit.
Speaker:And we think that that becomes a differentiator, especially given
Speaker:some of the chaos that's happening in other, in other parts of the
Speaker:market with other, other carriers.
Speaker:Okay, so let's, I'll put on my hat.
Speaker:Let's say I'm a small business owner.
Speaker:You know, why would I choose to use Maersk Parcel?
Speaker:You kind of gave that a little bit, but you know, I'm gonna be worried
Speaker:about speed and cost and reliability.
Speaker:I, you know, how can I feel brave enough to make that leap?
Speaker:Why, why is it a value to me?
Speaker:One of the first things out of that gate that we did, which I think is
Speaker:was, was needed, is we took a look at what was out there in the market.
Speaker:And we made a very conscious effort to simplify this whole program.
Speaker:Love that word, John.
Speaker:Simplify and logistics.
Speaker:The angels are singing.
Speaker:So the idea was to, hey, wait, let's just, let's just take this down to the studs
Speaker:for a second and then build it back up.
Speaker:And so what we've built is a program that has one rate that is
Speaker:very competitive in the market.
Speaker:One service, which is three days time in transit.
Speaker:And it is wrapped in the it, it's wrapped in the Maersk, Maersk brand and
Speaker:it's, but it's also backed by Maersk.
Speaker:So it is Maersk customer service.
Speaker:A very simple, we're very proud of this, very simple claims process.
Speaker:It is you know, when you get on the phone or you email
Speaker:someone, it's going to be Maersk.
Speaker:That plus the development of partner ecosystems, EasyPost being one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That allows us to get to market easier, with less cost for the, for
Speaker:the shipper, less cost for partners.
Speaker:And quite frankly it helps our, our, our, our carrier partners to be
Speaker:able to reduce their costs as well.
Speaker:So are people locked in?
Speaker:So let's say that I decided I wanted to use Maersk.
Speaker:Am I locked into a certain number of years if I'm wanting to try
Speaker:it out, or a certain amount of my volume, any of that kind of stuff?
Speaker:None of that, which again makes it different in the market, at least
Speaker:in the attitude that we're taking.
Speaker:Is that we understand that no carrier, and I've, again, I've been, I've, I've, I've
Speaker:worked for many carriers over my career.
Speaker:Not one carrier can be all things to all shippers.
Speaker:Services can't be all things to all shippers.
Speaker:What we've developed here is something that specifically addresses the pain
Speaker:points around this certain type of shipper, which are, you know, either
Speaker:mom and pop shops brick and mortar retail locations, or small ecommerce
Speaker:brands that are looking to not only reduce their costs, but also increase
Speaker:their confidence that that customer experience with their, with their
Speaker:customer is actually going to be elevated.
Speaker:Okay, so you're not saying then, John, that this mom and pop
Speaker:shop, 'cause you said no one can be all things to all shippers.
Speaker:I loved that line.
Speaker:That was really, really good.
Speaker:If anyone is telling you that they can be all things to you,
Speaker:please, that's a big red flag.
Speaker:Step back.
Speaker:So no one can be all things to all shippers.
Speaker:So you are not saying that everyone should move all of their
Speaker:volume over to Maersk Parcel.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:On the contrary.
Speaker:We, we understand where we play, we understand where we we work
Speaker:and where we work effectively.
Speaker:Quite frankly, the way that, again, the way that we built this with the
Speaker:understanding that simplicity is key, and we are not all things, all people.
Speaker:Right now, what we, we focus on the shorter zones.
Speaker:We focus on zones one through five.
Speaker:And why do we do that?
Speaker:Well, because what we, what we want to do is because we're
Speaker:leveraging an ecosystem of carrier partners as well as our own assets.
Speaker:It makes sense for us to solve the problem of those shorter zones where
Speaker:quite frankly, if you take a look at if you take a look at data the, the, the
Speaker:data are, are, are is quite clear that the vast majority of these shippers are
Speaker:shipping within that range up to 75%.
Speaker:So our attitude was, hey, let's focus on the 75%, get that absolutely locked down
Speaker:right, and then we will expand and start to address the, the, the outer zones.
Speaker:That's a 25%.
Speaker:Okay, so John, that's perfect.
Speaker:What I'm hearing then is mom and pop stores, maybe small ecommerce,
Speaker:people who are in those shorter zones, zones one through five.
Speaker:That's kind of our sweet spot there.
Speaker:Are there any other characteristics maybe that I'm missing that maybe is a, a, a big
Speaker:green flag of, hey, Maersk Parcel could be the right solution for you right now?
Speaker:Again, looking at.
Speaker:How do we want to build a product and how do we wanna take it to market, and how do
Speaker:we want to address this particular cohort?
Speaker:We are coming out with a
Speaker:first for the SMB community, a commercialized sub pound rate.
Speaker:So we will also service from eight ounces to 15.9999 ounces.
Speaker:What if it's 15.9999?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It's a trailing nine, but yes.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Oh good.
Speaker:Oh good.
Speaker:All the nines.
Speaker:So, and, and again, this is there, there's been a few carriers that have kind of come
Speaker:out and said, hey, we'll do sub pound.
Speaker:That and, and a lot of carriers I know from, from even my days.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We'll, we'll, we'll do a sub pound package, but we'll,
Speaker:we'll charge you for a pound.
Speaker:This is the first time that we are coming out with a outside of the, obviously
Speaker:outside of the USPS, where we will come out with a commercialized marketable
Speaker:sub pound rate for the SMB shipper.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So, perfect.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Thank you for adding in that weight.
Speaker:Eight ounces to 15.9, just under 16, under the pound.
Speaker:We could get that.
Speaker:Mom and pop, zones one through five, shorter routes.
Speaker:Anything else that we're missing?
Speaker:I think that again, one of the ways that we are taking this to
Speaker:market is really geographically.
Speaker:And it's, that, again, is a, a, a bit of a differentiator.
Speaker:In my old, in, in some of my older roles, you just open it up to every, everyone
Speaker:and let everybody start to participate.
Speaker:The way that we've built this though, really lends itself to
Speaker:rolling it out into geographies.
Speaker:Now, which is interesting in retrospect.
Speaker:As we, we were doing this, we thought we were being very innovative,
Speaker:but apparently apparently a lot of other people had the same idea.
Speaker:So if you take a look at what Amazon's doing right now, they basically
Speaker:create a regional infrastructure.
Speaker:You take a look at what the USPS is trying to do right now, they are
Speaker:creating a regional infrastructure.
Speaker:And so although we kind of, we developed these ideas almost in a vacuum that we
Speaker:are coming out with a regional strategy that really leverages our carrier
Speaker:partners, our channel partners and then our then, then another piece of
Speaker:this is our retail partners, and I'll get into that in a, in, in a moment.
Speaker:But you take all of those together and then what we are for this first
Speaker:year, we will really target kind of the, the top 30 we call it, you know,
Speaker:MSAs, metropolitan statistical areas.
Speaker:Top 30 urban areas.
Speaker:And then from there we will expand expand outward.
Speaker:Now the top 30 urban centers in, in, in the U.S. Represents half the
Speaker:GDP and half the U.S. Population.
Speaker:It also includes the top nine, enough fingers here, the top nine,
Speaker:ecommerce states, ecommerce shipping states, which, you
Speaker:know, is, is fairly obvious.
Speaker:It's really anything that's on the coast.
Speaker:So by focusing on these markets first and really starting to prove out the
Speaker:product and to be able to start to you know, service the, the, the, those
Speaker:shippers, then what we really do is we have a great foundation, not only to
Speaker:expand our geographical footprint, but that foundation also allows us to build
Speaker:other products and services on top of it.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And I, I think that it actually is a testament to the, the vision
Speaker:of Maersk and, you know, Amazon and USPS and everyone else.
Speaker:We're seeing this need to build region to region so that, sometimes when we
Speaker:open the doors to everyone, a lot of stuff falls through the cracks, and
Speaker:so you can just really hone in on what is super important in those areas.
Speaker:And, and I think that's really, really critical for our audience.
Speaker:I really admire that that's what the way you're doing it.
Speaker:So you talked about it evolving over time.
Speaker:So let's talk, so, you know, I guess, how do you see it in six months, a year?
Speaker:Again, knowing these are predictions.
Speaker:No, nobody's locking you in John.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But he's lock, I remember when you said that, six months a year.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Somebody's gonna be like, John.
Speaker:You know, I, the, the way that, as I said, the way that we built this was to create
Speaker:a foundation that then we could add more products and services on top of that.
Speaker:We also built out a retail network of retail, brick and mortar.
Speaker:We're starting in the pack and ship industry, so if you've ever gone to
Speaker:a store to go ship a package, that's where that's where we're focused today
Speaker:in that particular retail vertical.
Speaker:We've got a great partner in a company called Package Hub, Brandon Gale, who
Speaker:I think you just had a conversation with, so we're, we're starting there.
Speaker:Now, why are we doing retail?
Speaker:Well, for a number of reasons.
Speaker:Same reason FedEx does it.
Speaker:Same reason UPS does it.
Speaker:Same reason USPS does.
Speaker:It is because when you are starting to deal with small shippers.
Speaker:The incremental shippers, the, the, the, the, the, the type of merchants
Speaker:may be that they're getting a couple of orders a week or a couple of, a couple
Speaker:of orders a day, which translates to a couple of shipments a week or a day.
Speaker:And so to be able to have them cons, be able to take those to a very local store,
Speaker:be able to consolidate those there, not only saves the shipper money because
Speaker:now they're not, you know, they're not paying pickup fees, but it also helps
Speaker:to lower our partners' costs as well.
Speaker:So our carrier partners and Maersk, obviously we want to be more efficient
Speaker:as we pick up and deliver these packages, and one of the ways that
Speaker:we do that is by consolidating these incremental shipments together so they
Speaker:look like they're larger shipments.
Speaker:So really we have three different ecosystems that are working together.
Speaker:We have a carrier network.
Speaker:We have a channel network, which are small business merchants.
Speaker:And then we have a retail network.
Speaker:And they, the way that this is built is that they were all built
Speaker:to work in harmony together.
Speaker:So we actually are able to lower costs for both the shipper and the
Speaker:carrier and be able to increase that that, that customer service.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So what I'm hearing as if I were a small business owner is that we're taking
Speaker:Maersk's influence and power and those relationships we've talked about in the
Speaker:industry to trickle that down to me.
Speaker:So I may not be able to get the best rate or the best carriers or the best
Speaker:you know, options out there as just this little small mom and pop business.
Speaker:But Maersk can negotiate and get some good rates and make sure that I have
Speaker:that sort of power of the, the Maersk name and, and those relationships
Speaker:that have been built in there, in place at, with your channel partners,
Speaker:your carriers, and your retailers.
Speaker:And, and then I can kind of get a little bit of an advantage of that.
Speaker:Is that, am I saying that wrong John?
Speaker:I think you're absolutely absolutely spot on.
Speaker:I think things that given what we've built, you know, a lot of people are
Speaker:very quick to say, oh, they're just an aggregator, or just a reseller,
Speaker:or they're, they're a hybrid, or they're this, or they're that.
Speaker:One of the, the, and I think this is where the Maersk brand and the Maersk
Speaker:infrastructure really comes into play, and this is a differentiator.
Speaker:Is that you can be a small shipper and you can go to regional carriers,
Speaker:you're gonna have all these different contracts, that's fine.
Speaker:But the i, the idea that this whole product is wrapped around the, the Maersk
Speaker:infrastructure really makes it different.
Speaker:And so when we start talking about, you know, customer service.
Speaker:Hey, do you have someone that you can talk to?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Is it easy to get to?
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:We talk about claims, let's simplify this process.
Speaker:We don't need we don't need a three panel judge to adjudicate
Speaker:if a claim is valid or not.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:How do, you know, how do we simplify billing as as much as possible?
Speaker:How do we simplify adjustments as much as possible.
Speaker:This is what Maersk as as, as the, the, the tip of the spear really
Speaker:brings to this whole transaction.
Speaker:And I also think that that also gives shippers the confidence in us if they try
Speaker:us once or twice to say yes, I can see this as a viable carrier for my parcels.
Speaker:One last thing I want us to talk about before we end here.
Speaker:I know we're almost out of time, but EasyPost loves
Speaker:partnering with Maersk Parcel.
Speaker:You have been an incredible partner for us.
Speaker:Can you explain a little bit about that EasyPost Maersk relationship and how that
Speaker:would work if I am a mom and pop store?
Speaker:So it again, going back down to blocking and tackling
Speaker:simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.
Speaker:When we decided to build this, we could have spent you know, six months
Speaker:tinkering in our lab and built APIs and done all of this, but we already
Speaker:had a relationship with EasyPost.
Speaker:My relationship with EasyPost goes back since the founding of the company.
Speaker:But from a Maersk perspective, we already were working with, with you.
Speaker:And one of the things that we decided pretty early on was that we would build
Speaker:this entire product inside of EasyPost.
Speaker:So it allows not only EasyPost customers, but as importantly, EasyPost partners
Speaker:to be able to access us very easily.
Speaker:It's basically turning on a switch.
Speaker:There is no integration, there is no waiting for you
Speaker:know, contracts to be signed.
Speaker:There is just just be able to, in a few steps, be able to
Speaker:start to consume the, the Maersk Parcel value offering very quickly.
Speaker:And that has, I think, it turned out to be fairly prophetic.
Speaker:I think that it's one of the things that we looked at and said, yeah,
Speaker:this would be nice to have, but once we did it, it became something
Speaker:like, oh, this makes a lot of sense.
Speaker:And it allows us, Maersk and EasyPost to go, you know, to go to market in many
Speaker:ways, to go to market together, shoulder to shoulder, but it also allows for
Speaker:access to this new product from from EasyPost customers very, very easily.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:As an EasyPost customer, I know a lot of our community, our EasyPost
Speaker:customers already, you know, we have over a hundred carriers that
Speaker:we work with, tons of carriers.
Speaker:Maersk Parcel is just really top tier and I, I can't emphasize that enough.
Speaker:They're easily found within our systems, and you can, it's
Speaker:just sort of a plug and play.
Speaker:Just get in.
Speaker:Try them out.
Speaker:Use them for a portion of, you know, zones one through five,
Speaker:what you've got going there.
Speaker:All those characteristics John laid out for us earlier.
Speaker:So, absolutely, and again, if you are a small mom and pop, if
Speaker:you're not an EasyPost customer, it is totally free to sign up.
Speaker:You can jump in and, and access.
Speaker:We've done all of that legwork to create those APIs for you so you don't have
Speaker:to have a thousand different APIs.
Speaker:John, anything else you wanted to say there?
Speaker:Very easy to see as we start to grow out our network and grow out our footprint.
Speaker:You can check with Maersk.
Speaker:You can check with EasyPost, you can check with our package hub partners and
Speaker:if we are not quite there in the place that you are, we will be very soon.
Speaker:Very soon.
Speaker:So keep your eye out.
Speaker:I want John for you to come back in about six months.
Speaker:Let's check in, see how we've expanded, see what we're learning.
Speaker:Do you commit to coming back?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Wouldn't miss it for the world.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:John, if anyone has any questions for you or wants to follow you or
Speaker:anything, how should they do that?
Speaker:You know, they can go through you know, my email address, which will provide.
Speaker:Happy to share.
Speaker:And, and they also, obviously go through EasyPost as well.
Speaker:And you know, we are, we are, easyPost and Maersk talk every day.
Speaker:So I'm sure that if you need to get a hold of us or want to know, get more
Speaker:information, there's a number of ways that you know, that a company can do that.
Speaker:Yeah, well, we are just really excited over here on the EasyPost
Speaker:side for this really amazing new offering from Maersk Parcel.
Speaker:So give it a chance, take a look at it and see how it works for you.
Speaker:But John, thanks again for being here and.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:This has been, this has been a blast.
Speaker:So fun.
Speaker:So fun and everybody, we will see you next time.
