WTO -

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the B20 Italy, representing the global business community, highlighted the pressing need for reform of the WTO so that it can meet the challenges of the 21st century. At a session held on 29 September at the Public Forum, also attended by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the ICC and the B20 outlined the priority areas for WTO reform and the need to achieve results focussed on inclusivity and sustainability at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in late November.

See full article at:  https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news21_e/bus_30sep21_e.htm

Below are recent announcements concerning rate increases for e-commerce shipments:

• USPS August 29 2021 Increase Notice 123 | Postal Explorer (usps.com)
• Fedex November 1 2021 Increase Shipping Rate Updates | FedEx Shipping Rates
• UPS Peak Surcharges 2021_UPS_Peak_Surcharges.pdf
• DHL surcharges range from $.20 to $5.00 per piece. DHL eCommerce unit discloses peak-season surcharges - FreightWaves

Reuters -

The U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will give Europe more clout and set standards and rules for the 21st century, the EU's trade and digital chiefs said, underscoring global concerns about China's growing power.

See full article at: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/eu-says-us-trade-tech-council-boost-its-clout-set-rules-21st-century-2021-09-26/

CNET - 

If you're like me, sending a letter or package across the country through the US Postal Service feels like a game of chance. Will it get there in a week -- or two? During the first quarter of this year, around 20% of first-class mail across the US was delivered late. And now snail mail is about to get slower for some of the 160 million residences and businesses that rely on the Postal Service.

See the full article at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/usps-slowdown-starts-oct-1-what-to-know-about-new-delays-and-price-hikes-for-mail/ar-AAOO5lh?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

WTO -

Participants in e-commerce negotiations welcomed two more clean articles — on open government data and online consumer protection — at a meeting on 13 September.

Ambassador George Mina of Australia said the two articles were “foundational” for the initiative. He said the high-quality text achieved in both cases reflected the perspectives of a diverse range of developed and developing countries, and thanked New Zealand, Japan and Hong Kong, China for leading the negotiating groups on these issues.

See full article at: https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news21_e/jsec_12sep21_e.htm

Bloomberg Businessweek -

It’s mid-August, and logistics manager RoxAnne Thomas’s phone won’t stop pinging. Her faucets, sinks, and toilets are waylaid near Shanghai, snagged in Vancouver, and buried under a pile of shipping containers in a rail yard outside Chicago. As U.S. transportation manager for Gerber Plumbing Fixtures LLC, a unit of Taiwan’s Globe Union Industrial Corp. that’s based in Woodridge, Ill., Thomas is trying to overcome the biggest shock wave to unsettle global trade since the dawn of container shipping almost seven decades ago.

The pandemic has thrown the vital but usually humdrum world of logistics into a tailspin, spurring shortages of everything: masks and vaccine vials, semiconductors, plastic polymers, bicycles, and even baseball bobbleheads. For Thomas it’s complicated the shipment of about 10,000 20-foot containers of bathroom equipment she brings into the U.S. each year from China and Mexico, but it has also revealed a bigger, structural challenge.

See articles at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-09-16/supply-chain-issues-shortages-and-delayed-shipping-through-2023?utm_campaign=news&utm_medium=bd&utm_source=applenews

GeekWire -

Stuart Applebaum has heard the argument before. That, perversely, a union organizer should quietly root against non-union higher wages or better working conditions because it makes activating workers toward unionization more difficult because they have less to fight for.

But Applebaum, the union boss who is trying to organize Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Ala., doesn’t buy that theory. Which is why he was excited when he saw that California lawmakers have attempted to put into law the same work-rate protections he’s been pushing for workers in the Deep South.

See article at: https://www.geekwire.com/2021/california-legislation-aid-amazon-warehouse-workers-wont-replace-ongoing-unionization-efforts/

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) —

With the holidays and the year’s peak shipping season fast approaching, Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service are racing to hire thousands of workers.

The postal service is hosting a series of job fairs this month throughout Southern California to hire for 4,000 local positions, according to spokeswoman Evelina Ramirez.

See article at: https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/09/15/amazon-us-postal-service-hiring-spree-holiday-season/

CNN - 

Shares in Alibaba slumped again on Monday after the Financial Times reported that Beijing is planning to break up Alipay, the hugely popular payment app owned by its financial affiliate, Ant Group.

But that wasn't the only piece of news that led to the stock's decline. Investors are also concerned that Beijing is intensifying its ongoing crackdown on big tech, after regulators ordered internet firms — including Alibaba and Tencent — to stop blocking rivals' links on their platforms.

See full article at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/alipay-alibaba-stock-tumbles-after-report-says-beijing-wants-to-break-up-popular-payment-app/ar-AAOnQix?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

The Current and Future State of E-commerce | e-Commerce News HQ (ecommercenewshq.com)

The e-Commerce time line moved up significantly in just a few months by the Covid-19 epidemic...Many are struggling to understand this new world we live in but one thing is clear.  No business has a choice anymore.  You will either make the shift or struggle to keep up long after the effects of the epidemic have worn off.