Blog Archive

All blog posts

Search Blog

Be our friend

The Financial Slide for FedEx Begins...

Posted June 23, 2008

As I mentioned in my post earlier this month on the high-cost of overnight shipping, the players in that market are in trouble. It hasn't taken long for the impact of higher fuel prices to manifest itself at FedEx, the carrier most dependent on its overnight letter business.

When it costs $55 to send a contract from Seattle to New York, even the most frivolous company looks at changing its business model. In uncertain economic times, business managers are looking for ways to save money, and this dramatic increase in overnight shipping cost directly impacts profit margin for many businesses. They are asking themselves “if I am paying a $30 fuel surcharge at $4.00 a gallon, what will it be at $5?” They need a strategy to prevent further margin erosion.

So it's no surprise that FedEx last week announced that it has posted its first quarterly net-income loss in 11 years. As the Wall Street Journal reported, earnings announcements from other big transportation companies are expected to reflect a similar trend.

While it's unlikely that DocuSign has yet had much impact on FedEx's earnings, it's clear that the pressures of high-fuel prices and the need for businesses to operate more efficiently using electronic - rather than physical - systems will mark the beginning of a new era where businesses turn to the Internet rather than the Interstate to get agreements completed. While FedEx is seeing its first loss in 11 years, DocuSign is seeing record-setting growth.

Comments

KonstantinMiller's picture

How soon will you update your blog? I'm interested in reading some more information on this issue.

An Bui DocuSign Social Media's picture

Hi Konstantin,

Thanks for your comment. We try to update the blog daily. As far as this specific issue, it's as more news comes out. What kind of information are you interested in? More shipping, procurement, supply chain? General economic news? Let us know in another comment or email me at An|at|anwith1n|dot|com.

Add new comment

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.