Mike Critelli, Retired Executive Chairman, Pitney Bowes recently blogged that the explosive growth of e-commerce will change everything, including traffic flow patterns, how discretionary time is spent, how retailers manage businesses, and how commercial and retail areas are situated and laid out.  Bricks-and-mortar retailers will need to rethink how they make money, especially since they secure major portions of their profits from fees paid by packaged goods companies for preferred positions on the retail store shelves. Critelli suggested the fixed route delivery system is still needed, but with a number of changes needed.  Delivery systems should be designed to work for the benefit of recipients.  If people work during the week and want to receive mail at the office, the delivery systems should be flexible enough to offer that service. As a fee-based service, Denmark has been redirecting mail for over a decade. Packages should be delivered to where people can pick them up, as opposed to an inflexible delivery to a home or office. Click here to read the full story.

Carts and hand trucks help with ergonomic delivery as delivery equipment flexes to accommodate varying packages, reported Stephanie Cernivec in Beverage Industry magazine.  When it comes to beverage delivery, safety is a top concern. However, drivers also are interested in delivering more product in less time, noted Kari Michalski, channel manager for Magline Inc., Standish, MI. As operators work to juggle these two goals, many others are being thrown into the rotation. For instance, bulk loads, larger package sizes, and the delivery environment each represent an additional "ball" being thrown to the juggler - or in this case, the operator. Luckily, with so many balls in the air, carts, and hand trucks have adapted accordingly to offer solutions that enable operators to meet multiple needs without "dropping the ball." Click here to read the full story.