Supply Chain by the Numbers for Week of Dec. 13, 2012

Supply Chain by the Numbers

- Dec. 13, 2012

eBay Drives Same Day Delivery; Michigan Makes 24; What Kind of Green Do Developing Economies Really Want? Fred Smith was Smiling on Monday



50
About the number of independent couriers eBay is using in its pilot of a local delivery service in the San Francisco area. That as the "same day deliver wars" – or at least pilots – heat up between eBay and Amazon.com, Walmart, Google, the US Post Office and more. eBay’s approach is a bit different, using couriers instead of a major parcel service, and those drivers (making $12.95/hour plus mileage) bring one of the available local retail store items almost anywhere – like say a croquet set to a party at a park. (Also see our graphic of the week.)

Number of states that are now "right to work" jurisdictions that legally permit workers in union shops to decline union membership and payment of union dues, after Michigan passed legislation this week making the change there. That comes after Indiana approved similar legislation in 2011 to become the 23rd right to work state. Of course, the issue is highly controversial and set off huge labor protests. The results appear to be positive for Indiana thus far, as many companies simply have policies that they will only expand in right-to-work states.



	19 Million
Approximate number of packages FedEx moved on Monday, Dec. 10, perhaps surprisingly the peak volume day of the Christmas season. That works out to about 200 parcels per second. Hope the FedEx conveyors held out. The company is supporting the holiday volumes by adding some 20,000 temporary workers this year. FedEx says total volumes in the Christmas period will be up about 13% this year, clearly in part the result in the continued growth in e-commerce sales, which look to be up at the same general level this year.




$60 Billion
The amount of cash a group of developing countries is asking developed countries to transfer to them over the next few years to compensate them for environmental damage from global warming and the costs to move to more environmentally friendly energy sources, bypassing fossil fuels. That demand emerged as a major theme of the just concluded and largely inconsequential UN Climate talks in Doha, Qatar. That demand on top of $30 billion raised in the last few years, and $100 billion promised after 2020 for developing countries (though admittedly not yet actually donated). Makes us wonder if the core issue is really carbon emissions – or the money.