Carrier changes are picking up speed—and starting to impact both costs and service expectations across the industry.

In this episode, Tim Ranagan and Lori Boyer from EasyPost break down recent updates from USPS, FedEx, and Amazon. Their conversation focuses on rising surcharges, faster delivery options, and the growing role of Amazon Shipping.

USPS is introducing its first-ever fuel surcharge, signaling a shift in how the carrier handles cost volatility.

Lori explains that while the change is framed as temporary, it reflects broader pressure across the industry as fuel prices and geopolitical factors continue to fluctuate.

She says, “I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more surcharges. … We're at the point where [carriers are] really struggling with costs. So we are seeing more of those costs being carried over to shippers in general.”

FedEx’s new same-day service with two-hour delivery windows shows how major carriers are pushing toward faster fulfillment.

These options are exciting, but they’re also expensive, and Lori reassures smaller businesses that they don’t necessarily need to offer customers same-day services. While buyers care a lot about reliability, she notes, they’re “not necessarily pushing speed as much as we sometimes think.”

Amazon is continuing to invest heavily in its logistics network, including a $4 billion push to expand rural delivery and reach more underserved areas.

At the same time, Amazon Shipping is gaining traction as a carrier option within multi-carrier strategies.

Lori explains that many businesses are testing it and seeing strong results, adding that “the data shows that Amazon Shipping is becoming a really big player in the carrier industry.” With tools like Luma AI that compare carrier performance across cost, speed, and reliability, more shippers are shifting volume based on what actually performs best.

• Connect with Lori on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loribboyer/
• Connect with Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-ranagan-mba-2717bb125/
• Visit EasyPost’s website: https://www.easypost.com/

In this episode, Tyler Diestel, senior product manager at EasyPost, joins Lori to discuss EasyPost’s latest shipping AI tool: Luma AI Advisor. Tyler explains what Luma AI Advisor is, how it works, and the impact it can make for SMB and enterprise shippers alike.

Luma AI Advisor is an LLM, or large language model. Like tools such as ChatGPT or Claude, Luma AI can process natural-language questions and generate human-like responses. But unlike generic chatbots, Luma AI was built for one purpose: to streamline parcel shipping.

Tyler says, “We have this amazing product suite called Luma AI. It … gives our shippers insights into a treasure trove of data. The problem is that a lot of times we provide too much data, and it overwhelms our shippers. … So with Luma AI Advisor, instead of having to sift through the various dashboards, [users] can just chat with this nice little chatbot to find their answers directly.”

He also explains why it’s much more effective than ChatGPT or Claude: “Those are answering high-level questions. This LLM has all your shipping data, so it knows exactly what you have done and what you can do to reach your goals.”

According to Tyler, Luma AI is trained on data from two sources: your own shipping operations and EasyPost’s billions of historic shipments. This makes it incredibly accurate when it comes to finding cost- and time-saving opportunities.

“This LLM is trained on your data, but it also takes advantage of our AI models that produce our time-in-transit predictions. … By using our AI-generated predictions, you are leveraging the billions of shipments that we've seen.”

Tyler shares a few examples of questions that Luma AI can answer:

1. How much do I actually save by adding Amazon to my carrier mix?
2. What carrier has the highest on-time percentage?
3. What carrier do I spend the most on?

He’s also excited for future updates, which will allow Luma to help with even more shipping tasks, such as explaining how to enable a new carrier or recommending the best carrier for shipping HAZMAT.

1. Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tdiestel/
2. Learn more about Luma AI: https://www.easypost.com/products/luma-ai/

Just a few weeks ago, the tense situation in the Middle East reached a boiling point when the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran.

Now, as the effects of the conflict ripple across the world, everyone has the same question: How will this affect global trade?

Sal Mercogliano, maritime shipping expert and host of the YouTube channel What’s Going On With Shipping?, joins Lori to help answer that question. Sal shares a nuanced analysis of how the crisis has already affected shipping and what will happen going forward.

To understand why the war in Iran will have such a major impact on shipping, you first need to understand choke points. Sal describes them as “narrow little areas where [ocean] traffic funnels together.” And one of the biggest choke points in the world is the Strait of Hormuz, where the Persian Gulf meets the Indian Ocean.

Sal explains, “Since the United States and Israel struck Iran … shipping has stopped going through.” And unfortunately, “There's no shortcut here. There's no … ‘Let's go around the Persian Gulf.’ You can't. You've got to go through the strait.”

This bottleneck will result in higher costs to businesses and consumers across the world.

While much of our oil comes from the Middle East, there are other sources. According to Sal, we’ll probably begin relying more heavily on places like the United States, Nigeria, and Venezuela for oil.

But that solution comes with its own challenges.

Sal explains, “You have to take natural gas and liquefy it, which means you put it into a ship by cooling it. … There's only a finite number of those ships. You have to go further distances, and there's a set amount you can ship because there's finite [resources] available.”

Even when the conflict ends, Sal expects that shipping will be disrupted.

He compares it to driving down the highway: “All of a sudden, traffic comes to a stop for some reason … because there was an accident there an hour ago and it just hasn't cleared up yet. For almost every day of an incident, it takes three to four to clear it out.”

While we’re waiting for things to stabilize, Sal recommends that businesses stay informed about global events and look for ways to incorporate more flexibility into their shipping operations.

1. Connect with Sal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salvatore-mercogliano-ph-d-what-s-going-on-with-shipping-95437729/
2. Check out What’s Going On With Shipping? on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wgowshipping