Sent Items #194: Sunday, July 6, 2025

I want to start by acknowledging the devastation happening in Central Texas. As of this writing, at least 50 have died (including 15 children) in the Guadalupe River flooding. At least 27 children are still missing. I’m sharing two links for donations, one for an animal shelter in Austin who is saving and treating many pets, and another general rescue and recovery organization. Consider giving, and if you enjoy this newsletter, give $5 more. If each of my thousands of readers gave $5 that would make a huge difference.

On a lighter note, for the 78% of you in the U.S., I hope you are having a nice 4th of July weekend. I’m off to Miami for the week. Working from the ocean sure beats working in land-locked 100 degree Nashville weather.

Though Nashville isn’t all bad these days. Pastis opened here last week, and I went last night. It’s nestled between the Soho House on one side, and the soon to open Hermes on the other side. Literal Hermès. The Buy One Get 3 Boot shop on Lower Broadway must be in shock that our first luxury retailer is opening in town. But Pastis was outstanding, exactly how I remembered it from my 20’s in New York City. Fun to see nice things coming to Nashville.

I’m excited for our second monthly MATT’S CHATS webinar this Wednesday at 12 PM EST. You can register here (link).

Each month we bring together a 3PL, a logistics tech company and a brand for a topical conversation. Last month we had over 100 people, and I am excited to have my friends Mark Ang from GoBolt, Ben Emmrich from Tusk Logistics, and Rob Fraser from Outway just for July’s. If you’re interested in participating on a future MATT’S CHATS, just reply to me here or [email protected] and we’ll work you into the queue (fair warning: we are booked through Q1 next year!)

You can register for Wednesday’s session here (link).

Want to watch me unbox makeup brushes from BK Beauty? Makeup and beauty gives me some PTSD from my Birchbox days, but hopefully that didn’t show in this video 😂 Love the team at BK Beauty and my wife tells me the product is amazing!

Finally, I’ll be speaking at Shipstation’s Innovation Delivered event on August 7. It’s a free virtual summit. So many all star speakers, and then myself. Keynotes are Rebecca Minkoff and Christina Tosi (hi neighbor!) Be sure to register.

Now onto some news….

Now that the “Big Beautiful Bill” has been approved by Congress. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that unraveling de minimis will increase revenues by $39 billion between 2027 and 2034. Honestly, not as much as I would have that.

We now know that July 1, 2027 is the day “de minimis” will end for rest of world (it’s already over for China origin goods). It is completely possible that de minimis ends even earlier, but what we now know is that, pending nothing unforeseen, it will not extend beyond July 1, 2027.

The bill also establishes a civil penalty for any person attempting to use de minimis entry in a way that “violates any other provision of” U.S. customs law. The amount is $5,000 for the first violation and up to $10,000 for subsequent violations. Unsure if that’s on a package level or clearance. Regardless, it’s punitive.

Pitney Bowes is out with their annual Parcel Shipping Index Report (link).

In 2024, U.S. parcel volume saw significant growth, reaching 22.37 billion shipments, a 3.4% increase from 2023’s 21.65 billion. This growth trend is expected to continue, with projections showing volumes reaching 30 billion by 2030.

In it they write that by 2028, Amazon Logistics is projected to overtake USPS, with 8.4 billion parcels versus USPS’ 8.3 billion. Once a small competitor they are closing the gap rapidly. In 2024, Amazon handled 6.3 billion parcels, just behind USPS’ 6.9 billion. By 2028, Amazon is projected to overtake USPS, with 8.4 billion parcels versus USPS’ 8.3 billion.

The “others” category comprised of smaller carriers continued growth trajectory and experienced their combined volume grow 22.6%. This trend indicated a long-term transformation in the economics of last-mile delivery, favoring smaller packages and more affordable shipping options.

Have a great week ahead! A reminder, we have begun planning dates for our Spring 2026 VIP Retreat (targeting March 2026). You can sign up to be notified here (link).

- Matt

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