December 13-24, 2024
The last mile of the year
We're counting down the 12 days until Christmas with fun facts, tips, trends, and resources to help you stay ahead in the new year.
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Catch the signal — not the noise
There’s a lot to measure in OOH delivery — but not all the metrics make a difference. As you wrap up the year, here’s a goodie bag of OOH metrics to track to help you determine and solve burning issues and set yourself up for success!
A running chicken and postal marks
The so-called fancy cancels, artistic stamps carved into cork and wood and used by local postmasters to cancel postage stamps, gained a bit of artistic flair in late 1860s, with the 1869 Running Chicken carved by the Waterbury postmaster gaining quite a reputation — and ending up a costly item on auctions today. Some say it’s a turkey, though.
Keeping it real… time
Time for a bit of Mily Tech Wrapped — of all the platform functionalities, real-time tracking has been quite a banger this year, on repeat across our listeners’ base.
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The Pony Express
In 1860, the Pony Express, US express mail service, used a system of horse-mounted riders to relay the messages between the east and west US coast. It took only 10 days for a message to travel the distance! Talk about collaboration!
Still trending
This time last year, industry experts predicted that sustainability, climate neutrality, and the development of OOH delivery would shape last-mile delivery in 2024. With the growth of cross-border e-commerce and re-commerce, these trends will be increasingly relevant in the upcoming years.
Grinch’s been busy
Over the past 12 months, around 58 million people in the US got their packages stolen by porch thieves, prompting delivery companies to try new ways to discourage Grinch, by focusing on delivery tracing methods to assess the risk of theft in advance, as well as offer package relocation to a more secure destination until collection.
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Ghost of OOH Past
As we approach a new beginning, it’s also time to look back — examine how things were and what we can learn for the year to come. Here’s your copy of the OOH Delivery Network Blueprint, to look at how you can ensure your network continues to bloom in the year ahead.
Cool kid William
Not only was Shakespeare the first to use words like amazement, bedazzled, eventful, and swagger, he was also the first commoner to be featured on a GB postmark in 1964.
The lost art of holiday cards
Good old holiday cards are very much a thing — over 1.5 bn. Christmas cards are sent each year, with Dec 21 being the peak delivery day.
Parcels overload
It’s one hectic peak season this year — with an estimated 6.2 bln shipments to be distributed in the last three months of 2024, going up from 5.7 bln last year.
Paint it, black
The Penny Black was the world’s first adhesive stamp to be used in a public postal system, featuring Queen Victoria. Although as many as 68 million copies were printed, most were thrown away, and it remains one of the most coveted collectibles.
Chimneys are the new OOH points?
It will be a busy night for Santa and the crew, as they need to make about 842 million stops to deliver all the 530 million parcels or so for all the kids. Go, Rudolph, go!