The impact that COVID-19 has had on the world cannot be understated. While it was originally downplayed as little more than a variant of the flu, it quickly shut down entire nations. The speed of the economic collapse due to the virus was unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes. Confirmed COVID-19 cases across the world exceed 19 million at the time of writing, and deaths have surpassed the 700,000 mark. In the telecom world, people had different expectations for 2020. This year was supposed to be the year that 5G went mainstream. The fifth-generation tech standard for cellular networks

Due to the integral role they play in managing supply chains in the modern world, small package shipping & courier vendors were considered essential businesses when governments across North America laid out plans to minimize the spread of COVID-19. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s business as usual. Couriers such as FedEx, UPS, Purolator, USPS and Canada Post have had to make several changes and concessions to make sure they’re keeping themselves and their customers safe while still delivering much-needed goods. Here are a few examples of what the new normal looks like within the realm of small package shipping.

In order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, employees across the world are turning to personal protective equipment (PPE) in the workplace. As more and more workplaces reopen, safe disposal of PPE will become even more important. So what are the safest methods of disposing of PPE? And what services are available to help expedite the process?  What does appropriate PPE look like?  The types of workplace PPE can vary greatly depending on the work environment and also the services provided. PPE could include single-use gloves, aprons, gowns, respirators and face coverings like surgical masks, goggles or face shields.

According to a recent market data report from app store intelligence firm App Annie, consumers who are spending more time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic have been increasingly turning to mobile apps for their shopping, entertainment and productivity. App Annie found that app usage grew 40% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020 – hitting an all-time high of over 200 billion hours during April. Consumer spending on apps and in-app purchases hit a record high of $27 billion in the second quarter, and overall app downloads approached a high of nearly 35 billion. Such significant increases can

With so many office workers across the world now working remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, the process of obtaining original signatures has posed plenty of challenges. Tasks which are typically formalized with “wet-ink” in person have entered the strange world of online service in an attempt to respect social distancing requirements. Many state governments have issued temporary regulations or executive orders permitting wills and powers of attorney to be witnessed virtually. eNotarization services have taken off, with the process for notarizing oaths, affidavits, statutory declarations and other documents using technologies like web conferencing instead of meeting with a notary

Visa is making changes to the rates that merchants pay to accept its card. According to a report from Bloomberg, the changes will be the biggest in a decade. Visa had planned to roll out these changes in April and October but delayed them until April 2021 in light of the coronavirus pandemic.  “The exception is the planned interchange reductions in the supermarket segment will go forward. We believe this is the right decision to ensure the long-term stability of the digital payments ecosystem,” according to the missive. The exception Visa refers to is a reduction in transaction fees at large grocery

The United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA) will soon go into effect, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that has governed the trilateral trade bloc in North America since 1994. All three countries have now submitted the formal notification of their ratification, and the new agreement will come into force on July 1, 2020. This is a hard transition date, meaning that shipments that arrive in the US, Mexico, or Canada on July 1 will follow USMCA regulations. So what does this mean for your small package shipping environment? If you’re shipping packages between these three countries, USMCA

If there’s one constant about the human race, it’s that we’re constantly generating waste. Nearly everything we touch on a daily basis comes with some sort of packaging – from our food to our clothes to our toiletries and everything in between. Nobody wants to deal with garbage themselves, so we pack it up, send it off to the waste operators, and hope we never see it again. The coronavirus pandemic has had a tremendous impact on almost every aspect of our lives – and that pipeline that treks the trash away is no different. So how is the waste

You won’t find the term in any psychology textbooks, but experts are saying that “Zoom Fatigue” is rapidly becoming a common occurrence for people working from home during the pandemic.   The term started as slang for the exhaustion people are experiencing conducting their day-to-day activities through video-calling interfaces like Google Hangouts, Skype, Microsoft Teams and the eponymous Zoom. Google searches for the term have steadily increased since early March, and psychologists say that several factors are leading to Zoom fatigue.   So why are we finding these video calls so draining? How are the current circumstances contributing to the problem? And

According to a report from CompareCards.com, nearly 50 million cardholders had their credit limits involuntarily reduced or even had a card closed by their issuer in April. The same survey found that 3 in 10 cardholders are using credit cards “more than ever” since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.  Considering the impact that COVID-19 has had on the economy, it’s no big surprise to see banks reduce their lending. In uncertain economic times, banks get nervous at the prospect of their borrowers running into unexpected financial circumstances. The precedent was set in 2008, just before the Great Recession, when