Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz.

My name is Lem Turner, and this is the show where we get you familiar with the latest news in the Amazon and e-commerce space,

interview people in the industry that you need to hear from, and provide a training tip of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the Amazon, Walmart, and e-commerce world. So let's see what's buzzing this week. Today, we're going to go over some shipping rate increases and what you need to know about them for 2022. And then we'll dive into some of our most frequently asked questions. And finally, we'll get into our tip of the week involving Pinterest. So let's get started first with our News of the Week. Our first news piece comes from

E-cellar 365, reporting on new shipping rates being implemented this January across all major

carriers. It goes on to mention that USPS will be increasing rates from between 3.1% to as high as

8.8% affected January 9th. Moving on to UPS, though,

there will be increasing rates on an average of 5.9% and was effective as of December 26, 2021.

There will also be new extended area surcharges placed on top of those increases based on where

you are geographically and we're shipping to

geographically beginning January 9th. As for FedEx and DHL, the rate increases average between

an average, an additional 5.9 to 6.9 percent. And these are rates that e-commerce sellers and

brands are going to have to take into consideration going into 2022. So now let's move on to our

second news piece of the week, which is FedEx delays due to COVID. So this piece of news

also comes from Eastseller 365 reporting on the surge of COVID-19 Omicron infections and

severe winter weather across the country. So the carrier has reported a shortage of available crew

to staff. It's FedEx Express Air Network, as well as weather placing strain on its logistics network.

Now, FedEx is not the only major carrier experiencing issues like these.

UPS has also experienced some shipping delays as World Port Hub in Louisville, Kentucky, but does not seem to be experiencing any crew shortages like

FedEx is. As for USPS, they have not reported any delays as of yet, so definitely things

to keep in mind when deciding on what carrier do you utilize for your e-commerce business.

So let's move on to our last news piece of the week, which is the biggest one, Amazon and

fourth place for its global shopping apps.

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