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Dear Reader
As 2024 draws to a close, in this final LogTech News edition of the year, we'll look not only at this month's news and release notes but also at the year's highlights and a small preview of 2025.
Thank you to all our customers, partners, and readers with whom we were able to make significant progress in the logistics world this year. We're excited to see what news, innovations, and industry successes we'll be reporting on in the newsletter over the next year.
In this issue (3 min reading time)
📢 Industry news
- E-commerce: Christmas sales fall short of expectations
- New postal law: Two-person delivery for heavy packages
- Post: Fewer traditional mail carriers than ever
🦾 Release notes
- December 2024
🚀 Recap 2024
- Feature highlights of the year
- The year in pictures
🔜 Teaser 2025
- A small preview of what you can look forward to in the coming year
📢 Industry news
E-commerce: Christmas Sales Fall Short of Expectations
E-commerce revenues in October and November 2024 fell by 4.2 percent compared to the same period last year despite Black Friday. This decline is due to factors including lower participation in digital Christmas shopping, decreased order frequency, and consumers cutting costs because of the general economic situation. The weak Christmas season dampens the industry's hopes for a positive year-end result - after eleven months, there is already a total decline of 1.2 percent compared to the previous year.
New Postal Law: Two-Person Delivery for Heavy Packages
The German Federal Cabinet has approved a legislative amendment requiring packages weighing 23 kilograms or more to be delivered by two people to protect delivery personnel. This change could lead to higher costs and reduced efficiency in package logistics, particularly threatening individual and small business owners. Whether the amendment will pass through the Bundestag before the new elections in February remains uncertain due to time constraints, possible lack of majority support, and criticism from industry associations.
Post: Fewer Traditional Mail Carriers Than Ever
The Deutsche Post is now employing significantly more delivery drivers who handle both letters and packages, replacing traditional mail carriers. The company has already converted 68 percent of deliveries to this system. This shift reflects the digital transformation in postal services—as letter volumes decline, package deliveries continue to rise due to e-commerce growth. The transition helps preserve jobs, since delivery personnel maintain full workloads through increased package volumes, even as letter quantities decrease.
🦾 Release notes
Feature highlight: Task stop type
We've introduced a new stop type – a task. This generic type will soon be available to all tenants alongside pickup and drop-off types. Additionally, it’s now configurable which stop types each service supports.
Quick view of other updates:
- Advanced geofencing
- Service area in Driver apps
- Billing email address
- Uploading additional details in all statuses
Read the full release notes in our help center
🚀 Recap 2024
Feature Highlights
This year, we were able to release over 75 new features for our customers - that's 25% more than last year!
With every feature we build, we focus on delivering real value to you, our MotionTools users, by eliminating specific time and cost drains from your daily operations. For example, in 2023 we launched our Packages Planner, which enables your dispatchers to work more efficiently and save up to 4 hours of manual work per day!
With our recently introduced AI assistant, which helps you create bookings from unformatted emails or PDFs, our team has raised the bar even further in 2024.
With the assistant, you now save 1-2 minutes of manual work per stop. Imagine having 10 vehicles that need to be scheduled for 20-30 stops each - you'll save a total of 10 hours of manual work! At the same time, the digitized data allows for automatic invoice creation, which frees up additional time. If you want to learn more about this, feel free to contact us HERE!
The Year in Pictures
This year we were able to participate in many exciting events, visit our customers on-site to gain insight into their daily operations and challenges, and as reported in the last newsletter, even win the Logistics Hidden Champion 2024 award.
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🔜 Teaser 2025
For Q1, we already have several items on our roadmap to help make your business even more efficient. Among others, in the following areas:
Smarter Data Processing
Additional AI-powered tools to efficiently capture and manage, as well as smarter recommendations for your operational processes.
Extended Service Configuration
More flexibility in setting up and customizing your services and processes, including improved control over availability times and workforce distribution.
Simplified Core Functions
Optimization of key functions like 'Packages' and 'Bookings' to simplify operation and improve communication with recipients.
We can't wait to show you what's coming! We're excited for 2025 and wish you happy holidays and a great start to the new year 🚀🎉
