As cross-border e-commerce continues to reshape the postal sector, compliance has become a critical part of efficient international delivery. UPU Consultative Committee member Avalara is helping to address this challenge through AI-enabled trade compliance solutions that support customs, tax and regulatory workflows across markets.
Avalara’s platform, Avi, is designed to support organizations in managing complex tax and trade compliance processes. It can assist with compliance queries, support the classification of goods, facilitate the calculation of applicable duties and taxes, and guide workflows linked to international trade documentation. The platform draws on Avalara’s tax and trade compliance infrastructure, including regulatory content covering more than 190 countries.
For postal operators and logistics partners, the ability to accurately manage duties, taxes, tariff classifications and documentation is increasingly important in the movement of goods through the international postal network. Delays, inconsistent data and manual processes can affect service quality, customer trust and the overall efficiency of cross-border exchanges.
According to Danny Fields, Executive Vice-President and Chief Technology and Customer Operations Officer at Avalara, Avi for Tax Research – an AI-powered agent – is an example of how Avalara’s trusted tax content can be used to provide immediate and reliable answers to complex tax and trade questions.
“Avalara’s technology mission is to equip customers with reliable, intuitive tools that simplify their work and accelerate business outcomes,” said Fields.
For the postal sector, these capabilities are relevant as operators continue to respond to rising parcel volumes, changing customs requirements and growing expectations from e-commerce customers. Stronger compliance processes can help to reduce administrative burdens, improve data quality and support smoother cross-border delivery.
A practical example from Avalara’s public customer stories involves an international and domestic shipping carrier that supports around 50,000 merchants selling globally through marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Etsy. The carrier uses Avalara’s AI suite to help address cross-border pain points such as customs complexity, package rejection, delivered duty paid requirements and unexpected buyer costs. Reported outcomes include improved compliance, greater accuracy, higher customer satisfaction, business growth and enhanced competitive positioning.
Avi is also designed with human review and approval steps within compliance workflows. This is particularly important in areas such as customs declarations, tariff classification and audit readiness, where automation can support efficiency but accountability must remain clear.
“Agentic compliance marks a fundamental shift from workflows supported by AI to workflows executed by AI,” said Jayme Fishman, Executive Vice-President and Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Avalara.
Avalara’s work reflects the wider role that digital tools can play in modernizing postal operations. As the postal sector continues to invest in digital transformation, compliance technology can support greater transparency, resilience and interoperability across the supply chain.
The company has applied elements of its tax research and platform solutions in other logistics and business environments, including with Averitt Express, Set Solutions and Electric Motor Supply Company (EMSCO). These examples point to the potential of AI-supported compliance tools to reduce manual research, improve operational efficiency and support more consistent compliance processes.
Through its participation in the UPU Consultative Committee, Avalara brings private-sector expertise in tax technology, compliance and digital trade infrastructure to discussions on the future of the postal ecosystem. Its contribution supports broader UPU priorities linked to cross-border e-commerce, digital transformation, data quality and the modernization of international postal services.
Looking ahead, Avalara aims to continue exploring ways in which its compliance technology can support the specific needs of postal operators and the wider postal supply chain. This includes identifying practical use cases, strengthening collaboration with sector stakeholders and supporting more efficient, transparent and trusted cross-border trade processes.
By addressing one of the more technical but increasingly important areas of postal operations, Avalara’s solution demonstrates how UPU Consultative Committee members can continue to contribute specialized expertise to the development of a more connected and resilient global postal network.