Detail map of Washington, District of Columbia, United States,Seattle, Washington, United States

A: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, B: Seattle, Washington, United States

The U.S. Postal Service Will Deliver Amazon Packages on Sundays

11/11/2013

In a testimony to the growing impact of e-commerce, on November 11, 2013 the U.S. Postal Service and Amazon.com announced that the Postal Service would deliver packages in the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas on Sundays—a first for the postal service, and a service not provided by private delivery companies. According to Amazon's press release, Sunday deliveries would be for Amazon Prime members, "who receive unlimited, free two-day shipping on millions of items." Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service planned to roll out this service to a large portion of the U.S. population in 2014, including Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix.

"Getting packages on Sundays normally is expensive for customers. United Parcel Service Inc. doesn't deliver on Sundays, according to a spokeswoman. And FedEx Corp. said Sunday 'is not a regular delivery day,' though limited options are available.

"The deal could be a boon for the postal service, which has been struggling with mounting financial losses and has been pushing to limit general letter mail delivery to five days a week.

"Spokeswoman Sue Brennan said that letter mail volume is declining 'so extremely,' yet package volume is 'increasing in double-digit percentages.'

"The postal service's Sunday package delivery business has been very small, but the arrangement with Amazon for two of the retailer's larger markets, Los Angeles and New York, should boost work considerably.

"To pull off Sunday delivery for Amazon, the postal service plans to use its flexible scheduling of employees, Brennan said. It doesn't plan to add employees, she said" (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-usps-20131109,0,7390545.story?track=lat-email-topofthetimes#axzz2kLimvcy6, accessed 11-12-2013) 

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