The U.S. Postal Service and Amazon are teaming up on a pilot program designed to expand same-day delivery for Amazon packages entering the Postal Service network later in the day.
Under the program, Amazon shipments arriving at USPS facilities between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. local time can be sorted by postal clerks and delivered by city mail carriers between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. that same day, according to a Sept. 21 memo published by postal news website Postaltimes.com.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the pilot to Supply Chain Dive.
The program was scheduled to begin Tuesday at the Morgantown, West Virginia, sorting and delivery center and the Lake Havasu City, Arizona, facility, according to the memo issued by the National Association of Letter Carriers union.
Each location will be limited to 200 packages and will operate with three required delivery routes during the pilot. No end date has been announced.
For Amazon, the additional afternoon delivery drop adds another option alongside its usual morning package handoff to USPS facilities.
Although Amazon has significantly expanded its own delivery capabilities in recent years, the e-commerce company continues to rely on the Postal Service for a portion of its package volume.
“The additional scheduled ‘drop’ of Amazon packages at USPS facilities on top of the typical morning drop will expand services and options for customers,” Amazon spokesperson Terrence Clark said in an email.
That could be particularly relevant for orders placed later in the day.
“For example, orders placed later in the day would now be eligible for same day delivery through this pilot,” Clark said. “The process is the same otherwise.”
The pilot supports Amazon’s broader push to increase the availability of same-day delivery as the company responds to growing demand for faster fulfillment, particularly for food and essential goods.
Amazon has already introduced one-hour and three-hour delivery options this year. The company has also announced plans to expand its drone delivery coverage sixfold, with drone shipments capable of reaching some customers in as little as 30 minutes.
The USPS-Amazon initiative is beginning on a limited scale, but the program is scheduled to expand. The Postal Service’s Columbia, South Carolina, sorting and delivery center is slated to join the pilot on Oct. 20, with a volume limit of 500 packages and five required delivery routes, according to the union memo.
Amazon package volume is also an important source of revenue for the financially challenged Postal Service. Amazon said it has spent more than $5 billion with USPS in recent years.
The two companies also reached a scaled-back shipping agreement earlier this year, further defining their relationship as Amazon continues to build out its own logistics network while maintaining USPS as a delivery partner.
For the Postal Service, making greater use of its extensive U.S. network has become one avenue for supporting its finances while improving delivery speeds.
In January, USPS launched a bidding process allowing shippers to reserve capacity at last-mile facilities. Successful bidders can bring package volume directly to those facilities for same-day or next-day delivery, according to the Postal Service’s initiative.
The latest Amazon pilot therefore fits into a broader effort by USPS to make greater use of its last-mile infrastructure while offering faster delivery options to commercial shippers.
The USPS did not comment on the pilot by the time of publication.
