USPS to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays

Wow, Amazon. Just...wow.

As to how Amazon pulled this one together…I’m stumped. The U.S. Postal Service—known for recently cutting mail delivery to five days a week from six—will now be delivering Amazon packages on Sundays in select cities.

Amazon waved its magic We-Clearly-Don’t-Care-About-Our-Margins wand and poof—you now have deliveries on Sunday, just in time for the holiday season. For now, the full seven-day delivery service is only available in Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas, but it was gradually roll out to more cities in 2014, starting with Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, and Phoenix.

“As online shopping continues to increase, the Postal Service is very happy to offer shippers like Amazon the option of having packages delivered on Sunday,” said Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe, in a statement. “With this new service, the Postal Service is now delivering packages seven days a week in select cities. Customers can expect the same reliable and valued service that the Postal Service currently provides.”

Donahoe’s statement suggests that the U.S. Postal Service may expand this service to other e-commerce companies, but a USPS spokesperson tells me that for now, the Postal Service has only made this agreement with Amazon.

The announcement comes not long after the Postal Service cut mail deliveries to five days a week from six. Packages continue to be delivered six days a week, but mail will only be delivered Monday through Friday.

That said, the holiday season is upon us and the USPS is expecting some heavy loads this season. The USPS is expecting competitive package volume to increase 12% over last year to some 420 million packages delivered between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve. Some 545 million pieces of mail are expected to be processed every day during the holiday season, for a total of 15 billion pieces of mail delivered between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve.

The USPS expects the busiest day for mail deliveries to be Wednesday, December 18, and the busiest day for package deliveries to be Thursday, December 19. Most people will be mailing their holiday cards and gifts on Monday, December 16, on which day some six million people across the U.S. will be visiting their local post office.

“If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can order a backpack for your child on Friday and be packing it for them Sunday night,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide operations and customer service, in a statement. “We’re excited that now every day is an Amazon delivery day and we know our Prime members, who voraciously shop on Amazon, will love the additional convenience they will experience as part of this new service.”

Though the press release emphasizes Prime subscribers, an Amazon spokesperson tells me that the service will be available to all Amazon customers. 

Image source: paidcontent