USPS used to deliver millions of UPS SurePost packages for the private carrier until the end of last year, when UPS renamed the service UPS Ground Saver and “in-sourced” delivery to its own drivers. But a reunion may be in the works, according to UPS.
Both UPS and FedEx offered lower-cost but slower-delivery services by handing off packages to the USPS for last-mile delivery (UPS SurePost – now Ground Saver; and FedEx SmartPost – now FedEx Ground Economy). It made sense, since the USPS delivers to every address 6 days a week.
But UPS said it experienced more delivery stops than it had anticipated with Ground Saver, whose volume declined 23% in the second-quarter, year-over-year. UPS said it has reengaged with the USPS and pointed to the Postal Service’s new leadership and its excess capacity. (See the rough transcript of UPS’s second-quarter earnings call via Fortune.)
