For years, a huge Amazon contract has been one of the few bright spots in the US Postal Service’s finances. But now the USPS plans to offer those last-mile services to additional customers to stem billions in ongoing losses – a move that risks losing its biggest customer.
The USPS faces a tight squeeze. With fewer people using the mail, it’s lost more and more money: $9 billion in the 12 months ending in September alone.
“We certainly have a precarious cash position. You know, within probably 12 to 24 months, we are out of cash,” USPS Commissioner David Steiner said in a recent interview with Reuters. Simply making additional cost cutting measures won’t solve the problem, he said.
The Amazon contract reportedly brings in about $6 billion a year to the agency, money it can’t afford to lose.
But the post office now plans to accept bids from other shippers for access to the service’s distribution centers – even though Amazon says that might prompt it to pull back from the using the USPS so much.
“We’ve been working for nearly a year to extend our partnership that started more than 30 years ago,” said Amazon spokesman Steve Kelly.
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