With the existing contract between global e-commerce retailer Amazon and the United States Postal Service set to expire in October 2026, media reports published yesterday indicated that there could be some shifts coming in that relationship.
Citing a Washington Post article, Reuters noted that USPS Postmaster General David Steiner intends to hold a reverse auction early next year, which could lead to increased competition within the USPS for Amazon’s business, in the form of “offering access to postal facilities to the highest bidder, rather than directly to Amazon,” adding “it would make the company compete with national retail brands and regional shipping firms.”
The report added that Amazon is the USPS’s largest customer, accounting for more than $6 billion in annual revenue and around 7.5% of sales.
“We’ve continued to discuss ways to extend our partnership that would increase our spend with them, and we look forward to hearing more from them soon – with the goal of extending our relationship that started more than 30 years ago,” Amazon said in a statement cited in the Reuters report. “We were surprised to hear they want to run an auction after nearly a year of negotiations, so we still have a lot to work through. Given the change of direction and the uncertainty it adds to our delivery network, we’re evaluating all of our options that would ensure we can continue to deliver for our customers.”
