The U.S. Postal Service is developing a new reduced-rate, residential package delivery service with Airborne Express, Seattle. The USPS says the move will help position it as the “shipper of choice” for direct marketers.
Rates for the soon-to-be tested service will be approximately one-third of those charged by the USPS for current bulk-mail packages sent by Standard A (formerly third class) Mail. For example, a cataloger in the Seattle area would pay just $1.21 to send a two pound package to a customer in New York, instead of the standard USPS bulk-mail charge of $3.15, said Tom Brannigan, Airborne Express spokesman.
A number of major marketers have signed up to use the service, but Brannigan declined to identify them. Airborne Express will use its own planes and trucks to bring packages to local post offices for postal worker delivery.
Postal officials deny the new service is an attempt to cut into the package delivery operations of rivals United Parcel Service, Atlanta, and Federal Express Corp., Memphis, TN. UPS and FedEx have been highly critical of the USPS’ forays into a variety of non-traditional postal-related products and services in recent years.
The move, postal officials say, is designed to take advantage of the growing number of direct marketing/catalog sales over the Internet while helping the USPS recover some of the income lost through the growing use of e-mail over written, first class mail.
In a related development, Skynet Holdings Inc., Los Angeles, said it has entered into an agreement to acquire Pony Express Delivery Services, a privately held delivery firm based in Atlanta. The terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition, expected to be completed over the summer, will extend Skynet’s reach into the West, Midwest and Great Lakes region. Skynet’s net for the most recent 12-month period was pegged at about $55 million. Pony Express, with a network of 100 offices in 22 states, reported $100 million in revenue for the same period.
