Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
USPS contract with FedEx or UPS (Depending on who won the multi-year Contacts) to move all 1st class, Overnight, and Priority Mail. That moves by air on FedEx/UPS aircraft. FedEx/UPS move it Thur there systems, and give it back to the USPS at the airports. Very little if any is moved by commercial flights anymore,
FedEx/UPS found by adding the USPS workload they could get an additional cycle out of there planes, but adding the USPS volume.
FedEx/UPS send the USPS mail along in there planes / Hub Sorts - that meet a SLA that they have with the USPS. The planes carry both "there' mail and the USPS mail at same time. They load them to meet there Service level and the USPS server level agreements.
Both FedEx & UPS (and a few others) do workload sharing.
FedEx SmartPost UPS Basic, Moves the small packages Mostly Biz to Consumer within there system, Then pass them to USPS to do delivery for the 'final' mile.
The low cost is what allow internet shipping to be "Free", It not fast, but it is cheap for the shipper.
The USPS has been in a partnership with FedEX for quite some time now.
Most USPS mail and package freight is carried ground or via some FEDEX planes.
International USPS shipments ship via FedEX planes. USPS & FEDEX have a joint deal, which is the GXG international shipment, which is handled by FedEX, but is accepted at usps locations. GXG will cost on average 40% more than Express, but is guaranteed and really works excellent, because it does not change hands and is delivered by FedEX themselves. You save 30% by getting it mailed from USPS vs the same postage if bought from fedex themselves.
As a long-time eBay seller, I've explored various shipping methods, and the above has been in place for quite while now.
Since someone repped my old post, I thought I would update my comments. Since this post, USPS is indeed delivering packages for FedEx -I don't know about UPS. It's called FedEx smart post and I hate it. One of the mail order companies I use regularly switched to that method and some packages have taken 2 weeks to get delivered and one was lost completely. Fed Ex isn't any help because the tracking shows it was handed over to the PO.
I can certainly see the advantage - the mailman is already making residential deliveries so it makes sense to have the freight carriers, for whom the residential deliveries are a small part of their business, hand it over to the PO who is going there anyway. Just hope they get better at tracking it.
Since someone repped my old post, I thought I would update my comments. Since this post, USPS is indeed delivering packages for FedEx -I don't know about UPS. It's called FedEx smart post and I hate it. One of the mail order companies I use regularly switched to that method and some packages have taken 2 weeks to get delivered and one was lost completely. Fed Ex isn't any help because the tracking shows it was handed over to the PO.
I can certainly see the advantage - the mailman is already making residential deliveries so it makes sense to have the freight carriers, for whom the residential deliveries are a small part of their business, hand it over to the PO who is going there anyway. Just hope they get better at tracking it.
UPS does it, too.
They were able to negotiate a deal with their unions (Teamsters, IIRC) that allowed them to offer a similar product, which they call UPS SurePost, only to B2C (business to consumer) customers as long as "their main competition offers it." As soon as FedEx quits offering SmartPost, UPS will cease offering SurePost. It is not available to retail customers nor to business addresses.
I personally prefer UPS SurePost. UPS uses their traditional ground package handling network for SurePost packages and then inserts them into the USPS mailstream at the DDU (Destination Delivery Unit--basically your local post office from which your carrier leaves every morning to bring you your mail). This basically means that UPS SurePost is, at most, the same transit time as UPS Ground plus exactly one day--and since the USPS delivers on Saturday, sometimes it's actually faster than UPS Ground, which might not get delivered until Monday.
FedEx SmartPost, on the other hand, was (like many of FedEx's other business units, which are all operated virtually completely separately from each other) the result of an acquisition of a separate company (Parcel Direct). They maintain their own, separate sorting hubs and process SmartPost packages completely separate from the normal FedEx Ground network (itself the result of FedEx's purchase of Roadway Package Systems and operated as a completely separate business unit from other FedEx operations). These hubs with on a "store and forward" principle, and packages are moved across the country from hub to hub with trucks only departing once they are full. Additionally, packages are rarely inserted directly into the USPS DDU (since FedEx SmartPost doesn't have trucks going to every town in America--remember, it's completely separate from FedEx Ground), and so packages are handed over to the USPS a bit further "upstream" than UPS SurePost does. This results in transit times that are anywhere from 2-4 days longer (and sometimes much longer) than normal FedEx Ground.
Note that these are discrete products from standard UPS Ground and FedEx Home Delivery. UPS SurePost offers commercial shippers shipping to residences a price that is basically the same as UPS Ground without the normal residential delivery surcharge. FedEx SmartPost is priced separately from FedEx Home Delivery (which is FedEx Ground's separately-operated residential delivery division) and is often a little cheaper for shippers than UPS SurePost, though UPS argues that theirs is a superior product worth a small premium (and they're right). Posters above who claim that FedEx and UPS hand off their unprofitable packages to the USPS are incorrect: if you ship standard UPS Ground or FedEx Ground/Home Delivery, your package will be delivered by a UPS employee or FedEx contract driver, not the USPS. These are separate products that shippers can choose in order to save a bit of money off of normal Ground prices. If you do not like your products being sent UPS SurePost or FedEx SmartPost, you should tell the company you are ordering from not to use them.
(UPS also has a separate product that works more like FedEx SmartPost, called UPS Mail Innovations, but it's mostly used by very large shippers sending smaller, lightweight packages rather than larger parcels and is not as commonly seen as UPS SurePost.)
Back on the regular topic of this thread, First Class Mail is still moved in many cases in the belly of commercial passenger carriers. I joined an aviation enthusiast event in Austin, Texas last year where we got to play ramp agent with United Airlines, and we got to drive jetways, make boarding announcements, and load luggage on and off of planes for most of a Saturday morning. (It was great fun.) I personally loaded several trays of USPS mail into the cargo compartment of an Embraer 170. So as of early 2015, at least, this was still going on for First Class Mail. FedEx is the current contract holder for the transport of Priority Mail and Express Mail and basically uses their aircraft to fly USPS cargo around during the day while they would otherwise sit idle (since FedEx's normal flights are typically overnight)--that's how they were able to bid such a good price for the USPS business. I believe the current USPS-FedEx contract is good through 2020, at which point UPS could put in a bid to try to get the contract.
when watching planes unload, you'll always see a dozen or more mailmen, with their bags slung over their shoulders and holding an armful of boxes, ride down the conveyor belt one after another and will be the last "things" off the plane.
I am glad I didn't follow any of the advice above...the USPS has been better than ever since 2012. It is amazing how many people will pontificate about things they know very little about. It is only a slightly smaller number of people than the number who will repeat information without knowing if it is accurate or not as evidenced by most of this thread.
I have never seen this! I've worked in logistics and not that I don't believe you, but I can't say that I have ever seen UPS or Fed Ex passing packages to USPS. UPS has various hubs that receive and sort the packages and you normally see the scans taking place there. For example, when I order shoes from Zappos, they start out at Sparks, NV and are trucked to either Chicago or Dallas (Mesquite) where they are scanned and put on a truck to Austin.
I do know for a fact that the USPS uses commercial airlines as well as any and all freight carriers who will sell them space.
Actually I have. When I order stuff overseas from Japan, it is shipped with EMS via fedex or ups, and once it makes it to my city, it gets transferred to us post office. When I miss a delivery I have to go sign for it at my local post office.
Actually I have. When I order stuff overseas from Japan, it is shipped with EMS via fedex or ups, and once it makes it to my city, it gets transferred to us post office. When I miss a delivery I have to go sign for it at my local post office.
My original post was from 2012 and since then it has become increasingly common for Fed Ex and UPS to use the USPS for home deliveries. I just wish they'd get better at it. I quit doing business with one company because it was taking 2 weeks to get my shipments and once they were turned over to the PO, you couldn't track them until they were delivered.
It makes sense - the postal delivery people are going to every residence, every day already so why not take advantage and let the residential packages go along for the ride and let the freight companies concentrate on business shipments. They just need to get a better tracking system!
This reminded me of a 1970s TV movie. In three different stories, letters are written and mailed that could change the lives of the recipients. A plane crashes in the Rockies. Bags of U.S. mail that were on a plane fall into a snowy, inaccessible area. The letters never arrive.
A year or so later, the mail bags are recovered, and the letters are sent to their destinations. It was a pretty good movie.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Usps + fedex
