Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Postal Service plans to launch a next-day shipping offering geared toward retail and online businesses this year, the agency announced Jan. 6.
- The new service, Next Day Priority, will be able to send packages to thousands of the Postal Service's last-mile delivery units overnight. It covers addresses within 150 miles of regional processing and distribution centers, reaching about 87% of the U.S. daily.
- Next Day Priority is available through direct agreements with the Postal Service. However, the agency noted there are volume requirements, and it's looking for shippers "that can meet defined cutoff windows."
Dive Insight:
Product launches that cater to shippers seeking relief from climbing parcel prices is central to the Postal Service’s push to snag business from FedEx and UPS. The agency touted Next Day Priority's competitive rates as being tailored to businesses of all sizes.
It's not the only option USPS is highlighting as cost-effective. The agency said its Ground Advantage service will be optimized further in 2025 "to make shipping seamless, cost-effective, and faster than ever." While the Postal Service didn't provide further details, climbing demand for the two-to-five-day ground shipping service has been a bright spot for the agency as it’s faced a steep decline in expedited volume.
The Postal Service said it is also planning on expanding its USPS Connect offering this year. The suite of services, which features local, regional and national shipping capabilities, has new same-day and next-day delivery options for small and mid-sized shippers through direct USPS contracts.
The agency is pushing to secure more of these contracts, or Negotiated Service Agreements, as part of its plans to work more closely with shippers instead of handling their volume via package consolidators, experts have told Supply Chain Dive. Thomas Andersen, partner and EVP of supply chain services at LJM Group, said it's becoming more common to see businesses directly leverage the Postal Service with contracted services like Ground Advantage.
"Ground Advantage has certainly opened up that avenue where it just didn't exist before," Andersen said in an interview.
