Overview
- Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service reached a tentative deal Monday to reduce USPS handling of Amazon packages by 20%, preserving about 80% of prior volume.
- The agreement would keep roughly 1 billion Amazon parcels a year on USPS routes that reach every address, including rural homes, pending Postal Regulatory Commission approval.
- The breakthrough followed USPS’s December move to auction access to its last‑mile network, after which Amazon threatened a two‑thirds pullback before direct talks resumed.
- USPS relies on Amazon for about $6 billion in yearly revenue and nearly 15% of its packages, and the postmaster general has warned cash could run out as soon as October without relief.
- Amazon is expanding its own rural delivery network with about $4 billion in planned spending through 2026, and carrier shares slipped after the news as UPS also plans to cut its Amazon volume by more than half by late 2026.