Postal service plans to open last-mile delivery network to more shippers in money-raising move

The U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday it plans to open its “last mile” delivery network — the most expensive part of the shipping process — to shippers large and small, going beyond current arrangements with giants like Amazon and UPS.

The aim is to diversify and increase income through the final leg of mail carriers’ delivery to millions of individual homes and businesses.

The postal service expects to accept bids in late January or early February, when other carriers will offer their own mixes of volume, price and delivery timing. The agency will award contracts in late 2026, depending on where it can provide same-day and next-day delivery service profitably.

“As part of our universal service obligation, we deliver to more than 170 million addresses at least six days a week, so we are the natural leader in last-mile delivery,” said postmaster general and CEO David Steiner. “We want to offer this valuable service to a wide range of customers – other logistics companies and retailers large and small – who see the value of last-mile access.”

Steiner said: 250 years old The postal service must expand its revenue base by leveraging its long-standing legal obligation to deliver to every address, as well as recent modernization investments in package processing and delivery capacity.

The agency reported a net loss of $9 billion this budget year; This represents a slight improvement from the previous year’s $9.5 billion. The postal service is an independent and mostly self-supporting federal agency.

Under the new plan, shippers will have access to more than 18,000 postal service “delivery distribution units,” point-of-entry locations across the network where mail and packages are sorted for delivery to a local area.

Steiner called the concept “a compelling value proposition for many shippers who we know are struggling with the need to deliver to their customers as quickly and reliably as possible,” predicting that it will ultimately help reduce their costs.

The postal service said it still plans to gauge interest in the concept and fine-tune the details.