USPS Seeks to Deliver Groceries for Amazon.com
The U.S. Postal Service is seeking approval from regulators for a two-year test to deliver groceries for Amazon.com in several cities.
USPS filed the plan with the Postal Regulatory Service and said the test could bring in more than $10 million a year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The plan is to develop a “long-term, scalable solution to enable expansion of customized delivery to additional major metropolitan markets across the nation,” the agency said in the filing.
The Postal Service has been conducting a trial with Amazon in San Francisco to deliver pre-packaged groceries, but the program is set to end in mid-October, the paper reported.
In the San Francisco test, workers use iPhones to scan insulated tote bags of groceries, sort the bags then back-load them to a truck for delivery from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Grocery deliveries have been averaging one to four totes per address with an average of 160 per day for 38 zip codes, USPS wrote in the filing.
The deliveries are left untended, and drivers wear postal uniforms and lighted caps for safety.
The Postal Service has had a loss in 21 of the past 23 quarters and ended its fiscal third-quarter with a loss of $2 billion, compared with a loss of $740 million for the same period a year earlier.
USPS has said the losses mean it has only been spending on what is deemed essential to maintain its infrastructure, but it needs to invest $10 billion to replace its aging vehicles and upgrade equipment.
