Postal Service to start delivering groceries

Postal Service to start delivering groceries

The test, which was approved last week, could be expanded to other cities.

The Post Office may soon be delivering groceries to your door — at least if you live in the San Francisco area, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The U.S. Postal Service won approval this week for a grocery delivery test that will last two years, allowing workers to deliver totes filled with food to San Francisco residents.

The Postal Regulatory Commission approved the test in a filing late Thursday, with the option to expand the test to the Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Portland metro areas, although the Postal Service will need to give advance notice if it plans to do so.

The Postal Service had already been doing early morning grocery delivery trials with Amazon.com in San Francisco. The program, which had been scheduled to end in mid-October, was extended until the commission’s decision last week.

The Postal Service intends to deliver groceries for other retailers beside Amazon during the test.

With flagging revenues in recent years, the Postal Service has been trying a number of ways to improve its performance in the package-delivery market. The agency slashed Priority Mail prices to better compete for e-commerce dollars, and delivers on Sundays for Amazon — a practice it will extend to other companies over the holidays.

The Postal Service failed to convince the commission to seek revenues of up to $50 million for the test. The commission instead capped revenues at $10 million until financial data justifies going for bigger gains.

The Postal Service has a long way to go to make up an estimated $100 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities, but the move could fundamentally alter how the Postal Service functions and better position it long term.

Be social, please share!

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *