Amazon is taking full advantage of the U.S. Postal Service’s commitment to extend its package delivery schedule to Sundays. In November, Amazon announced the availability of Sunday delivery to Prime customers located in two cities – New York and LA, and it is now expanding the service to an additional 15 cities in the U.S., also with the help of the USPS.
Amazon said it had delivered “millions of packages” to customers on Sundays since the program launched, and it said it planned to continue to roll out Sunday delivery with the USPS “to a large portion of the U.S. population” in 2014.
Amazon Vice President of North American Operations Mike Roth was quoted in the announcement saying, “So far, the most common items delivered on Sunday include baby supplies such as newborn apparel, books and toys – Sunday delivery is clearly crossing errands off the weekend to-do list.”
In March, two newspapers had announced the availability of Sunday deliveries in St. Louis and Southwestern Illinois. According to Amazon’s official announcement last week, the expansion includes six cities in Texas, one city in Oklahoma, two cities in Louisiana, two cities in Ohio, one city in Indiana, two cities in Kentucky, and one city in Pennsylvania.
Amazon’s deal with the USPS is not exclusive.
Last year, some online sellers commenting on the EcommerceBytes Blog said they were more interested in Saturday pickup than Sunday delivery.
Amazon said its customers would see Sunday delivery options at checkout if and when available in their region.