The Postal Service wants to test the feasibility of delivering groceries in more cities, building on the success of a two-month effort that recently concluded in the San Francisco area.
USPS is seeking permission from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to conduct a two-year market test of groceries and other prepackaged goods. If the PRC approves the proposal, the Postal Service would begin the deliveries in November and expand nationwide, focusing on major metropolitan areas.
Postal employees would primarily make deliveries from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m., although other delivery windows may be tested too. USPS would make deliveries using dynamic routing, a technique that sequences delivery points in a logical and efficient order.
The initial two-month test was conducted with Amazon. Customers could order groceries through the Amazon Fresh service, and then the Postal Service delivered them early the next day.
“Our thanks to the San Francisco team. We identified technology solutions and work method improvements and are ready to expand grocery deliver in other markets,” said COO Megan Brennan. “This is another example of leveraging our infrastructure to grow the package business.”
USPS is on an aggressive push to expand package deliveries, including lowering Priority Mail rates to attract more business customers and starting a Sunday delivery service with Amazon as the first customer.