International express service UPS and USPS may resume their cooperation

In August 2025, it was reported that UPS might resume its cooperation with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to offer last-mile delivery services.

Cooperation background: Last year, UPS terminated its cooperation with USPS on the SurePost service, renamed it Ground Saver and switched to self-delivery. However, the business volume in the second quarter decreased by 23% year-on-year, and additional distribution sites led to a loss of 85 million US dollars.

Negotiations to restart cooperation: UPS CEO Carol Tomei revealed that he has already met with the new postmaster general, David. The Steiner team has resumed negotiations, planning to have Ground Saver partially rely on USPS for last-mile delivery again to address the high costs caused by self-delivery. CFO Brian? Dykes added that the company hopes to take advantage of the excess capacity of USPS and the price reduction window to bring remote areas and post offices back into service coverage. The USPS responded that it would not discuss commercial details for the time being.

The possibility of cooperation: Currently, both sides are cooperating well in air cargo business, which provides a certain foundation for the resumption of ground distribution cooperation. Previously, both UPS and FedEx have utilized USPS's extensive distribution network to offer economical ground transportation services, which also indicates that the two sides have a history and experience of cooperation.

Possible impact: If the negotiation is successful, UPS can reduce the network, increase the profit per piece, and at the same time resume deliveries to Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico for Ground Saver, alleviating the cost pressure during the peak season.