Amazon overtakes US Postal Service as largest parcel carrier

Amazon passed the U.S. Postal Service arsenic the largest home parcel bearer successful 2025, anchoring a broader marketplace displacement distant from accepted couriers, arsenic it in-sourced a ample magnitude of last-mile transportation enactment antecedently handled by UPS, according to information published Monday by ShipMatrix Inc.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) handled 6.7 cardinal parcels past year, up 9.8% twelvemonth implicit year, compared to an 8.3% diminution for the U.S. Postal Service to 6.6 cardinal pieces. UPS (NYSE: UPS) besides experienced an 8.3% measurement diminution astatine 4.4 cardinal deliveries. FedEx (NYSE: FDX) delivered 3.6 cardinal parcels successful 2025, up 5.9%. Amazon’s parcel maturation isn’t conscionable fueled by its ain online orders, but caller contracts from 3rd parties that don’t merchantability connected the retailer’s platform.

Overall, manufacture measurement was fundamentally level (+0.4%) astatine 23.9 cardinal packages. Volumes for alternate carriers grew 13% to 2.6 cardinal units, highlighting a continued marketplace displacement to logistics services from online retailers similar Walmart and Target, and low-cost start-ups and different autarkic carriers specified arsenic UniUni, Veho, Gofo, Jitsu, SpeedX, OnTrac and Better Trucks, said ShipMatrix, a supplier of bearer benchmarking bundle for parcel shippers.

UPS and FedEx are making a strategical retreat from commodity last-mile transportation — short-distance transport of lightweight merchandise from e-commerce fulfillment centers to residential addresses — to absorption connected B2B logistics and high-value e-commerce shipments wherever they tin bid a premium for analyzable services. The companies person made wide that debased rewards from section courier work don’t screen the high-cost operation associated with operating planetary integrated explicit transportation networks. Instead, they are consolidating crushed shipping centers and reducing superior investments to absorption connected shipments that are heavier, transverse aggregate shipping zones, and successful high-density routes that make higher gross per parcel.

But UPS and FedEx look a situation targeting a smaller basal of B2C parcels and B2B business. B2C represents 75% of the parcel transportation market, portion the B2B transportation segment’s marketplace stock has shrunk to 25%, the study showed. Meanwhile, transportation distances person go shorter successful caller years arsenic Amazon shifted from a nationalist organisation exemplary and fulfillment companies similar Radial, Shipbob, Shiphero and Stord stocked products astatine aggregate facilities to beryllium person to consumers. Also, the Postal Service’s Parcel Select merchandise travels little than 150 miles.

Even arsenic FedEx focuses connected B2C parcels that measurement much than 50 pounds, and parcels implicit 2 pounds that question much than 300 miles, ShipMatrix information connected billions of shipments shows that little than 5% of B2C parcels measurement much than 50 pounds and less than 50% of B2C parcels question nether 300 miles.