Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Postal Service posted year-over-year revenue and volume declines for its package shipping services in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, which ended Dec. 31, according to a news release Thursday.
- While USPS Ground Advantage revenue and volume surged by 26.9% and 24.1% year over year, respectively, other segments encompassing services like Parcel Select, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express experienced steep enough declines to offset that growth.
- The Postal Service expects its plan to enable direct last-mile facility access for shippers via a bidding process will help boost revenue, Postmaster General and CEO David Steiner said in prepared remarks. More than 1,200 companies and individuals have requested to join the online bid portal, which "shows the dramatic interest in our last mile," Steiner said.
Dive Insight:
The last-mile bid portal is just one step the Postal Service is taking under Steiner to improve its ailing financial performance. The postmaster general flagged three areas he sees as growth priorities for the agency:
- Finding and enhancing strategic partnerships that expand reach, volume and relevance.
- Bolstering flagship products that improve service and reliability with "improvements that customers can really feel."
- Leveraging first-mile assets and capabilities such as volume collection and returns to "capture value earlier in the pipeline."
While the USPS' primary turnaround focus is on increasing revenue and customer service, the agency also recently established a team to determine where it can trim expenses or reduce capital, Steiner said. The Postal Service has pursued several cost-reduction initiatives in recent years through its "Delivering for America" overhaul plan, including consolidating facilities and optimizing its transportation network.
"And although I say we can’t cost-cut our way to prosperity, we can certainly cut costs," he said. "We continue to move forward with our network transformation initiatives to reduce costs and increase efficiency, while providing more reliable service."
