AIRBORNE TURNS HOME DELIVERY OVER TO U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
U.S. small package delivery firm Airborne Express said it will begin
using the U.S. Postal Service to deliver parcels to residential addresses
in July.
Airborne joins other delivery firms, such as Paxis, Parcel/Direct and
CTC Distribution Direct, that are using a USPS postage rebate program to
make the difficult residential delivery market profitable.
USPS expanded its rebate program in January, allowing companies to
deliver packages directly to local post offices with up to 50 percent rate
discounts.
RPS, the FDX Corp. ground delivery subsidiary, announced last week that
it will begin testing a residential delivery program of its own in
Pittsburgh this summer.
The focus on home delivery comes because companies expect electronic
commerce to generate a boom in business-to-residential shipments.