The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U.S., including its insular areas and associated states. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution of the United States. The USPS, as of 2021, has 516,636 career employees and 136,531 non-career employees.
FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "FedEx" is a syllabic abbreviation of the name of the company's original air division, Federal Express, which was used from 1973 until 2000. FedEx today is best known for its air delivery service, FedEx Express, which was one of the first major shipping companies to offer overnight delivery as a flagship service. Since then, FedEx also started FedEx Ground, FedEx Office, FedEx Supply Chain, FedEx Freight, and various other services across multiple subsidiaries, often meant to respond to its main competitor, UPS. The company is the fifth largest American-headquartered employer globally with 547,000 employees, and FedEx is also one of the top contractors of the US government and assists in the transport of some United States Postal Service packages through their Air Cargo Network contract.
United Parcel Service is an American multinational shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializing in telegraphs, UPS has grown to become a Fortune 500 company and one of the world's largest shipping couriers. UPS today is primarily known for its ground shipping services as well as the UPS Store, a retail chain which assists UPS shipments and provides tools for small businesses. UPS offers air shipping on an overnight or two-day basis and delivers to post office boxes through UPS Mail Innovations and UPS SurePost, two services that pass on packages to the United States Postal Service for last-mile delivery.
Package delivery or parcel delivery is the delivery of shipping containers, parcels, or high value mail as single shipments. The service is provided by most postal systems, express mail, private courier companies, and less than truckload shipping carriers.
A courier is a person or organization that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are government or state agency employees.
FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of the FedEx Corporation, is an American ground package delivery company headquartered in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The company began as Roadway Package System (RPS), founded in 1985 by transportation company Roadway Services Inc., later renamed Caliber System. FedEx bought Caliber in 1998 to complement its existing FedEx Express business and rebranded Caliber's RPS package delivery service FedEx Ground in 2000.
The system for mail delivery in the United States has developed with the nation. Rates were based on the distance between sender and receiver in the early years of the nation. In the middle of the 19th century, rates stabilized to one price regardless of distance. Rates were relatively unchanged until 1968, when the price was increased every few years by a small amount. Comparing the increases with a price index, the price of a first class stamp has been steady. The logo for the Post Office Department showed a man on a running horse, even as the railroads and then motorized trucks and airplanes moved mail. In 1971, the Post Office became the United States Postal Service, with rates set by the Postal Regulatory Commission, with some oversight by Congress. Air mail became standard in 1975. In the 21st century, prices were segmented to match the sorting machinery in use; non-standard letters required slightly higher postage.
FedEx Express is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it is the world's largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the namesake and leading subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, delivering freight and packages to more than 375 destinations over 220 countries across six continents each day. FedEx Express is also the world's largest express transportation company.
OnTrac is a privately held logistics company that contracts regional shipping services in the Western United States. In 2021 OnTrac was acquired by east coast delivery firm LaserShip for $1.3 billion, the combined business was later rebranded back to OnTrac.
Hermes Europe GmbH is a German delivery company headquartered in Hamburg, owned by the retail company Otto GmbH.
Google Express, formerly Google Shopping Express, was a service from Google.
Amazon Prime Air, or simply Prime Air, is a drone delivery service operated by Amazon. The service uses delivery drones to autonomously fly individual packages to customers, and launched in 2022.
A delivery drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used to transport packages that include medical supplies, food, or other goods. Given their life-saving potential, use cases for medical supplies in particular have become the most widely-tested type of drone delivery, with trials and pilot projects in dozens of countries such as Australia, Canada, Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, the UK, the US among others. Delivery drones are typically autonomous and electric, sometimes also operated as a part of a fleet.
Doorman was a privately held American technology company specializing in logistics services and products. The company managed and operated fulfillment centers and independent driver fleets in densely-populated urban areas, addressing the last mile gap between online retailers and their customers. It also developed, marketed and operated the Doorman mobile app, which allowed consumers to use their iOS or Android-based smartphone to schedule evening delivery of goods purchased online, or arrange pick up of goods intended to be shipped back to an online retailer.
LSO, originally known as Lone Star Overnight, was an Austin, Texas-based regional shipping carrier that focuses on Express next day delivery, utilizing both air and ground transportation in Texas, southeastern New Mexico, certain metro markets in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama & Tennessee, as well as northern Mexico.
Prime Now, LLC is a subsidiary of Amazon that oversees its same-day grocery shopping and delivery service. The name also originated a brand, including a custom app, to distinguish the service from Amazon's other offerings, but both the branding and the app have since been discontinued. The service is used chiefly by the company's own Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh subsidiaries. An Amazon Prime subscription includes and is required for access to the service, though it may not be available in all locations where Amazon Prime is offered. Third-party retail partners may also participate in the service and sell goods through Amazon's website.
Intelcom Express is a Canadian courier and package delivery company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. The company delivers nearly 500,000 parcels per day across Canada.
Roadie Inc. is an American crowdsourced delivery platform for business and private same-day, urgent and scheduled delivery in the United States. The company was founded in 2014 and launched its web and mobile apps in January 2015. As of September 2021, it reported having over 200,000 drivers covering more than 20,000 zip codes.
Package theft or cargo theft is the theft of a package or parcel. It can occur anywhere in the distribution channel. One major type is porch piracy which has been defined as, "Taking possession of a package or its contents, outside of a residence or business, where it has been commercially delivered or has been left for commercial pickup, with intent to deprive the rightful owner of the contents or even try to sell the contents.
A parcel locker is an automated postal box that allows users for a self-service collection of parcels and oversize letters as well as the dispatch of parcels.
