FedEx Ground says they’ll deliver 7 days a week all year in 2020
To keep up with U.S consumers' growing online shopping habits, FedEx announced it is boosting its seven-day delivery service so that it happens all year long.
The change will launch in January 2020 and will affect a large portion of the country, the company said in a news release Thursday. The seven-days-a-week service was previously only available during the peak holiday season.
FedEx President and Chief Operating Officer Raj Subramaniam spoke about the company’s growth over time and the anticipation of an increase in shipments of small parcels in the U.S.
“We have made significant investments in capacity, technology and automation at FedEx Ground over the past 20 years,” Subramaniam said. “These investments have allowed us to gain ground market share for 19 of the last 20 years, and we are now ideally positioned to extend that growth as the average daily volume for small parcels in the U.S. is expected to double by 2026.”
“Expanding our operations to include Sunday residential deliveries further increases our ability to meet the demands of e-commerce shippers and online shoppers,” he continued.
The company also intends to “increasingly” incorporate nearly two million FedEx SmartPost packages into their ground operations, FedEx said. SmartPost is a longtime deal between FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service, where FedEx ships packages most of the way, but the post office delivers it to your door, according to The Associated Press.
Since 2016, FedEx has already taken back about 20% of SmartPost parcels when technology helped the company spot instances in which a FedEx driver was scheduled to take another package to the same address or one nearby, the company said.
By the end of next year, the ground service intends to handle “the vast majority of FedEx SmartPost package volume,” the company said.
“Delivery density has consistently been a challenge with e-commerce,” Subramaniam said. “We anticipate substantial density improvement and efficiency opportunities when all residential packages are sorted and delivered within the same ground network.”
A spokesperson for fellow delivery service United Parcel Service (UPS) told Fox News that the company currently makes “pick-ups and deliveries for businesses and consumers six days a week,” in addition to “selected, urgent healthcare and other special deliveries on Sundays.”
“UPS is constantly assessing when it makes sense to expand current capabilities and operations,” Matthew O’Connor, senior manager of public relations at UPS, said. “At this time we have nothing to new to announce.”
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FDX | FEDEX CORP. | 296.75 | -5.99 | -1.98% |
| UPS | UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC. | 134.03 | -1.82 | -1.34% |
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 210.71 | +2.82 | +1.36% |
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Separately, the post office makes some Sunday deliveries too, including priority mail.
A representative for Amazon did not immediately return Fox News’ request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.