EBay is shifting more business to UPS and away from Postal Service because of mail delays

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Business

EBay activates plan to shift more business to UPS and away from Postal Service because of mail delays

E-commerce company is one of the USPS’s biggest customers and the loss of business could be substantial.

By Julie Zauzmer
September 19, 2020 at 12:17 PM EDT

The online auction and sales site eBay, one of the U.S. Postal Service’s biggest customers, said it is shifting some of its business to private-sector rival United Parcel Service because of reliability issues with the agency.

“Customers want and expect to receive their packages in the fastest and most reliable way possible, which is why our collaboration with UPS comes at such a critical moment,” eBay vice president Marni Levine, who had previously expressed concerns about the Postal Service’s decreasing on-time delivery rate, wrote in a message to eBay sellers announcing the deal with UPS. ... The company said that by the end of September, eBay sellers will be able to print out discounted UPS shipping labels, at a cost up to 62 percent cheaper than typical UPS rates.

For the Postal Service, the loss of eBay revenue could be substantial: A spreadsheet of the Postal Service’s largest customers prepared last spring showed the e-commerce site was agency’s second-largest retail customer, shipping more than 130 million items up to that point in the fiscal year. The USPS generated more than $743 million in revenue from eBay packages in that fiscal year while grappling with a $160.9 billion deficit.

EBay is second only to Amazon, which generated more than $2.3 billion in revenue for USPS during the same time frame, and whose business top Postal Service managers were fearful of losing, The Washington Post reported this week.

[Postal Service feared Trump's rhetoric could cost it billions in Amazon business, documents show]

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{paywall}

[sinkingfeeling]

1. MF45's plan to destroy the Post Office is working.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I recently ordered a kitchen gadget online and had a choice of UPS and USPS.

I chose the USPS, knowing I might have to wait a day or so longer.

It arrived timely at my door.

I urge everyone if they get a choice to support the Post Office.

[samnsara]

3. dang it..UPS wont deliver to my house because I live on a hill with a bridge...

...so they put it in a bag and tie it to a tree by the driveway. At least in the mailbox they were safe from the weather.

[Frustratedlady]

4. I just had a medical package in a cooler/one day delivery left sitting on my front steps by FedEx.

I don't know how long it had been sitting there, as no one knocked at the door or rang the bell.

At least the USPS rings the bell or knocks on the door to make sure I know it is there.

I'm sure the added postage is sufficiently high enough to warrant attention be paid for timely delivery and to ensure the recipient is notified it has arrived. Sheesh!

[abqtommy]

5. If you go to UPS online you'll find that they no longer guarantee delivery times... So what good

are they?

[4now]

6. It would be good to have some more options

I use USPS all the time but it doesn't deliver to my home and UPS does.