USPS spending grew to $15.9 billion in 2018
The U.S. Postal Service’s commercial spending reportedly grew to $15.9 billion in fiscal 2018 from $15 billion in fiscal 2017, Bloomberg Government’s USPS Contracts Dashboard shows.
That’s an increase of nearly $1 billion and the highest amount since fiscal 2016, when Bloomberg Government first began publishing the agency data received through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Federal Express Corp., one of USPS’s largest commercial competitors, received $1.9 billion, or 12 % of USPS’s total contract dollars. This was a $300 million jump from the previous year.
Despite its competitor status, Fedex has a longstanding business relationship with USPS, dating from 2001. The company is now in year three of its multibillion-dollar Air Cargo Network (ACN) contract with the Postal Service, which was signed in 2017 and runs through September 2024.
Nearly all of Fedex’s contracts are in the $2.9 billion air transportation market. United Parcel Service Co., which held the No. 6 position overall at $199 million, was the distant air transport runner-up, with $186 million. UPS grew its overall postal contract revenue 18 % from fiscal 2016 through 2018.
Together, Fedex, UPS and 65 other air transportation vendors accounted for 18 % of fiscal 2018 USPS spending.