The U.S. Postal Service yesterday announced an aggressive new program targeting the four-to-six day business-to-business package delivery market in Europe.
It has partnered with Consignia, the renamed British Post Office, to deliver both Express Mail and parcels of up to 70 pounds across Europe through its German-based delivery subsidiary. The new service will compete with similar services offered by United Parcel Service, FedEx, and DHL, which combined, have 75% of the international package market.
The announcement came a day after the USPS reported a drop of 21% in international mail volume for the first quarter of its fiscal year which began on Sept. 8, and a 9.3% decline in international mail revenues. According to that report total international mail volume dropped to 215,122 million pieces from 271,854 a year earlier, while revenues dipped to $370,041 million from $408,162 million the year before.
The number of international parcels, sent by economy service, including those from U.S. direct marketers to customers in Europe, with four- to six-day delivery, dipped 11.1% to 643 as compared to 723 a year earlier, although revenue increased 3.9% to $18,755 million from $18 million.
While a similar program is being developed for the Asian market, Wade said next week the USPS expects to announce a program of postage discounts for high-volume mailers using the new service next week. He declined to elaborate.
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