USPS to add same day delivery services in D.C. on January 15th

If any further evidence was needed to demonstrate the rapid growth in popularity of same day delivery services it may have just been delivered by the news that USPS are expanding their services in the arena. Up until now USPS had been experimenting with what they’ve called ‘Metro Post’ in just San Francisco (which struggled) and New York City, but now they have announced that the service will be expanded to include Washington D.C. along with certain suburbs of the city in Virginia and Maryland. 

Metro Post is a unique offshoot for the mail carrier and designed around supporting select retail partners only. Delivery pricing, signature requirements plus return options and conditions are all determined by the individual retailer so far and that will remain the case for the D.C. expansion. This diverse strategy from USPS is certainly part of their acknowledgement that they’ve lost huge market share to overnight delivery, same day delivery and urgent package delivery providers – whether they can go toe-to-toe in select markets remains to be seen 

The new service is Washington D.C. begins next Thursday January 15th and allows consumers to shop online or in person to take advantage of the service; providing the purchase is completed before 2 p.m. the package will be delivered between 4 and 8 p.m. on the same day providing the address is in the approved service area. If the Washington expansion is adopted at similar rates to the service in New York City then I could see the potential for adding the option in select parts of some of our more high density urban areas such as Philadelphia, Miami, Boston and Chicago.

One factor that could be a disadvantage is that the service will only be offered to residential addresses and not to a business. It would seem that this is in part due to the time of day offered for the delivery window and also that these deliveries will seemingly be added to the load of the traditional mailman on his or her daily route. In what might be an example of how the USPS might not be entirely ready to carve out their own niche in the same day delivery market is the fact that the page on the USPS site that  is designated for Metro Post leaves many questions unanswered  including the partnership retailers and even fails to promote the D.C. program despite it being less than a week from launch.

We’ll keep an eye on how this progresses for USPS and update you with the news worth knowing. For B2B same day delivery services we hope you’ll consider our comprehensive services backed by the expertise and commitment that you expect.