Seattle – The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is providing Sunday deliveries to Amazon Prime customers in Los Angeles and New York.
The partners plan to extend the service to “a large portion of the U.S. population” next year, Amazon.com said, including customers in Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix.
Millions of Amazon products are eligible for the delivery program, the e-tailer noted.
“If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can order a backpack for your child on Friday and be packing it for them Sunday night,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s worldwide operations and customer service VP. “We’re excited that now every day is an Amazon delivery day and we know our Prime members, who voraciously shop on Amazon, will love the additional convenience they will experience as part of this new service.”
Added USPS Postmaster General and CEO Patrick Donahoe, “As online shopping continues to increase, the Postal Service is very happy to offer shippers like Amazon the option of having packages delivered on Sunday. With this new service, the Postal Service is now delivering packages seven days a week in select cities. Customers can expect the same reliable and valued service that the Postal Service currently provides.”
The move, which comes on the cusp of the holiday selling season, ups the stakes in the fulfillment wars, as e-tailers compete to reduce delivery times and increase customer convenience. Fulfillment has replaced price as the latest e-commerce battleground as sales taxes and competitive discounting by traditional retailers have helped level the playing field.
Amazon’s Prime membership program provides “free” two-day shipping on millions of products and access to streaming movie and TV content for $79 a year.
