The USPS no longer provides Airmail as a standalone service, but many mail and packages are still delivered by air. There are multiple options for delivery, including surface mail and Airmail. The type of service and destination depend on when Airmail is used. The USPS continues to contract out airmail flying and negotiates contracts with commercial airlines to transport mail, including passenger carriers. Some early airlines began their commercial careers by flying airmail services, such as United Airlines and Western Airlines.
USPS provides reliable and affordable international delivery to about 180 countries through Priority Mail International, which includes tracking and insurance up to $100 for nonnegotiable shipments. The Postal Service partners with commercial airlines and operates its own fleet of planes known as “Mail Transport Equipment” to move large volumes of mail.
The USPS offers International Priority Airmail and International Surface Airlift services, with current standards requiring 3-day delivery for any destination within the contiguous U.S. with a drive greater than 6 hours. When needed to deliver packages quickly, the fastest way to get them around the country is via an airplane. The Postal Service moves mail with a combination of Postal Service vehicles and contracted air, rail, truck, and ground services.
USPS has parcels on commercial airlines, UPS, and FedEx planes. Most mail in the US is shipped via airplane, often on contracts with Fedex and/or UPS. Low rates are available for packages with expected delivery in 2-5 business days, and fast air delivery is available for urgent items that cannot travel by air.
In summary, the USPS does not own any planes but rents space on domestic cargo flights to transport its mail and parcels. Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and First-Class Mail pieces are typically shipped by air, but these mail classes may also be shipped by ground.
📹 USPS test: We mailed 4 packages with GPS trackers to see how quickly they got there
We count on the United States Postal Service rain or shine. Our postal workers always show up, but we’ve heard from you that …
Is USPS priority mail flown or driven?
USPS Priority Mail is the standard domestic air service, delivering packages within 1-3 business days with tracking in the lower 48 states. However, it does not offer a delivery guarantee. USPS Priority Mail Express is the fastest domestic shipping service available, delivering parcels within 1-2 business days. Easyship offers up to 91 discounted USPS shipping rates for domestic and international shipments.
The USPS is popular with online merchants due to its affordable rates for both domestic and international shipments. The two fastest USPS shipping services are Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express, but differ in pricing, delivery lead times, and more.
Does USPS ground use airplanes?
It is a requirement that USPS Ground Advantage be used for the shipment of the majority of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) that are not suitable for transportation by air via ground transportation.
Do packages get delivered on planes?
Amazon’s expeditious delivery of merchandise to customers across the globe is made possible by its Amazon Air initiative, which utilizes aircraft to facilitate the transportation of packages to their intended destinations worldwide. This program represents a pivotal element of the company’s global logistics strategy.
Does UPS fly their packages?
UPS Air Cargo is a service that transports containerized and palletized cargo between selected airports. The company operates under specific terms and conditions, which can be found in the Air Waybill section of its website. The company does not handle any shipment that cannot be accommodated on the aircraft due to its size or weight. It also does not handle any cargo that is subject to regulation by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), or the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 49. Additionally, UPS Air Cargo does not provide COD service.
Does USPS send mail by air?
The Postal Service utilizes 140 domestic airports to facilitate the daily transportation of six million pounds of mail, with an average addition of 5, 629 addresses per day in 2023. The average number of items processed and delivered is 152. Three million items of First-Class Mail are dispatched on a daily basis. The service provides connectivity for a considerable number of households and businesses, with an average of 7 million people accessing usps. com on a daily basis. No other operation in the world can match this level of connectivity.
Does USPS fly their packages?
The Postal Service uses a combination of vehicles and contracted services to transport mail, ensuring sufficient excess capacity to meet service standards. Shipping is a material management function that identifies and provides transportation analysis, capabilities, and services. The Postal Service’s best interest is to control inbound shipments to minimize total cost of ownership (TCO), which is affected by internal controls and technology. Accurate information and close adherence to shipping procedures ensure that required service levels are provided cost-effectively to the client.
Transportation costs can significantly contribute to the cost of the end product and are an important element in the TCO. TCO is further defined in the Develop Preliminary Total Cost of Ownership Estimates topic of the Conceptualize Need task of Process Step 1.
Does the USPS fly their packages?
The Postal Service uses a combination of vehicles and contracted services to transport mail, ensuring sufficient excess capacity to meet service standards. Shipping is a material management function that identifies and provides transportation analysis, capabilities, and services. The Postal Service’s best interest is to control inbound shipments to minimize total cost of ownership (TCO), which is affected by internal controls and technology. Accurate information and close adherence to shipping procedures ensure that required service levels are provided cost-effectively to the client.
Transportation costs can significantly contribute to the cost of the end product and are an important element in the TCO. TCO is further defined in the Develop Preliminary Total Cost of Ownership Estimates topic of the Conceptualize Need task of Process Step 1.
Does USPS use air or ground?
The Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and First-Class Mail services are typically shipped by air, although ground shipping may also be available for certain routes, taking into account factors such as the driving distance between the origin and destination points.
Can USPS leave a package on the ground?
A parcel may only be left if it bears the “CARRIER─LEAVE IF NO RESPONSE” endorsement in a clear and legible manner on the mailpiece.
What airlines does the USPS use?
The United States Postal Service has extended its contract with FedEx for the provision of its Air Cargo Network services for a period of four years, until September 29, 2024. The contract, which commenced in October 2013, provides for the domestic transportation of U. S. Mail, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express by air. The modification is consistent with Postal demand, offers operational flexibility, service enhancements, and a reduction in costs. FedEx is the largest provider of air transportation services to the Postal Service.
Does the USPS use passenger planes?
The United States Postal Service (USPS) contracts out airmail flying to commercial airlines, including passenger carriers, to transport mail. Some early airlines began their commercial careers by flying airmail services, such as United Airlines and Western Airlines. Amazon has also started transporting cargo on its planes for the USPS, indicating potential competition with other freight operators like FedEx.
Amazon has a contract with ULCC Sun Country Airlines to move USPS cargo on behalf of Amazon. The USPS avoids operating its own aircraft due to economic reasons, as purchasing aircraft, fuel, piloting, and airport setup is expensive, and mail is not a highly profitable sector.
📹 How Overnight Shipping Works
FedEx 767, Fedex a300, Allegiant Airlines Md-83, Prime Air video courtesy PDX aviation DHl a300 video courtesy …
I always assumed when you bought overnight shipping, the FedEx location descended into total chaos and some guy sprinted into the room, grabbed the package, boarded a jet, and raced to the destination before chucking the package out the window with a parachute attached to it. Then a fedex driver on the ground would retrieve it and place it on the front porch.
Worked at the Memphis Hub for awhile.. I worked specifically in Heavy Weight, anything over 150 lbs was handled in my area, the size of 4 football fields, ran by over 2000 forklifts. The Memphis world hub is absolutely mind blowing. Planes come in every less 2 minutes on a normal day, spread throughout the sky by 3 miles and run like clockwork. It’s amazing to see
As a FedEx truck driver, I STRONGLY recommend you use a package pickup location rather than home delivery. As states in the article, sometimes theres not enough Freight to warrant sending a truck or plane. However pickup locations act as collection points, which means they might just have enough Freight for regular service. Pickup locations are usually cheaper, quicker, and in an age of porch pirates, safer overall.
This is how things really work… Being a former Industrial Engineer at UPS, and specifically having one assignment working in the Air for a period of time, I can tell you the overnight process begins well before anyone’s asleep. Your analysis of FedEx being the largest air cargo carrier based on the size of their aircraft fleet is flawed. Those figures include small aircraft owned by FedEx. UPS operates chartered small aircraft well in excess of the FedEx fleet. It’s cheaper to pay high charter fees than incur the maintenance costs associated with those aircraft, and not having full time employees who only work/fly a few hours per day, not to mention their healthcare expenses. (Don’t tell FedEx this)! I can specifically tell you why FedEx and UPS are located in Memphis and Louisville. It’s based on time zones only. The East Coast aircraft are the first to arrive and the last to depart. The West Coast aircraft are last to arrive, but the first aircraft to depart. They travel much greater distances, hence they must depart first, plus your gaining time heading West, but losing time heading East. Common sense, right? From the West Coast only East Coast destination packages flow East. West coast destination packages flow to the West Coast hubs. Jet fuel and engine reserves are very expensive. Why fly more weight and cube than you have to? You got that one right! You also got the sorting in Anchorage right to! (Engine reserves? – The total hours you can fly an engine before maintenance and heavy maintenance is required).
I used to work for DHL in Hawaii, FedEx and Ups fly planes from Hawaii with mail and pineapple as there is not enough outbound freight. We never use or own planes, but shipped with comerical airlines, which adds another level of complexity to getting shipments delivered on time. That would be a great part 2. Good job.
What a great article. I try to watch things on YouTube that is notable. I love to watch things that can be overlooked everyday in our busy individual days. I am a veteran who spent 4 tours in combat zones and always wondered how global shipping can be so efficient. I actually want to thank all of the hard workers that get up everyday and work so hard to make something like this possible. Hot or cold weather I am grateful for all the employees that make this work day in and day out.
Interesting article. Thanks for sharing. Admittedly, I’ve never put much thought into the logistics behind routing and shipping operations. But after perusal this article; I’m actually amazed at how this whole process works. Using cheap older airbus planes to cut costs, using more expensive and advanced airplanes for longer trips to save money on fuel, the multiple hubs throughout the country, using larger and smaller aircrafts, everything becoming automated. Interesting, indeed.
Wendover puts a good feeling into how FedEx reliably tranfers cargo overnight. FedEx started from just a simple term paper handed in by the undergraduate Frederick Smith in 1965. His proposal was said to be revolutionary in time-saving delivering technology but his prof didnt realize this and just gave him an average grade for it. Now, the guys a money-maker!
Me before subscribing to you: yeah planes are cool Me after subscribing: An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a powered, fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine or propeller. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation o
I always say the large shipping companies like UPS and FedEx are great at getting packages around the world in hours, but that last few km within the city can take a week because if you’re a residential address they just don’t care and/or are too busy to wait the 30 seconds it takes you to get to the door. So, if you’re lucky they ‘drop’ the package at the door so it can get stolen, or more likely they slap a ‘we tried, but you didn’t answer the door in 3.2 seconds’ paper notice (and maybe one more duplicate the next day) asking that you pick up your parcel all the way across the city. If you’re a business, with a receptionist, it tends to work better. If you’re a residential customer, the shippers excel at delivery of post it notes on doors… packages not so much.
The awesome thing about being a cargo pilot is you easily get 200-400k a year with a few years in the company. Bad thing is you leave very early in the morning and continue into the afternoon. Just a few fun facts. And the fact that he mentioned Manchester NH airport is awesome. I’ve seen the ops and all the cargo planes including the small props that deliver the packages to Maine.
Actually many Fedex ramps have return flights after the morning operations back to Memphis or other regional hubs for a “day sort”. This freight usually consists of “2 day” packages and express postal freight. These aircraft then get sent back out with this freight in the evening to repeat the cycle and pick up the priority freight.
This is really interesting as almost everything I have to buy is from Amazon. My husband and I are both disabled and trying to shop locally is extremely difficult for us. Thanks for this really cool article even though you posted it in February and it’s late August now. I can’t wait to see what other kinds of articles you have to offer! I’m a brand new subscriber now! Keep up the great work! ~Cat from NY 🐱 🍎 💜 👍🏻
This is honestly so mind-boggling. Like all these airplanes and airports and strategies that have been tweaked and relatively perfected to somehow get packages from A to B in ~12 hours. Country to country even. So much money and planning. Like how did they figure this all out, and how much money is spent to build these airports/facilities?? I have so many questions lmfao
I’d love to see a article done on usps’s efficiency… I was waiting in line for 15 minutes just to get my overflow mail. One person behind the counter, another walking around asking people if they are paying with a credit card and if they were escorting them to the self service machine. In the time it took her to do that with people and walk them through it all she could of simply waited on probably twice as many people.
For some of the feeder planes which sit around all day, it could probably be good for them to put some seats on the plane and sell the seats via one of the low cost, no quibble airlines. Then run 2 return flights per day rather than 1. This then means cargo can be moved potentially quicker as packages shipped earlier can then leave for Memphis earlier and if a cog goes in the system, at least the package is 1 stop closer to it’s destination. It also then means some of the demand at shipping centres is more spread out so if something does go wrong at night, it has a much lower effect. To make the extra round trip viable, the paying passengers boost up the profits. Hand luggage only, 1/2 full of seats, 1/2 cargo. Cheap seats and cheap links between cities.
my company is currently in the process of working at the FedEx Memphis hub and redesigning their network to be 10 gigabits per second, FedEx is spent nearly 2.2 billion dollars on the Memphis hub this year a loan and I drive by their new buildings that they’re constructing in that small slot that you showed, it is absolutely mind-boggling how FedEx can fit that much people, packages, airplanes, tugs, dollies, containers, plus the amount of belts and conveyors that run throughout all of their buildings it is absolutely mind-blowing
Smaller shipping companies can work for remote islands. For example, Griffing Flying Service offers a combination passenger and cargo run between Port Clinton, Ohio and several small islands in Lake Erie. This airline flies most of the cargo for USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc. to and from the islands, while also bringing passengers along.
I work as a air handler for a small intl airport in Florida. So far, we get around 3-5 planes a day. Our work starts very early at 5:30. Some locations at 4:00 and in three hours we have emptied out, sorted and loaded the trucks to deliver to you overnight. While unloading, the planes are immediately loaded and taxing away. Its a party that starts every morning.
I used to be an occasional link in this nightmare of an operation, what they make happen is chaotic and crazy, and gets repeated daily. My job was normally picking up and delivering between airport hubs and sub hubs that were less than 600 miles point to point from each other. I fit in where timing and a less than loaded plane meant cost savings to FedEx to send a round by truck, that would cause no delay in their scheduled deliveries. Trucks allowed a cheaper mode of transport to move what would have been sent by plane, when less than a load exists, and where economics and time could play a role on whether to fly or truck the shipment. It would cost less by truck, but left the plane at the wrong airport, this required a second return truck shipment ro put the plane back in sync. As a third party, sub contractor, I could almost expect a return FedEx load to the initial pick up location for the next overnight cycle if I had hours available to do the second leg of the journey. That was 20 years ago, so overnight FedEx may all be different now, that was just my experience with their overnight nightmare.
“It’s almost impossible to start in the shipping companies” Bruh, have you played Transport Fever? Just make a track and buy a train, make some money to build more train tracks and buy more trains and connect more cities Or, you know, just deliver some food… Uber Eats… Food Panda… You don’t even need trucks, just have the employees ride a bike with a big box on their back, or heck, even skates or steps work instead of bikes You ship fast food.
It’s funny he used the example of anchorage Alaska because I live here and you must have to pay for the ultra premium to get overnight. We have prime and it usually takes about a week. Edit: I watched the rest of the article and saw it wasn’t an example it is a major route. I suppose there is enough demand for premium overnight that things like 2 day prime get put on the sidelines.
Worked for FedEx. Actually, the Memphis Hub is called the World Hub, but does actually have the Super Hub in it like the article mentioned…and a Mega Hub…and an Ultra Hub…and an Auto Hub…and an Old Hub…and a Green Hub…and mini restaurants like Subways…and a gas station…and shuttle buses to get around inside because just that one hub is that huge…no joke. And we shipped everything. Animals, human remains, a crap ton of computers and gaming monitors, gold and silver, celebrity’s stuff, (saw John Legend’s tour equipment, so I knew about the tour a week before it was announced) one of the Super Bowl trophies once, some pandas once, but mostly it’s other corps using FedEx’s logistics to get stuff to their customers, like Dell, or Volvo, or the US postal service.
There is a Prime Air hub in Rockford Illinois, that i drive by when im in that area for work. I didnt realize they only had a few dozen aircraft. That facility looks huge. Its a great airport to operate a shipping hub. It close enough to O’Hara to be inside their control as a satellite field, but far enough away that the airspace isn’t conjested. That means Amazon didnt have to spend time getting the local government to build a lot more infrastructure and flight support services.
I just drove by the Louisville airport and there was an accident that shut down the interstate. So I just turned off my car and got out. I was looking at the UPS operations. I got to watch it for about an hour and man, it’s nuts. I have driven by it many times but never could get a grasp on how big and complex it is. And about every 3rd plane was a UPS. Many smaller planes operate during the day while the big jets run at night. Seeing is believing.
I live in Australia, and order a fair bit of stuff from the US. For me, the best strategy is to just order from businesses based in or near los angeles. Even with just expedited USPS international, if you time your orders right and get the order in at 9AM to the store, they can have it at LAX that afternoon at which point its put on one of the many overnight direct flights to Sydney. The plane lands early in the morning, and then you typically get it the next day or same day depending on how busy customs is.
I believe Anchorage was also a hub for passenger traffic between Japan and Europe back when the USSR was a thing, and planes did not quite have the range they have today, Nowadays one major airline per country is allowed direct traffic over Russia (they charge for it as they did not sign the old gratis airways treaty from the 1950s or 1960s) while a lot other go through the Middle East. Back then a trip to Japan would involve getting very close to the North Pole,. not so today.
I used to live just north of Memphis, right in the flight path of the airport. We’d sit in our hot tub at night and watch the FedEx planes land. We’d take bets on when they would drop their landing gear. But the sheer number of planes landing is unreal. Landings were pretty much non-stop during the decent hours of the night. You could almost set your clock by it.
I live in Louisville Kentucky currently!¡. For a lot of us in the local high schools we get the option to co-op or senior year and a lot of us work at UPS! Point being is the logistics and the complexity of all the buildings just standing alone at SDF or Louisville international airport not to mention the mini warehouses throughout mobile actually quite crazy!
I always thought those adds for overnight/next day/same day shipping were bogus because whenever I tried to order something it always said 2 – 3 business days at the fastest. Average shipping time was about 7 – 10 actual days for everything but the USPS which was 2 – 3 business days. Then I moved from Hawai’i to the mainland, and realized because of the wonders of geography, we really were the last stop for air freight in the states. I think only American Samoa had longer air freight times for FedEx/UPS.
FedEx actually uses a lot of their planes on two round trips per day carrying mail for the Postal Service during the day. A plane might arrive in CLT at 6am with their packages as well as some overnight US Mail. Then they are filled up with mail to take to Memphis and returning that later that day. This started after 9/11 when major restrictions were placed on passenger aircraft carrying mail.
If you are UPS it works a little differently. First they throw it in a back room. Then they let it sit there for a few days. Then they ship it to the wrong side of the country. Let it sit there. By this time you have called them multiple times, and they will tell you its on the truck out for delivery. It isnt. First it has to be shipped around the country some more, kicked a few times. After 2 weeks of abuse they will decide its ready for delivery. But instead of delivering they will leave a note on your door saying you need to pick it up at their hub, which is only open from 10am to 1030am.
All the stores around me were sold out of amoxicillin. The closest store that carried it was a Walmart 67 miles away. Both walmart and target said they had it available for prescription but their OTC amoxicillin was sold out. It’s the SAME stuff, but unfortunately the stock they have for the pharmacy can only be given to those who have prescriptions. Even the pharmacist was like “they’re the same pills from the same manufacturer. But you have to buy the otc kind on shelf. We can’t sell you the prescription labeled kind without a prescription “. Which is frustrating. Anyways, I decided to look online. I found many stores that had it and finally settled on one. It was $15 for 100 250mg pills. You get far more than a prescription plus they’re the same strength. So pretty cheap. Unfortunately to overnight it it would cost an additional $39. But since no store around me was in stock for the OTC labeled one I decided to do it. I made the purchase at 2:23 P.M. At 3:48 the shipping label was created and I got a tracking number. It’s coming from Kansas and I live in Florida. No more updates until this morning at 6:13 when it said it arrived in my city and is expected to be delivered around 8:30 A.M. Which is in 58 minutes. Sure it was expensive. But overnight shipping is SUCH a cool service. I bought otc amoxicillin at 2:23 P.M. from Kansas and it should be here the next day at 8:30 A.M. Definitely a life saver (no pun intended lol). Such a cool service that could potentially save a life since I needed to administer the amoxicillin asap and Walmart, target, and other stores were sold out of their over the counter stock.
You know Amazon Prime is getting as big as FedEx when they loose a twin size mattress coming from one state over. Took them a week to find out it was “missing” (which I’m sure means someone got it and kept it), now an additional week to send “replacement”. When I purchased it said “guarantee deliver in 2 days”. 🙄
I have a question. How many sections does a belly of a PASSENGER aircraft has? Like if we take 3 cases : 1. I am travelling with a check in bag 2. A person who is not travelling himself but sending some items using cargo booking 3. A furniture company wants to send 4 chairs to a client PLEASE TELL me if cargo of all these three cases above can go in the PASSENGER aircraft. And will there be different sections in the belly for all these 3 type of cargos ? PLEASE ANSWER.
Few corrections : UPS’ 747 model is -8 not -800. You also mentioned that these airlines don’t buy new airplanes, but there are many of them that they ordered directly from manufacturers. UPS ordered A300s, 767s, 747s directly. Fedex has many 777, 767s from the manufacturer. Otherwise, I am a big fan of your website.
Great article but there is a incorrect fact or two. The FedEx and UPS fleets are not that old. In fact, the only airplanes in the UPS fleet that were used and not new build for UPS are a handful of 747-400BCF’s and MD11’s. The 757, 767 and A300 fleets are completely new build deliveries at UPS. The same can be said of the FedEx 767, A300, A310 and 777 fleet as well as half of the MD11 fleet. The only fleets that were delivered completely second hand are the 757 and MD10 fleets at FedEx. In the early years you would be correct however. Since 2004 both carriers have spent the bulk of their acquisition dollars on new build delivery from Boeing mainly.