Amazon has struck a deal with the U.S. Postal Service to get packages delivered on Sundays, just in time for the holiday season.
It’s a win-win situation for both parties. Amazon will be able to reach their customers seven days a week, while the Postal Service, which lost $16 billion last year, will be able to steal some business away from their competitors, UPS and FedEx, which don’t deliver on Sundays.
Sunday deliveries will be limited to the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas this holiday season, but will expand to other cities by 2014, the New York Times reports.
The deal is seen as a light on the horizon for the embattled Postal Service, which has been drowning in financial problems and recently failed to win Congress’s blessing to stop delivering mail on Saturdays to save $2 billion per year. The partnership with Amazon may be a sign of a new business model focused more on e-commerce package delivery and less on regular mail.