OnTrac

Atlanta-based global freight transportation and logistics services provider UPS said earlier today it has been awarded what it labeled a “significant air cargo contract” by the United States Postal Service (USPS). UPS officials said that this contract takes effect immediately while also expanding the existing relationship between UPS and USPS. And the company added that after a transition period, UPS will be the primary air cargo provider for USPS, moving the majority of USPS’s United States air cargo.

OnTrac said this new service offering went into effect on Saturday, March 16, adding it is available in 75% of its delivery network, covering 31 states and Washington, D.C., reaching more than 175 million consumers.

This expansion follows the company’s 2022 rollout of a new transcontinental delivery service, which they said is focused on helping retailers reach consumers in the nation’s most populated regions with faster and more reliable home delivery at a cheaper cost, while connecting the companies East and West Coast delivery footprints to move packages from coast to coast in three days (in some cases).

This follows its Texas-based expansion plan, which was rolled out in August 2022, with a focus on what it called the “fast-growing megaregion of Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, with the Dallas-Fort Worth facility to function as the major Texas-based sort hub, reaching 19 million new consumers through faster residential e-commerce delivery services.

The findings of the study, entitled “How Retailers Can Build Supply Chains That Thrive in the Post-Pandemic World,” were based on a partnership between OnTrac and Hanover Research through a survey of more than 150 C-Suite, VP, and director level supply chain professionals at large retailers, focusing on the challenges they are facing and how they plan to respond to those challenges, as well as key investment areas for them.

An OnTrac spokesperson told LM that uniting the companies under a single name and brand identity was the final pieces in combining the LaserShip and OnTrac delivery networks.

On the heels of recently announcing the rollout of a new transcontinental delivery service, following their October 2021 merger announcement, Vienna, Va.-based LaserShip, the largest regional e-commerce parcel carrier and last-mile delivery services provider, and Chandler, Ariz.-based regional shipping services provider OnTrac, said earlier this month that they are expanding into Texas.

Following their late 2021 announcement, in which Vienna, Va.-based LaserShip, the largest regional e-commerce parcel carrier and last-mile delivery services provider, and Chandler, Ariz.-based regional shipping services provider OnTrac, announced they had entered into a definitive agreement to merge, with LaserShip acquiring OnTrac for $1.3 billion, the companies last week stated they are taking a major next step in the process.

While the parcel duopoly of UPS and FedEx remains alive and well, at a time when e-commerce activity continues to see no signs of slowing down, that, by no means, suggests that the smaller regional small package delivery carriers have been left out in the cold. In fact, the regional carriers are starting to take a bigger seat at the table. That was made clear, with Vienna, Va.-based LaserShip, the largest regional e-commerce parcel carrier and last-mile delivery services...