DHL and USPS sign $10B-plus last-mile parcel agreement

DHL eCommerce and the U.S. Postal Service have signed a new exclusive, multi-year agreement for U.S. last-mile parcel delivery, a contract the companies value at more than $10 billion.

The deal extends a 25-year relationship between DHL eCommerce and USPS, according to a May 28 USPS release. DHL said the agreement is meant to give its parcel customers a stable final-mile delivery platform as U.S. e-commerce shipping demand keeps moving through a mix of private carrier networks and postal delivery.

Under the arrangement, DHL eCommerce will continue to handle nationwide pickup, sortation, and linehaul through its U.S. air and ground network. USPS will complete the final mile, using a delivery network that the Postal Service says reaches more than 41,550 ZIP Codes and more than 170 million delivery points six days a week.

For shippers, the practical point is coverage. DHL can sell a national parcel product without building a separate final-mile carrier route to every household. USPS gets more package volume moving through a network it is already trying to modernize and keep financially sustainable.

DHL eCommerce Americas CEO Scott Ashbaugh said the contract creates a dependable long-term platform for DHL customers and lets the company serve communities nationwide while limiting the need for additional vehicles on the road. Postmaster General and CEO David Steiner said the agreement aligns DHL volume with the Postal Service’s transformed network and is designed to improve the last-mile model for the shipping market.

The companies did not disclose detailed volume commitments, pricing, service-level terms, or the length of the multi-year contract. DHL described the expected value as well over $10 billion and said the agreement is unprecedented in the two organizations’ relationship.

The contract matters because parcel networks are still being reset after several years of e-commerce growth, cost pressure, and carrier diversification by large retailers. For merchants using DHL eCommerce, the USPS partnership keeps the Postal Service embedded in the delivery promise even when the shipment is sold through DHL.