WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service announced plans to open access to its last-mile delivery network through a competitive bid solicitation process, allowing shippers to utilize more than 18,000 delivery destination units nationwide.
The solicitation process is expected to begin accepting bids in late January or early February 2026. Under the initiative, shippers of varying sizes will be able to propose combinations of shipment volume, pricing and tender times at individual delivery units. Deliveries for successful bidders would be completed by USPS either the same day or the next day, depending on customer preference.
“In the logistics business, the most expensive part of delivery is generally the ‘last mile’ portion of a route,” said Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer David Steiner. “As part of our universal service obligation, we deliver to more than 170 million addresses at least six days a week, so we are the natural leader in last-mile delivery. We want to make this valuable service available to a wide range of customers that see the worth of last mile access — other logistics companies and retailers large and small.”
Steiner said the initiative is designed to help shippers seeking faster and more reliable delivery while generating additional revenue for the Postal Service.
“We see this initiative as a compelling value proposition for many shippers who we know are wrestling with the need to deliver to their customer as quickly and reliably as possible,” Steiner said. “Our solution is to establish a fair bidding process that enables the marketplace to find the best mix of local shipping attributes for the best volume-driven pricing.”
Before launching a dedicated bid solicitation platform, USPS said it will engage with shippers to discuss procedures, gauge interest and refine the bidding process based on feedback.
“We want to allow customers to custom-build their last mile solution,” Steiner said. “We want to make the service as convenient, cost-effective and efficient as possible. We have achieved impeccable service performance scores for our last mile, which reflects the simple, quick-turn processing that occurs at a local DDU.”
USPS officials said the agency’s universal service obligation, which requires delivery to every address six days a week, positions the organization to offer same-day or next-day delivery at scale. While existing entry points will continue serving upstream customers, the delivery destination unit network will be the focus of the new access initiative.
Following recent modernization investments, USPS said it has package processing and delivery capacity to handle a larger share of national shipping demand. The Postal Service expects accepted bids for direct-to-customer delivery under its Parcel Select product to be formalized through negotiated service agreement contracts.
Winning bidders are expected to be notified during the second quarter of the calendar year, with service under those agreements beginning in the third quarter of 2026.
USPS has previously offered direct delivery from delivery destination units, but typically only to a limited number of large customers. The new initiative is intended to broaden access, expand last-mile options for retailers and logistics providers, and improve the Postal Service’s long-term financial position.