Frenemies: The Love-Hate Relationship Between UPS and the Postal Service Blossoms

The rise of online purchasing is boosting the partnership between United Parcel Service and the U.S. Postal Service—and fueling their rivalry as well.

“During the quarter, a retail customer upgraded its catalog distribution to UPS Ground from the U.S. mail, contributing to our ground growth,” CFO Kurt Koehn said during the company’s quarterly earnings call. He didn’t name names, but only a large customer could cause meaningful growth in the company’s $6.2 billion quarterly revenue for domestic ground shipments.

The big shipping company is also wary of the Postal Service trying to steal market share with its recent proposal to slash prices