Amazon posts self-delivery record in July, consultancy says

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) self-delivered two-thirds of its U.S. parcels in July, nearly 12 full percentage points ahead of 2019 levels and an all-time monthly record for the e-tailing, shipping and logistics giant, according to data from consultancy ShipMatrix.

Amazon also surged past former partner FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) in total July volumes, according to ShipMatrix. Amazon handled 415 million shipments last month, while FedEx handled 311 million, ShipMatrix said. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) handled 701 million shipments, while UPS Inc. (NYSE:UPS) moved 481 million, according to the data.

Of Amazon’s July delivery total, 274 million parcels were self-delivered, ShipMatrix said.

In the second quarter, Amazon handled 1.167 billion shipments. Of those, 712 million, or 61%, were self-delivered, ShipMatrix said. That is up from 47.4% in the 2019 quarter.

Not surprisingly given the e-commerce ordering surge due to the coronavirus pandemic, all four carriers recorded strong double-digit volume increases in the second quarter, and extending into July. Amazon’s quarterly volumes grew 47.9% year-on-year, while its self-delivered volumes rose a whopping 90.4%. Its July volumes increased more than 45% year-on-year, while self-delivered volumes increased more than 75%, according to the data.

Of the other three carriers, USPS recorded by far the highest volume growth during both periods. UPS was a distant second, and FedEx was third. Amazon is UPS’ biggest customer, while FedEx and Amazon have no relationship in the U.S. after the companies terminated their domestic air and ground contracts in 2019.

Amazon has made no secret of self-delivering more of its traffic. However, the massive demand spike over the past four months gave the company little choice but to handle more of its own goods, especially since other carriers were equally swamped. 

Amazon also didn’t have FedEx to turn to as it has in years past. In turn, FedEx’s relative laggard status — its parcel volumes still rose 19.2% and 21.5% in the second quarter and in July, respectively — may have been due to the absence of Amazon business. Satish Jindel, ShipMatrix’s founder and CEO, was not immediately available to comment on the data.