Amazon is Now #1: The U.S. Logistics Shake-up! Carrier Giants Change Their Game

As of March 2026, the U.S. logistics market has undergone significant transformations. In 2025, Amazon's annual parcel volume reached approximately 6.7 billion items, slightly edging out USPS's 6.6 billion. This marks Amazon has become the largest parcel carrier in the U.S. at first time. 

The North American market had only a 0.4% increase. This is not a tale of a burgeoning market, but one of a complete paradigm shift in the way goods are moved in North America.  

How did Amazon get to the top? 

Looking back a decade ago, Amazon was still a major client for United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (FedEx), replying to these traditional carriers for last-mile deliveries. Even around 2016, industry insiders generally thought that Amazon was unlikely to emerge as a true competitor in the logistics sector. 

The actual pivot point took place back in 2013. When the increased severity of the holiday season, delivery constraints mandated a change. Therefore, the decision was made to build Amazon’s own logistics system. What started out as a simple space optimization project to gain additional warehouse density, soon evolved into a full-blown Amazon owned fleet of trucks, hubs and fulfillment centers. And even built out its own local delivery network. Over the years, it has slowly grown into the logistics system we are familiar with today.  

The pandemic was the next accelerator. Amazon’s footprint exploded, tightening the connection of their regional hubs in an incredibly compressed timeframe.  

At the same time, Amazon reduced its reliance on external carriers by internalizing more of its last-mile delivery services. Its logistics growth was no longer limited to orders from its own marketplace; an increasing number of external merchants were tapped into its delivery network. For example, the New York-based pet brand, Bark, has outsourced its domestic U.S. shipping to Amazon, while the collectibles giant, Funko, utilized 'Amazon Shipping' for its e-commerce fulfillment.  

These cases demonstrate that Amazon is no longer just an e-commerce platform but steadily evolving into a standalone logistics ecosystem. 

The Great Pivot: Are UPS and FedEx Abandoning the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Pie?  

The number of parcels delivered through the USPS and UPS fell by about 8% in 2025. However, it doesn’t mean they have lost the game. More specifically, this was actually a proactive strategic adjustment. For the past few years, residential “last-mile delivery” has been a high-volume, low-margin trap for USPS & FedEx. They are now intentionally shedding these B2C last-mile deliveries and focus on where the real money is specialized, high-stakes logistics. 

Amazon’s meteoric rise doesn’t signal the twilight of UPS and FedEx. In terms of total revenue, UPS and FedEx stubbornly retain the top two shares in the market. Both UPS and FedEx are systematically divesting from low-margin, residential “last-mile delivery” services to pivot their infrastructure toward high-yield, specialized sectors where precision carries a premium: 

• FedEx’s 2026 Playbook: The Memphis-based giant has pivoted toward “precision-heavy” sectors, such as healthcare, automotive, aerospace, and data center infrastructure. It’s prioritizing long-haul, heavy, or high-value freight over the short-distance, light weight “poly-mailer” traffic that Amazon now dominates;

• UPS’s Strategic Slimming: UPS has systematically reduced delivery volume from one of their major clients, Amazon, pivoting instead toward Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) and the Business-to-Business (B2B) sector. By recalibrating their network to favor high-margin complexity, UPS is seeking to maximize profit per stop rather than stop counts;

However, since B2C deliveries still comprise roughly 75% of the U.S. parcel market, this strategic withdrawal by legacy titans has left a massive vacuum, which Amazon and a few breeds of reginal players are more than happy to fill. 

A Fragmented Frontier: The Rise of the Regionals 

The seismic shifts aren't confined to the rivalry between Amazon and traditional carriers. The entire ecosystem is fracturing into a more decentralized landscape. Reflecting on 2025, the U.S. parcel market hit a staggering total of 23.9 billion, yet the real story lies in the outliers: 

• The Rise of the "New Guard": Regional and emerging carriers, such as UniUni, Veho, Gofo, Jitsu, OnTrac, and SpeedX, surged Last-mile Delivery volumes by approximately 13%;

• Retailers Turning Carriers: Walmart and Target have stopped relying on external partners, instead aggressively fortifying their proprietary logistics networks.

Existing delivery models are also gradually evolving. An increasing amount of inventory is being distributed across multiple fulfillment centers to be in closer proximity to the end consumer. This means: 

• Shipping distances are getting shorter; 

• Local delivery is becoming increasingly important; 

• Nationwide networks no longer hold the same clear advantage they once did; 

For example, USPS's service is now shortening the transit distance of under 150 miles.  Collectively, these changes signal a paradigm shift: logistics is moving away from a "National Network Competition" toward a sophisticated game of "Regional hub + Localized Fulfillment." 

What does this mean for international enterprises and cross-border e-commerce sellers? 

For international enterprises and cross-border e-commerce sellers, this shift isn't just noteworthy; it’s existential. The competitive gravity has moved. In the past, the primary hurdle was simply to get goods into the U.S. Nowadays, the mission-critical questions have become far more localized: 

• Is your inventory strategically positioned close enough to the end consumer? 

• Is your order processing resilient, reliable, and scalable? 

• Does your last-mile delivery network possess the agility to pivot between carriers? 

As shipping distances contracts and regional hubs become more dispersed, localized 3PL capability becomes the linchpin of success. A 3PL Provider in the U.S. is no longer a passive storage bin; it has become a vital component of a brand's American infrastructure. Your choice of warehouse location, and how that facility integrates with regional delivery networks, will directly dictate the customer experience and your operational bottom line. 

Amazon surpassing the USPS is more than a change in the rankings; it is a flare in the sky. The era where legacy couriers were the only protagonists is over. We have entered a multi-polar stage here in the U.S., where platforms, retailers, and agile regional carriers all command a seat at the table. 

In this new landscape, the focus is shifting away from the sheer scale of a logistics provider. Instead, businesses now demand comprehensive local execution and reliability. 

This shift is now just the opening chapter.