FedEx Corp. is installing more than 30 FedEx Express drop boxes this week at U.S. Postal Service outlets in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and other cities in Broward County, the shipping company said yesterday.
The Florida drop boxes are the second phase of FedEx's test marketing plan with the USPS under a seven-year shipping deal struck in January that allows FedEx to place a self-service drop box in every U.S. postal location. FedEx will install the first Florida drop box today at 1900 West Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.
“The city's robust tourism industry as well as the presence of large technology companies make Fort Lauderdale an excellent test market for this historic alliance,” said David F. Rebholz, FedEx Express executive vice president of operations and systems support.
The first phase of the business alliance began March 5 with the installation of FedEx drop boxes at 82 post offices throughout the Charlotte, NC, area.
FedEx plans to begin the national rollout of the drop-box program in July and, over 18 months, expects to place more than 10,000 drop boxes at post offices in about 120 metropolitan areas.
FedEx, Memphis, TN, will pay the USPS about $126 million and about $232 million in fees over the next seven years for the right to place its drop boxes at post offices.
The FedEx drop boxes will provide self-service locations for FedEx's services, including FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight and FedEx International Priority.
After initial implementation, the USPS said it might make similar arrangements with other overnight shippers.
A second seven-year agreement between FedEx and the USPS, also announced in January, will allow FedEx to provide air transportation for certain postal services. The air transportation agreement is expected to take effect in late August. The USPS will pay FedEx $6.3 billion over the next seven years for shared access to the FedEx Express national air transportation network.
Meanwhile, auditors are looking into whether USPS managers misinformed their governing board by claiming that a contract with Federal Express will save the postal service more than $1 billion.
A spokesman for the USPS Office of the Inspector General, an independent agency that reports to the presidentially appointed Board of Governors, said earlier this week that it is reviewing the contract with FedEx.
