Mar 28, 2023

New U.S. parcel delivery data from Pitney Bowes outlines the extent of top carriers’ volume declines, along with what lies ahead for the sector. Published March 28, 2023 FedEx saw the sharpest decline in U.S. parcel volumes among top carriers in 2022, per the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index. Spencer Platt/Getty Images via Getty Images Listen to the article 6 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback . U.S. parcel delivery demand fell back to earth in 2022, leaving top carriers like FedEx scrambling to cut costs and readjust their networks for an uncertain future. Data released Tuesday from the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index outlines the extent of these volume declines, along with which delivery providers fared the best in a difficult environment. Here are five charts based on that data, covering trends such as UPS and Amazon's decoupling, the growth of regional carriers and what lies ahead for the delivery sector. Parcel volumes fell, but revenues increased After years of growth, U.S. parcel volumes declined 2.2% from 2021 to 2022, according to the index. Carriers struggled to beat tough year-over-year comparisons as e-commerce demand cooled off following a surge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Delivery providers' pricing power remained firm despite lower volumes. U.S. parcel revenues grew 6.5% YoY, which Pitney Bowes said was driven by inflation and higher fuel surcharges. Vijay Ramachandran, the company’s vice president of go-to-market enablement and experience, pointed out additional reasons for the divergence between volumes and revenues. Many consumers with high spending power moved from the cities to suburban and exurban areas, increasing the cost to deliver to them. Additionally, carriers spent heavily to expand their capacity after many networks were overwhelmed by a flood of packages when the pandemic first took hold. Now, they're pushing to recoup their investment and continue to increase rates. "I think these additional logistics costs are really paying for the investment that happened a couple years ago," Ramachandran said. Carriers boost revenues despite declining demand Year-over-year growth in U.S. parcel market volume and revenues FedEx saw the steepest volume drop, Amazon momentum stops FedEx had the largest percentage jump in U.S. volumes among the top parcel carriers in 2021, and it followed up that performance in 2022 with the sharpest overall decline. This swing underscores the turbulence Raj Subramaniam has encountered in the beginning of his tenure as FedEx CEO, with plummeting demand driving the company to slash costs to reduce pressure on its bottom line. UPS and the U.S. Postal Service also encountered volume declines in 2022 in a softening demand environment. Amazon Logistics' volume remained flat, a pronounced slowdown from the blistering pace of growth the e-commerce giant's in-house delivery arm saw the previous six years. The company has closed and canceled dozens of warehouses to reduce the burden of fixed costs while better matching capacity to demand. Top carriers bore the brunt of softening delivery activity U.S. parcel volumes shipped since 2015, by carrier UPS charts a separate path from top customer While UPS fared better than rival FedEx in terms of volume loss last year, it has ceded the most market share among carriers since 2016, per the index. Meanwhile, its top customer Amazon has seen its market share by volume grow significantly during that period.