Amazon makes billions of deliveries every year thanks to over 100 dedicated U.S. fulfillment centers and many more around the globe.
Considering Amazon’s reputation for fast, reliable deliveries, you may be wondering, does Amazon own the United Parcel Service (UPS)?
I was curious about the relationship between these two companies as well, so I looked more into it, and here’s what I can share with you!
Key Takeaways
Does Amazon Own UPS In 2022?
Amazon does not own UPS and it has never done so. However, the e-commerce giant has used UPS to fulfill deliveries in many regions, and this partnership continues today. Amazon has built its own delivery and shipment program to rival UPS, but it still uses UPS for regional and weekend deliveries.
To learn more about Amazon’s relationship with UPS, including if Amazon has tried to buy UPS and how the two work together, keep reading!
What Is The Connection Between Amazon And UPS?
Some people mistakenly believe Amazon owns UPS, which may be because it’s a huge e-retailer with a massive delivery network.
However, this is not the case as both Amazon and UPS are separate entities. Amazon does not own UPS, but it does partner with the shipping, receiving, and supply chain management company to fulfill some of its shipping obligations.
Over the past decade, Amazon has grown rapidly, and while the company was busy building up its own delivery network, it relied on third parties like FedEx, UPS, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service to handle many of its deliveries.
While FedEx declined to renew its agreement with Amazon for air shipments, Amazon still maintains a strong relationship with UPS and USPS.
That’s because Amazon can rely on UPS to complete shipments to regional areas outside of the major cities where there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Amazon drivers on the road at any given time.
Also, Amazon uses UPS and USPS to fulfill Sunday deliveries, including on-demand Prime delivery services.
To give you a better idea of the relationship between Amazon and UPS, think of it this way: Amazon made up 13.3% of total UPS sales in 2020, an increase from 11.6% in 2019.
As CEO of UPS Carol Tome said, this is a “unique” relationship because Amazon is both a customer and a competitor for UPS.
This may be true, but both companies are benefiting from the rise of e-commerce and the seemingly never-ending demand for shipping services, not just in the U.S. but worldwide.
Who Does Own UPS?
Amazon and UPS are definitely separate companies with different owners, but their massive shipping operations aren’t the only thing these two companies have in common.
Both were started in the state of Washington, although UPS has been around for a lot longer. UPS was founded in 1907 by an American businessman named James E. Casey.
What was originally called the American Messenger Company has since blossomed into one of the largest shipping couriers in the world.
UPS went public on November 10, 1999, and it’s been owned by a variety of shareholders ever since.
General public ownership sits at 44%, while board members, employees, and retail/institutional investors have a stake in UPS too.
Like UPS, Amazon is also a publicly-traded company listed on the U.S. stock exchange. Primary shareholder Jeff Bezos, along with Amazon president and CEO Andrew Jassy and media group leader Jeffrey Blackburn, are the top individual shareholders.
Has Amazon Tried To Buy UPS?
While investors have speculated about a possible Amazon buyout of UPS, it never happened. Amazon has not made any serious attempts to buy UPS and there are no publicized plans to do so in the future either.
Amazon has a large enough delivery network now that it doesn’t need to buy UPS, and the two work side by side to get out millions of packages every day.
In the last few years, Amazon has expanded and sped up its own shipping program to deliver around two-thirds of its packages.
The rest are handled by UPS, USPS, and FedEx. Amazon continues to increase the number of shipments fulfilled by its own delivery service, but its reliance on delivery partners in some areas of the U.S. isn’t expected to go away in the immediate future.
That’s why Amazon is likely to continue working with UPS for at least the next few years, as UPS steps in for regional and weekend deliveries where Amazon just doesn’t have the capacity yet.
At this stage, there is no indication Amazon has any plans to buy UPS, although it’s clear the retailer is trying to overtake UPS in terms of delivery volume.
Will Amazon Or UPS Deliver My Package?
Whether an Amazon delivery driver or a UPS partner delivers your Amazon package depends on where you live.
The date and time of the delivery also matter, as more weekend deliveries, especially those on Sundays, are handled by UPS on behalf of Amazon.
While Amazon has cargo airplanes, delivery vans, and dedicated drivers in major cities across the U.S., it doesn’t cover all regional areas.
That’s where Amazon’s partnership with UPS comes into play. If you live outside of a big metropolitan area, it’s more likely that UPS will deliver your package.
In that case, Amazon shipping takes your package as far as its network goes before transferring to a local delivery partner like UPS.
You can track your Amazon order online to get a better idea of when it will arrive and how it will get to your house, whether it be through Amazon, UPS, or a combination of both.
To know more, you can also read our posts on why is Amazon delivery so slow, how do Amazon ships so fast, and what is Amazon Woot.
Conclusion
If you hear Amazon and UPS mentioned together in the news, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering the leading e-retailer uses UPS to fulfill a portion of its deliveries.
Amazon and UPS have worked together for years, and although Amazon continues to grow its in-house delivery network, it will still need UPS for the near future at least, if not longer.
Amazon hasn’t tried to buy UPS either, although it is working hard to surpass UPS in terms of total packages delivered.
In fact, Amazon is nearly on par with UPS shipping levels and expected to surpass them soon to become an even larger shipping company nationwide.
It doesn’t seem likely that Amazon will try to buy UPS anytime soon, just because the retail and tech giant has its own successful delivery network.
The U.S. antitrust laws may also prevent a merger due to the sheer size and market dominance of both companies in the shipping industry.