As the rush of holiday packages recedes into memory, a growing business rift between the United States Postal Service (USPS) and Amazon is coming into focus, threatening the future of package delivery in rural areas. A major contract between Amazon and the USPS is set to expire in October, and negotiations between the two organizations have continued to degenerate into ultimatums. Currently, the USPS provides “last mile” services in hard-to-reach rural areas that are difficult for Amazon to reach. Currently, Amazon has an exclusive deal with the USPS, which prevents FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS) from using this last-mile service in rural areas. Right now, the Amazon deal generates about $6 billion in revenue for USPS, accounting for about 7.5% of the postal service’s…
