Amazon, Post Office Cement Deal for Sunday Deliveries

If you see your letter carrier walking around on Sundays later this month, you are not hallucinating. Nor is this an aberration. It's a new deal between Amazon and the US Postal Service that begins Nov. 17 in selected cities.

Yep, Sunday deliveries. Just in time for the holidays.

"If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can order a backpack for your child on Friday and be packing it for them Sunday night," Dave Clark, Amazon's vice president of worldwide operations and customer service, said in a statement. "We're excited that now every day is an Amazon delivery day."

The service launches in two major cities, Los Angeles and New York. Next year, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and New Orleans are scheduled to be added, as well as a handful of other cities. Strangely, Amazon's home city, Seattle, was not on the list.

Best part? It won't cost any extra. (Although Amazon hopes more people will sign up for Amazon Prime, which costs $79 per year and includes "free" two-day shipping.)

"As online shopping continues to increase, the Postal Service is very happy to offer shippers like Amazon the option of having packages delivered on Sunday," Patrick Donahoe, Postmaster General, said in a statement. "With this new service, the Postal Service is now delivering packages seven days a week in select cities."

The Postal Service said Sunday deliveries are a little-known service they are willing to offer to any shipper.

And actually, Sunday delivery is not new to the Postal Service. Some cities choose to have Sunday delivery instead of Saturday. For example, Loma Linda, CA, has no Saturday service because the city has a large Seventh Day Adventist population, who observe a Saturday Sabbath.

The new service is likely to be a boon for the Postal Service, which has been struggling with declining revenues in recent years, despite regular stamp price increases.

It certainly gives consumers greater flexibility in holiday shopping. So the sight of a postal worker on a Sunday might give you pause, or a bit of joy, if the package is for you.

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