Amazon’s plan to reduce USPS volume by 20% could raise shipping costs and slow delivery times for rural customers and small businesses

Amazon's deal to cut roughly 200 million packages annually from USPS will leave the postal service spreading its fixed costs across fewer shipments, with logistics experts warning that rural customers and small businesses will feel the impact first through slower delivery times and eventually higher prices. USPS already runs 5% to 7% slower on-time delivery in rural areas compared to urban markets, and carriers already charge surcharges as high as $16.50 for remote deliveries, gaps that experts say are likely to widen as volume shifts away from the postal service. Amazon Prime members are expected to be largely shielded from the changes while non-members face higher delivery costs or pressure to join, with one analyst summarizing the dynamic as “it is an Amazon world, and we are just living in it.”