FedEx to Launch Part of Post Office Service

FedEx goes to work for Uncle Sam tonight.

The Memphis-based company launches the air transport portion of its $7.2-billion contract with the U.S. Postal Service to carry--and sometimes sort--Express, Priority and first-class mail.

FedEx Corp., a $20-billion global transportation company, is trying not to make a big deal of it. Trish Harwood, a company spokeswoman, said today should be “business as usual.”

But the contract will mean as much as 3.3 million pounds of mail transported on FedEx planes every day. Most of the mail will come through the company’s super-hub at Memphis International Airport.

Nearly 500 pilots, 250 aircraft mechanics and 1,200 cargo handlers have been hired by FedEx to service the $6.3-billion portion of the seven-year contract announced in January.

The first part, valued at $900 million, began in March with FedEx installing self-service drop-boxes at post office locations in Charlotte, N.C., and then Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with nationwide placement in July.

FedEx has been working with the Postal Service since June, training employees how to fill containers placed on FedEx’s aircraft. Also, in recent weeks, FedEx has tested transporting USPS shipments on select routes.

The Postal Service expects to save about $1 billion in air transportation costs while extending the market of its Express Mail next-day and Priority two-day services.

David Webb, president of the FedEx Pilots Assn., the union representing the carrier’s 3,800 pilots, said the holiday shipping season will be “more challenging than any that FedEx has seen before.”