Pitney Bowes: 21.2 billion packages shipped in the U.S. in 2022

Pitney Bowes, a global shipping and mailing company that provides technology, logistics and financial services, released its latest Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index. According to U.S. data, after two years of growth driven by the pandemic, parcel volume fell by 2% in 2022, but still far exceeded pre-pandemic forecasts. The United States shipped, received and returned 21.2 billion parcels in 2022, 1.1 billion more than pre-pandemic forecasts.

The latest index shows that 58 million packages were delivered in the United States every day in 2022, about 674 packages were delivered every second. In 2022, the per capita package volume in the United States nominally dropped from 65 to 64, with an average of 162 packages delivered per American household.

U.S. package volumes fell 2% in 2022, from 21.7 billion in 2021 to 21.2 billion in 2022. Carrier revenues exceeded $198 billion, up 6.5% from $186 billion in 2021. Pitney Bowes predicts that U.S. package volumes will likely reach 28 billion by 2028, growing at a 5% CAGR between 2023 and 2028.

Key findings from the latest index include:

Number of carriers

Parcel volume reached 21.2 billion in 2022, down from 21.7 billion in 2021, a 2% decrease.

Before the pandemic, parcel volumes were not expected to reach 21.2 billion until 2023, a full year earlier than forecast.

By volume, the U.S. Postal Service delivered 6.7 billion packages in 2022, down from 7 billion in 2021; UPS delivered 5.2 billion packages in 2022, down from 5.3 billion; and FedEx's delivery volume fell from 4.3 billion to 4.1 billion.

Amazon Logistics' package volume remained at 480 million in 21 years.

Smaller airlines outside the top four saw total package volumes grow 25%.

Operator revenue

Airlines generated $198 billion in package revenue, up 6.5% year-on-year from $186 billion.

UPS had the highest revenue at $73 billion, followed by FedEx ($65 billion), USPS ($31 billion), Amazon Logistics ($24 billion), and "others" with a total revenue of $4 billion.

"Other" revenue grew 29%.

UPS revenue increased 5.5% year over year, FedEx revenue increased 5%, and USPS revenue was flat.

Operator Market Share

UPS has the highest parcel market share by revenue at 37%, followed by FedEx (33%), USPS (16%) and Amazon Logistics (12%).

Market share by volume remained largely unchanged, with Amazon Logistics’ market share rising slightly year-over-year, from 22% to 23%.