Transportation is central to mail delivery, so it is no surprise that the companies who move the mail dominate the list of the Top 150 U.S. Postal Service Suppliers in Fiscal Year 2019. Seven of the Top 10 companies are involved in transportation. Federal Express tops the list, as it has since 2002, with just over $2 billion in USPS receipts.
All three newcomers to the Top 10 are transportation-related companies, with several more positioned in the Top 20. Transportation spending in 2019 reached an all-time high, totaling $9 billion. While that’s a large figure, it’s only 11 percent of the Postal Service’s operating expenses. More than two-thirds of the Postal Service’s operating expenses are spent on employee compensation and benefits.
Technology companies are also prevalent on the list, with HP Enterprise Services, Accenture Federal Services, Northrop Grumman, and IBM all in the top 25. Good ‘ole paper products are also represented. Victory Packaging, maker of USPS-branded packaging, is ranked seventh.
The Postal Service spent $10.3 billion on its top 150 suppliers in 2019, about five percent more than last year. The Top 10 USPS suppliers accounted for $4.2 billion of that amount.
Unlike other agencies, the Postal Service is exempt from many – but not all – federal procurement laws and regulations. Bedrock rules, such as the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA), and GAO bid protest jurisdiction, do not apply. Instead, the Postal Service has its own 714-page Supplying Principles and Practices manual and a unique procurement environment. The Postal Service is also off-budget, funding its own purchases.
Below are the Top 10 suppliers in FY 2019:
Top 10 USPS Suppliers, FY 2019*
| 2019 Rank |
Supplier Name |
FY19 Totals |
Payment Location |
2018 Rank |
| 1 |
Federal Express Corporation |
$2,050,716,860.98 |
Pasadena, CA |
1 |
| 2 |
EnergyUnited Electric Membership Corporation |
$419,662,347.85 |
Statesville, NC |
3 |
| 3 |
Eagle Express Lines, Inc. |
$390,444,985.04 |
Homewood, IL |
2 |
| 4 |
Pat Salmon & Sons, Inc. |
$341,072,753.43 |
Little Rock, AR |
28 |
| 5 |
Postal Fleet Services, Inc. |
$248,967,211.46 |
St. Augustine, FL |
12 |
| 6 |
United Parcel Service of America, Inc. |
$211,210,699.94 |
Louisville, KY |
5 |
| 7 |
Victory Packaging |
$210,917,649.33 |
Houston, TX |
4 |
| 8 |
HP Enterprise Services, LLC |
$193,053.629.38 |
Plano, TX |
7 |
| 9 |
United Airlines, Inc. |
$177,324,474.78 |
Pasadena, CA |
10 |
| 10 |
Kalitta Air, LLC |
$170,893,464.38 |
Ypsilanti, MI |
21 |
*As in past years, not included are purchases made via credit cards (including U.S. Bank and Voyager card fuel purchases). When companies are believed to be affiliated or under common ownership, we have often consolidated their separate entries under the company with the highest individual ranking or best-known name. Our consolidations vary from year to year, and this may affect numerical rankings. City/state designations are derived from USPS’s payment records and may not be the contractor’s primary location.
