People
If it felt like more delivery trucks (and cars!) rolled down your street this past December than ever before, you’re not imagining it. The 2025 holiday season became a watershed moment for parcel logistics, and the traditional big three (UPS, FedEx, USPS) are no longer driving all the traffic. Regional and alternative carriers such as OnTrac, Veho, UniUni, Spee-Dee, and GOFO are being used more than ever for e-commerce deliveries and are no longer supplemental players – and that’s not to mention Amazon, who has surpassed both UPS and FedEx in deliveries!
The numbers tell a compelling story. With an estimated 2.3 billion packages delivered during peak season 2025, up 5% year-over-year, the major carriers are managing volume flat or near-flat. In contrast, alternative and regional carriers are scaling rapidly, for example, Veho has doubled parcel volume year-to-date in 2025, while UniUni reported more than a tenfold (~1,073%) increase in domestic volume from 2024 to 2025. For supply chain and retail executives, this shift represents a fundamental reshaping of the carrier ecosystem and a crucial moment to rethink network strategy.
The Market Dynamics Behind Proliferation
The rise of regional carriers hasn’t been accidental; it's driven by a perfect storm of factors converging this holiday season.
Frequent changes to surcharge structures and calculation logic by national carriers have created a competitive opening for alternative last mile providers, as outlined in our earlier AlixPartners perspective ( Big changes to small parcel accessorial fees). During the 2025 holiday peak, UPS and FedEx implemented seasonal surcharges across residential and express services, with overnight and next day express peak fees reaching approximately $1.05 to $2.10 per package, depending on service level and volume commitments. Cost conscious retailers are increasingly diversifying their carrier portfolios to reduce exposure to surcharge volatility. On-demand platforms such as Uber Eats and DoorDash are also beginning to support local, same-day parcel delivery, providing flexible, short-haul capacity for urgent orders, though at a smaller scale and with a narrower use case than regional ground carriers. ShipMatrix forecasts Amazon and Walmart, and carriers like OnTrac, Better Trucks, Jitsu, DoorDash and Uber Eats will be delivering more parcels than the Big 3 combined by 2027.
Network optimization at national carriers is increasingly translating into real peak season capacity constraints. UPS has materially reduced capacity in 2025 through workforce reductions and facility consolidation as it prioritizes margin over volume, while FedEx continues to integrate its Express and Ground networks under its Network 2.0 transformation. These moves are strategically sound for long term efficiency, but they have tightened short term capacity and reduced operational slack during peak periods. The result is a growing gap between shipper demand and national carrier availability, a gap that regional and alternative carriers are increasingly positioned to fill.
Retailers are strategically diversifying their parcel networks. Faced with sustained pricing pressure, shippers are deliberately reducing reliance on any single delivery partner. Instead, they are routing volume across a broader mix of national, regional, and alternative carriers to improve cost control, service reliability, and peak resilience. This shift is most pronounced in geographically concentrated markets, where regional carriers can operate with greater efficiency and flexibility than national networks. What began as a tactical response to disruption has become a structural change in how retailers design and manage last-mile delivery.
How the New "Sleighs" Are Built
The alternative carrier landscape has matured rapidly. These are no longer scrappy startups handling overflow from the major carriers. Today’s regional and alternative delivery providers are building disciplined, technology-enabled networks designed to compete on speed, cost, experience, and flexibility.
Across the market, several broad models have emerged:
Regional Ground Networks Focused on Density, Cost Efficiency and Tiered Service
These carriers operate multi-state networks built around strong geographic density rather than nationwide coverage. The model enables faster ground transit times, predictable service performance, and more measured pricing relative to national carriers, particularly attractive for retailers with concentrated customer bases. As these networks scale, some providers are also layering in deferred ground options to compete with USPS Ground Advantage and UPS Ground Saver, allowing retailers to better match service speed to SKU urgency without defaulting to national networks.Customer Experience–Driven Last-Mile Specialists
A growing segment of providers competes not just on speed, but on delivery quality. They use real-time data, proactive communication, and dedicated driver operations to enhance reliability and reduce friction for end consumers. Retailers adopting these models report improvements in delivery visibility, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase loyalty.Cross-Border and Crowdsourced Delivery Platforms
Technology-led networks are emerging to streamline cross-border e-commerce and fast-expanding, crowdsourced last-mile environments. By integrating international linehaul with local delivery partners under a single digital platform, these models reduce customs-related handoff delays and improve the overall delivery experience for global marketplaces.Same-Day and Local Fulfillment Providers
New entrants are combining localized warehousing, batching, and same-day delivery capabilities for time-sensitive retail orders. Their proximity-based models allow brands to promise and deliver speed without the cost of national overnight networks redefining how rapid delivery integrates into overall fulfillment strategy.Scalable, Technology-First National Platforms
Some alternative networks are expanding into truly national reach through large, automated hubs and advanced route optimization tools. These carriers are developing the capacity to flex quickly during high-demand peaks, leveraging automation, data intelligence, and marketplace integrations to compete head-to-head with the largest incumbents.
Taken together, these groups represent a structural evolution in parcel delivery from niche operators supplementing traditional networks to an integrated ecosystem of specialized, data-driven providers. For retailers, this shifting landscape is expanding the range of delivery options, improving resilience, and creating new possibilities to align cost, speed, and customer experience with business strategy.
The Structural Implications for Executives
The 2025 holiday season is surfacing three structural shifts that will shape supply chain strategy well beyond peak.
First, single-carrier dependency is a disadvantage. Retailers are moving toward deliberate multi-carrier orchestration as standard practice, integrating multiple delivery providers through shipping platforms, APIs, or control towers and routing volume dynamically based on cost, service level, destination, and network conditions. Those investing in flexible, adaptive carrier networks are gaining resilience and cost advantage.
Second, last-mile delivery is now a competitive differentiator, not a commodity. The focus is shifting from simply delivering on time to delivering with reliability, transparency, and an experience that reflects the brand. Experience-driven models such as Veho, and faster cross-border fulfillment from UniUni illustrate how delivery quality increasingly influences customer satisfaction, repeat purchase behavior, and brand perception. This shift requires closer coordination between supply chain, marketing, and customer experience teams.
Third, geography and density now matter more than national reach. Regional concentration often outperforms one-size-fits-all networks. Retailers shipping heavily into specific corridors can achieve better cost and service outcomes by aligning carrier choice to demand patterns, whether regional networks in dense coastal markets or specialized providers for cross-border flows. Winning strategies start with a clear understanding of shipper profile, and match it to the right mix of carriers rather than defaulting to national coverage.
The Verdict
The 2025 holiday season marked a structural turning point for parcel delivery. Regional and alternative carriers have reached a level of scale, reliability, and operational sophistication that positions them as credible competitors to national incumbents, not temporary overflow options. The infrastructure investments, technology adoption, and service innovations visible this peak season are not seasonal anomalies; they are becoming durable features of the parcel ecosystem heading into 2026 and beyond.
For supply chain and retail executives, the question is no longer whether alternative carriers belong in the network. It is how quickly organizations can build the strategy, systems, and operating discipline to deploy them effectively. Companies that move decisively to orchestrate multi-carrier networks, invest in real-time routing and visibility, and treat delivery as an extension of the brand promise will exit this peak season with stronger resilience and sharper competitive advantage.
Santa’s sleigh has a new crew. The only remaining question is: will your logistics network be ready to work with them?
