In the postal industry in 2024, the decrease in traditional mail volumes was balanced by increased parcel volumes, driven by e-commerce growth. Higher logistics and labour costs are impacting profits, prompting postal services to invest in efficiency-boosting innovations and new revenue sources.

Inflation remains a major challenge, driving up operational costs, especially for labour, fuel, and transportation. In response to inflation and slowing economic growth, many postal operators are focusing on cost-control measures, such as automation and optimizing logistics networks. Many posts and integrators have been forced to increase shipping rates, passing on more of the operational costs to customers. The average EBIT margin across posts was -0.8% in 2024, which is slightly lower than in 2023 (-0.5%), but is an improvement on the -1.7% margin in 2022.

Revenues and EBIT margins for mail business units both improved in 2024, as posts increased mail pricing and implemented organisational changes. On average, mail revenue increased by 1.7% in 2024, which is a significant improvement on the 2.2% decline seen in 2022. The average EBIT margin for mail was -0.3% in 2024, better than the -1.3% average EBIT margin in 2023.

E-commerce continues to grow and in 2024, posts’ parcel volumes followed the increase in global e-commerce sales, with an average parcel volume growth of 4.4%. This is slightly lower than the 5.7% volume increase in 2023, but is a significant improvement on 2022’s 3.7% volume decrease. Despite geopolitical tensions, cross-border e-commerce continues to create strong demand for parcel deliveries across borders. The average growth for parcel division revenue increased to 3.8% in 2024 (compared to 2.3% in 2023). 

Now in its seventeenth edition, this year’s IPC Global Postal Industry Report continues to take the pulse of the global postal industry. We analyse 53 posts from Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, as well as non-postal carriers FedEx and UPS. And we continue our broad analytical coverage, from detailed performance comparisons across posts to tracking key market and industry trends.