How many parcels are shipped, stolen, and delivered late in the US each year? This is our regularly updated roundup of the most useful package delivery statistics, with every figure linked to its primary source. Estimates vary by methodology, so we cite the source next to each number.
Last updated: July 2026 · Compiled by Package Tracker. Every figure links to its source, and estimates vary by methodology.
On this page
- Top package delivery statistics (editor's picks)
- How many parcels are shipped in the US?
- Which carrier delivers the most parcels?
- Package theft and porch piracy statistics
- Worst cities and states for package theft (2025)
- Late and failed delivery statistics
- E-commerce is driving parcel growth
- What shoppers expect from delivery
- E-commerce return rates
- The shift to home delivery
- What the carrier CEOs are saying
- US parcel volume over time
- How many parcels are delivered a day in the UK?
- How many parcels are delivered a day in Brazil?
- How many parcels are delivered a day in Australia?
- How many parcels are delivered a day in Canada?
- Holiday peak season statistics
- Which carrier is most reliable?
- Sources and methodology
- Key takeaways
- Frequently asked questions
Top package delivery statistics (editor's picks)
- US shoppers received 22.4 billion parcels in 2024, up 3.4% year over year (Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index).
- That works out to roughly 674 parcels shipped every second in the US (Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, 2022 data).
- US parcel volume is forecast to reach 28 billion by 2028, and Amazon is projected to overtake USPS as the largest US carrier (Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index).
- USPS (6.9B) and Amazon Logistics (6.3B) handled the most US parcels in 2024 (Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index).
- About 1 in 3 US households (29.7%) had a package stolen in 2025 (Security.org).
- An estimated 104 million packages were stolen in 2025 — nearly 250,000 every day (SafeWise).
- The average stolen package was worth $143 in 2025, up 8% year over year (SafeWise).
- December is the #1 month for porch piracy, accounting for 27.2% of theft victims (Security.org).
- 63% of retailers say at least 1 in 10 orders arrives late (SmartRoutes).
- Address errors cause about 45% of failed deliveries (Capital One Shopping).
- US e-commerce sales hit $1.19 trillion in 2024, up 8.1% — about 6x faster than total retail (US Census Bureau).
- 94% of consumers expect to be told about delivery delays before they have to ask (FedEx).
- Online orders are returned about 24.5% of the time, vs 8.7% in stores (industry data).
- During Cyber Week 2024, US carriers handled over 568 million parcels, up 30% (Digital Commerce 360).
- UPS led on-time delivery in December 2024 at 96.5%, ahead of FedEx and USPS (Digital Commerce 360).
- The UK delivers about 13.7 million parcels a day (2024) — roughly 159 every second (Statista, Shiply).
- Brazil handles roughly 1.08 million e-commerce orders a day and around 1.5 billion parcels a year (Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, ABComm).
- Australia delivers around 3 million parcels a day; Australia Post hit a record 103 million over the 2024 peak (Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, Australia Post).
- Canada delivers around 4 million parcels a day, but Canada Post's market share fell from 62% (2019) to 24% (2024) (Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, Canada Post 2024 Annual Report).
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How many parcels are shipped in the US?
US parcel volume reached 22.4 billion in 2024, up 3.4% year over year, according to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index. Back in 2022, the US already shipped about 58 million parcels a day — roughly 674 every second. Global volume passed 100 billion parcels for the first time in 2020 and has kept climbing since.
Looking ahead, Pitney Bowes forecasts US parcel volume to reach 28 billion by 2028 (a 5% CAGR), and global volume to hit 225 billion over the same period.
Which carrier delivers the most parcels?
USPS was the largest US parcel carrier by volume in 2024, with Amazon Logistics close behind and growing fast — Pitney Bowes projects Amazon will overtake USPS by 2028. FedEx was the only major carrier whose volume fell year over year.
| Carrier | Parcels (2024) | Year-over-year |
|---|---|---|
| USPS | 6.9 billion | Largest by volume |
| Amazon Logistics | 6.3 billion | Growing fast, now #2 |
| UPS | 4.7 billion | Up 1.7% |
| FedEx | 3.7 billion | Down from 3.9 billion |
Package theft and porch piracy statistics
Package theft is still one of the biggest headaches in e-commerce, though 2025 saw a small decline. Estimates differ by source, so here are the headline figures from each:
- About 29.7% of US households experienced package theft in 2025, and 48% have had a package stolen at some point (Security.org).
- An estimated 104 million packages were stolen in 2025, about 250,000 per day (SafeWise).
- The average stolen package was worth $143, up 8% year over year (SafeWise).
- Package theft fell by more than 16 million incidents year over year, the first notable drop in years (SafeWise).
Theft is heavily seasonal: December and November alone account for nearly half of all reported incidents, per Security.org.
Worst cities and states for package theft (2025)
Package theft is worst in dense, high-volume metros. Based on the financial toll, the SafeWise 2025 report ranks these as the hardest-hit:
| Rank | Worst cities | Worst states |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago, IL | California |
| 2 | New York, NY | New York |
| 3 | Miami, FL | Texas |
| 4 | Houston, TX | Florida |
| 5 | Baltimore, MD | Pennsylvania |
| 6 | Dallas, TX | Michigan |
| 7 | Los Angeles, CA | Ohio |
| 8 | San Antonio, TX | Georgia |
| 9 | Detroit, MI | Illinois |
| 10 | Virginia Beach, VA | North Carolina |
Late and failed delivery statistics
Even parcels that are not stolen do not always arrive smoothly. Recent last-mile data (SmartRoutes, Capital One Shopping) shows:
- First-attempt delivery succeeds about 97% of the time in the US and around 94% in the UK — so a real share fails the first try.
- 63% of retailers say at least 1 in 10 orders arrives late.
- Address errors cause roughly 45% of failed deliveries.
- 69% of consumers would not buy again from a retailer after a late delivery.
- Each day a delivery is late is linked to about a 1.1% rise in returns.
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E-commerce is driving parcel growth
Parcel volume tracks e-commerce, and online shopping keeps climbing. US e-commerce sales reached $1.19 trillion in 2024, up 8.1% year over year and roughly six times faster than total retail growth, per the US Census Bureau. Online now makes up 16.1% of all US retail sales, rising to 17.9% in the fourth quarter.
What shoppers expect from delivery
Fast, visible delivery is now the baseline — and tracking is central to it. As FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam puts it, real-time tracking is no longer a benefit but an expectation. The data backs that up (FedEx, Capital One Shopping):
E-commerce return rates
Returns are the flip side of delivery. About 19.3% of online orders were returned in 2025, and online returns run far higher than in stores — 24.5% online versus 8.7% in-store. Over the 2025 holidays, shoppers sent back around $181 billion in online purchases, and each return costs a retailer an estimated 20–65% of the item's value.
The shift to home delivery
E-commerce has rewired where parcels go. Before the pandemic, about 75% of FedEx stops were to businesses; today roughly 75% are residential. Globally, online retail is on course to reach $8 trillion with around 4 billion online shoppers by 2026, according to FedEx.
What the carrier CEOs are saying
In their own words, the leaders of the biggest carriers point to the same forces — e-commerce growth, swinging volumes, and a rising bar for delivery:
“Real-time tracking is no longer a benefit; it has become an expectation.”
— Raj Subramaniam, President and CEO, FedEx · FedEx, 2024
“This quarter was a significant turning point for our company as we returned to volume growth in the U.S., the first time in nine quarters.”
— Carol Tomé, CEO, UPS · UPS Q2 2024 earnings
“In the eCommerce division, business has continued to grow because consumers are turning to online trading.”
— Tobias Meyer, CEO, DHL Group · DHL Group earnings interview
US parcel volume over time
Volume dipped after the pandemic surge, then returned to growth. Pitney Bowes recorded 21.7 billion US parcels in 2021 and 21.2 billion in 2022 (a 2% dip), before climbing to 22.4 billion in 2024 and a forecast 28 billion by 2028.
How many parcels are delivered a day in the UK?
The UK delivers roughly 13.7 million parcels a day as of 2024 — about 570,000 an hour, 9,500 a minute, and 159 every second — based on around 5 billion parcels a year (Statista, Shiply). The exact number depends on what is counted: some measures include returns, others cover only regulated post.
| Year | UK parcels (per year) | Approx. per day | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4.2 billion | ~11.5 million | Statista |
| 2022 | ~5.1 billion* | ~14 million* | Pitney Bowes* |
| 2023 | 4.5 billion | ~12.3 million | Statista |
| 2024 | 5.0 billion | ~13.7 million | Statista |
| 2025 | ~5 billion (est.) | ~13.7 million | Industry estimate |
*Pitney Bowes counts parcels shipped, received and returned, so its totals run higher: it recorded 5.4 billion UK parcels in 2021 and 5.1 billion in 2022 — the first annual decline in a decade.
A stricter measure tells the same growth story: Ofcom, which tracks the regulated postal market, reported 3.9 billion parcels in 2023-24, up 8.3% year over year, as volumes recovered after the post-pandemic dip.
How many parcels are delivered a day in Brazil?
It depends on what you count. Across all parcels, Brazil handles an estimated 4 million or more a day — about 1.5 billion a year, per the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, which also ranked Brazil second in the world for parcel-volume growth (a 20% CAGR from 2017 to 2022). For e-commerce specifically, Brazilians place roughly 1.08 million online orders a day, around 395 million a year, per ABComm and Statista.
| Year | Brazil e-commerce orders | ~Orders per day | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 368 million | ~1.0 million | ABComm / Statista |
| 2023 | 395 million | ~1.08 million | ABComm / Statista |
| 2024 | ~395 million | ~1.08 million | ABComm |
| 2025 | 400 million+ (est.) | ~1.1 million | Industry estimate |
These are online orders; total parcel volume — including business and non-e-commerce shipments — is far higher, at around 1.5 billion a year, or over 4 million a day (Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index).
Growth is powered by rising online participation: Brazil had 66.6 million active online shoppers in the first half of 2024, and e-commerce sales rose 18.7% year over year, according to Nielsen.
How many parcels are delivered a day in Australia?
Australia delivers around 3 million parcels a day across all carriers — about 1.09 billion a year in 2022, per the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, growing at a 7.5% CAGR since 2016. Australia Post, the largest carrier, moves most of them: it delivered a record 103 million parcels over the 2024 November–December peak (up 3.1%), kept up 2 million deliveries a day for more than 30 days, and topped 3 million on its busiest day (9 December 2024).
| Year | Australia parcels (all carriers) | ~Per day | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1.07 billion | ~2.9 million | Pitney Bowes |
| 2022 | 1.09 billion | ~3.0 million | Pitney Bowes |
| 2023 | ~1.1 billion (est.) | ~3.0 million | Industry estimate |
| 2024 | ~1.1 billion+ (est.) | ~3.1 million | Industry estimate |
Online shopping keeps driving demand: 7.6 million Australian households shopped online during the 2024 peak, up 2.4% year over year (Australia Post).
How many parcels are delivered a day in Canada?
Canada delivers roughly 4 million parcels a day across all carriers — about 1.5 billion a year in 2022, per the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, which also found Canada had the highest revenue per parcel of any market (US$9.80). Total volume has been broadly flat since 2021, but who delivers those parcels has changed dramatically.
| Year | Canada parcels (all carriers) | ~Per day | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1.5 billion | ~4.1 million | Pitney Bowes |
| 2022 | 1.5 billion | ~4.1 million | Pitney Bowes |
| 2023 | ~1.5 billion (est.) | ~4.1 million | Industry estimate |
| 2024 | ~1.5 billion (est.) | ~4.1 million | Industry estimate |
The big shift is who carries them. Canada Post's share of the parcel market collapsed from 62% in 2019 to 24% in 2024 as Amazon and other private carriers took over, per its Canada Post 2024 Annual Report. A 2024 labour strike then cut Canada Post's parcel volumes by nearly 20% for the year (Darwynn).
Even so, Canada Post still handled close to 6.4 billion mail items, parcels and messages combined in 2024 (Canada Post 2024 Annual Report).
Holiday peak season statistics
The winter holidays are the busiest — and riskiest — time for parcels. In the 2024 peak, the industry delivered over 2.2 billion parcels, and during Cyber Week alone US carriers handled more than 568 million parcels, up 30% on the pre-peak period (Digital Commerce 360). USPS processed around 11.5 billion packages and mail pieces over the holiday season, while shoppers spent $44.2 billion online from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.
Which carrier is most reliable?
On-time performance slipped across the board in the 2024 peak, but UPS held up best. In December 2024, UPS delivered 96.5% of parcels on time, ahead of FedEx (91.8%) and USPS (90.4%), per Digital Commerce 360.
Sources and methodology
This page compiles publicly reported figures from primary and reputable industry sources, each linked next to the relevant statistic. Estimates for package theft in particular vary widely by methodology, so we show the source for every number. Key sources: the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index (parcel volume, carrier market share, and forecasts); Security.org and SafeWise (package theft, 2025); and SmartRoutes and Capital One Shopping (last-mile and failed-delivery data); the US Census Bureau (e-commerce sales); and FedEx (delivery expectations); and Digital Commerce 360 (peak-season volume and on-time performance); and Statista, Ofcom and Pitney Bowes (UK parcel volumes); and ABComm and Statista (Brazil e-commerce orders); and Australia Post and Statista (Australia parcel volumes); and the Canada Post 2024 Annual Report and Darwynn (Canada parcel volumes and market share). CEO quotes are from public earnings statements and interviews. Figures are updated periodically.
Key takeaways
- US parcel volume hit 22.4 billion in 2024 and is forecast to reach 28 billion by 2028 (Pitney Bowes).
- USPS and Amazon Logistics lead by volume; Amazon is projected to overtake USPS by 2028.
- Around 1 in 3 US households had a package stolen in 2025; the average stolen package was worth $143.
- December is the peak month for porch piracy, and address errors cause ~45% of failed deliveries.
Frequently asked questions
US parcel volume reached 22.4 billion in 2024, up 3.4% year over year, and is forecast to reach 28 billion by 2028, according to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index.
USPS was the largest US parcel carrier by volume in 2024 at 6.9 billion parcels, with Amazon Logistics second at 6.3 billion. Amazon is projected to overtake USPS by 2028.
Estimates vary: SafeWise reports about 104 million packages stolen in 2025 (roughly 250,000 a day), while Security.org estimates around 1 in 3 US households were affected.
The average stolen package was worth about $143 in 2025, up 8% from the previous year, according to SafeWise.
Based on financial toll in the 2025 SafeWise report, Chicago ranked first, followed by New York City, Miami, Houston, and Baltimore.
December is the highest-risk month, accounting for 27.2% of theft victims, followed by November at 21.1%, per Security.org.
First-attempt delivery succeeds about 97% of the time in the US, but 63% of retailers say at least 1 in 10 orders arrives late.
Yes. These statistics are free to cite in your reporting or research. Please credit Package Tracker with a link to this page, and cite the original source shown next to each figure.
In December 2024, UPS had the best on-time delivery at 96.5%, ahead of FedEx at 91.8% and USPS at 90.4%, according to Digital Commerce 360. Performance dips during the holiday peak.
In the 2024 peak season the parcel industry delivered over 2.2 billion parcels, and US carriers handled more than 568 million during Cyber Week alone.
The UK delivers roughly 13.7 million parcels a day as of 2024 — about 570,000 an hour, 9,500 a minute, and 159 a second — based on around 5 billion parcels a year. Estimates vary by source: Statista puts annual volume near 5 billion, while Ofcom's regulated-post figure was 3.9 billion for 2023-24.
It depends on the measure. In total, Brazil handles an estimated 4 million or more parcels a day (about 1.5 billion a year, Pitney Bowes). For e-commerce specifically, that is around 1.08 million online orders a day (about 395 million a year, ABComm).
Australia delivers around 3 million parcels a day across all carriers (about 1.09 billion a year in 2022, Pitney Bowes). Australia Post kept up 2 million deliveries a day for over 30 days during the 2024 peak and topped 3 million on its busiest day.
Canada delivers roughly 4 million parcels a day across all carriers (about 1.5 billion a year in 2022, Pitney Bowes). Canada Post's share of that fell sharply, from 62% in 2019 to 24% in 2024, as private carriers took over.
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