FedEx delivery workers have officially reached hero status. They’ve transported essential goods during the pandemic, holiday packages during “shipageddon,” and now the first coronavirus vaccines during the peak of the outbreak. On Sunday, trucks and cargo planes from FedEx and UPS began rolling out across the country packed with the first of nearly three million doses. As David H. Freedman wrote in Marker recently, the pandemic has been a boon for FedEx: “Largely due to the pandemic, in the six months between April and September, the company’s shipping volume was up some 20% over last year’s numbers during the same time period.” And now the company is girding for battle with a new competitor: Amazon. The e-commerce giant has quietly amassed its own delivery fleet and become one of the largest shippers in the country.
