For America’s biggest delivery companies, the pandemic brought a boom(带来了繁荣). To fulfil a torrent(（订单）洪流，大量) of orders from people stuck at home(被困在家里) in lockdown(封锁（措施）), FedEx’s white lorries and UPS’s brown ones kept rumbling(发出隆隆声，行驶) along America’s highways and their planes criss-crossed(纵横交叉地穿梭) its skies.
对美国最大的快递公司来说，疫情带来了繁荣。为了满足因封锁而困在家中的人们汹涌的订单，联邦快递的白色卡车和UPS的棕色卡车不断在美国高速公路上隆隆行驶，它们的飞机则穿梭于天空。
As demand has cooled(降温，减缓), both have taken similar turns(采取了类似的转向), away from low-margin(低利润率的) deliveries. In January 2025 UPS said it would halve(减半) the business it did with its biggest customer, Amazon, which once brought in 13% of revenue. The tie-up, UPS said, was a drag on profit(对利润的拖累). FedEx has just spun off FedEx Freight, an underperforming division delivering bulky stuff on pallets, such as car parts. Both are angling for higher-margin, if more exacting, business-to-business work. On June 22nd, for instance, UPS said it would invest nearly $50m in temperature-controlled facilities suitable for transporting medicines.
随着需求降温，两家公司都采取了类似的转变，远离低利润率的配送业务。2025年1月，UPS表示将把与最大客户亚马逊的业务量减半——亚马逊曾带来13%的收入。UPS表示，这种合作关系拖累了利润。联邦快递刚刚剥离了表现不佳的FedEx Freight部门，该部门用托盘运送汽车零部件等笨重物品。两家公司都在争取利润率更高、但要求也更高的B2B业务。例如，6月22日，UPS表示将投资近5000万美元建设适合运输药品的温控设施。
Investors are so far happier with what FedEx has delivered. In the past year its market capitalisation(市值) has risen by 38%, against(与……相比（对比）) just 5% for UPS (see chart). As well as unloading(剥离，卸载) FedEx Freight, it has been merging its ground and air networks, which often duplicated(重复，重叠) each other: separate vehicles would pick up packages(取件，收取包裹) for road and air from the same address. FedEx expects this to save $2bn by the end of next year. On June 23rd it reported increases in annual revenue and profit, though its operating margin(营业利润率) fell slightly, thanks to higher wages and fuel costs.
到目前为止，投资者对联邦快递的表现更为满意。过去一年，其市值上涨了38%，而UPS仅上涨5%（见图表）。除了剥离FedEx Freight，联邦快递还在整合其地面和航空网络，这两者经常重复：同一地址的包裹会由不同的车辆分别取件用于陆运和空运。联邦快递预计到明年年底这将节省20亿美元。6月23日，该公司报告了年度营收和利润的增长，不过由于工资和燃料成本上涨，其营业利润率略有下降。