Amazon is preparing to expand its nationwide delivery network and give up its long-standing partnership with the U.S. Postal Service as talks stall with the mail agency, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, a move that could make the e-commerce goliath the most ubiquitous delivery service in the country and wreak havoc on the postal agency’s long-term financial viability.

Amazon - whose founder, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post - has been in talks with the Postal Service over what the mail agency calls “negotiated service agreements,” which set rates and hasten delivery for its largest clients.The company had hoped to come to a new agreement that would have locked in favorable rates and set higher benchmarks for package volume, but formal talks have largely conclude

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