With FedEx and the Postal Service expanding their weekend delivery options as more Americans go online to buy stuff, UPS is finally getting around to a test of offering Saturday delivery for ground shipments.

Bloomberg reports that the shipping company will test Saturday delivery in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Los Angeles for the rest of summer.

The tests will be used to determine if the volume of shipments on Saturdays justifies the cost of operating that day.

A spokesperson for UPS says the company is experimenting with the Saturday delivery to better compete with rival delivery companies – FedEx offers the option, while USPS delivers some Amazon.com packages on Sundays – and to meet the demand from customers.

“We just continue to see more and more demand for e-commerce shipments,” a spokesperson for the company tells Bloomberg.

The tests come as UPS prepares for an influx in residential deliveries. The company estimates that home shipments will rise to 51% by 2019 from the current level of 46%.

UPS isn’t a complete stranger to Saturday deliveries: the company offers the option on some tiers of its Express airmail unit.

UPS Tests Saturday Delivery in Response to Web Shoppers’ Clout [Bloomberg]

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