GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — FedEx drop-off and pickup services will soon be offered at thousands of Dollar General stores.

Dollar General and FedEx recently announced plans to introduce the services to more than 1,500 Dollar General stores late this summer and have set a target of more than 8,000 stores by the end of next year.

As of May 3, Dollar General operated 15,597 stores in 44 states. According to GlobalData Retail, 75% of the U.S. population is now within five minutes of a Dollar General store. And three-quarters of its stores are in towns with 20,000 or fewer people.

“Dollar General is excited to work with FedEx to offer customers a secure, convenient pickup and drop-off location,” Jason Reiser, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for Dollar General, said in a statement.

“This collaboration furthers Dollar General’s mission of Serving Others and long track record of serving rural communities by combining our expansive store presence with FedEx’s global reach. We look forward to providing customers with expanded services and accessibility throughout our rural footprint and working with Fed­Ex as we begin the rollout later this year.”

As part of the FedEx OnSite program, customers will be able to drop off prepackaged and prelabeled FedEx Express or FedEx Ground shipments at Dollar General locations and pick up packages sent to Dollar General locations. The expansion into Dollar General stores will increase the FedEx Retail Network’s presence to more than 62,000 locations, and mean that more than 90% of Americans will live within five miles of a FedEx retail location, the Memphis-based logistics firm said. FedEx also has retail partnerships with Walmart, Walgreens and Kroger Co.

“Dollar General is the perfect retailer to help us meet the growing need for convenient, secure drop-off and pickup options in a variety of rural communities,” said Scott Harkins, senior vice president of customer channel marketing at FedEx Services. “We understand customers may not always want packages delivered to a home or office. They want secure, alternate delivery options, and we’re on a mission to make that happen. We are proud to work with Dollar General to make our customers’ lives ­easier.”

FedEx said it sees its expanding retail network as a complement to its portfolio of solutions for online merchants. Similarly, Dollar General is adopting e-commerce models to spur growth. The retailer is experimenting with direct-to-consumer subscription models, including a subscription-based shaving product line called DG Shave Crew, and is developing a buy-online-pickup-in-store capability.