Amazon is working with the US Postal Service to deliver groceries

[Shawn Knight]

Amazon is in the middle of a 60-day trial in which it’s relying on the US Postal Service to deliver groceries from its AmazonFresh service to select residents in the San Francisco area. Specifically, the postal service has been delivering small grocery parcels in insulated bags to customers’ doorsteps between the hours of 3 am and 7am – a time when demand for delivery is at its lowest.

If successful, Amazon may consider expanding the service nationwide according to a spokesperson from the postal service. Their goal at this point is to determine if delivering groceries would be feasible from an operations standpoint and if it would be financially beneficial.

It’s no secret that the US Postal Service has been dealing with declining mail volumes for years. The Internet has changed the way we communicate as a country which means our reliance on the postal service has waned – it’s one of the reasons they adopted a five-day delivery schedule for mail last year.

Package delivery, on the other hand, is a completely different story. The US Postal Service saw this division grow six percent last year to 3.7 billion packages despite stiff competition from rivals FedEx and UPS.

Even still, the postal service is losing money hand over fist. According to Reuters, the postal service lost $2 billion during the second quarter compared to a net loss of $740 million during the year-ago period.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/57976-amazon-is-working-with-the-us-postal-service-to-deliver-groceries.html

 

[SNGX1275]

If successful, Amazon may consider expanding the service nationwide according to a spokesperson from the postal service.

I think by nationwide they mean 'select cities'. I doubt any city with less than 250-500k will ever see this (at least not in the next 10-15 years).

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'm more cautious with buying groceries. I'd never order groceries from an online outlet, no matter what the population of my town/city.

 

[misor]

Maybe amazon should try to negotiate with the u.s. government to take over u.s. postal service.
(the Philippine postal service, from what I 'read', is a government and private company partnership.)

 

[davislane1]

I'm more cautious with buying groceries. I'd never order groceries from an online outlet, no matter what the population of my town/city.

Why? Their stuff is going to be sourced from the same places as what you pick up at the grocery store. Hell, it'll probably be shipped to the pickup location by the same trucking company.

 

[TomSEA]

I'm more cautious with buying groceries. I'd never order groceries from an online outlet, no matter what the population of my town/city.

I have some good friends who tried the Amazon Grocery thing on a whim, expecting it to be a bad service. They tell me the produce is better than what they would have picked for themselves and the delivery is extremely prompt and pricing is very competitive. Since that first try, they haven't been to a grocery store since - they order exclusively from Amazon.

As far as this USPS experiment, I think it will be short-lived. That organization is one step away from folding. If it weren't for government subsidies, they would have gone belly-up years ago.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

The main reason USPS is in dire straits is because they used to be the title sponsor of Lance Armstrongs' cycling team who blew all the dough on an expensive drug habit.

 

[trparky]

No, the main reason USPS is in dire straits is because Congress likes to treat it like it's their own private piggy bank that they can smash on the ground whenever they need money.

 

[Guest]

The government does not give any subsides to USPS.....Congress governs what they can do as far as raising postal rates..but they do not bail them out in anyone what so ever. If they did...they wouldn't be cutting hundreds of jobs, cutting hourly pay jobs, closing down post offices. If the government did for USPS what they did for GM.....there wouldn't be any financial issues!!

 

[Donald A Noury]

I worked for the U.S.P.S. back in the 70s, as a part time clerk,carrier,our Postmaster at the time had me pick up his groceries on my rounds,if I refused,he would cut my hours,this was nothing but a dictator,and there was nothing I could do about it. Give the postal service back to the government, ask for a bail-out!

 

[enrdave lindner]

I'm more cautious with buying groceries. I'd never order groceries from an online outlet, no matter what the population of my town/city.

I have some good friends who tried the Amazon Grocery thing on a whim, expecting it to be a bad service. They tell me the produce is better than what they would have picked for themselves and the delivery is extremely prompt and pricing is very competitive. Since that first try, they haven't been to a grocery store since - they order exclusively from Amazon.

As far as this USPS experiment, I think it will be short-lived. That organization is one step away from folding. If it weren't for government subsidies, they would have gone belly-up years ago.

The PO gets no government subsidies. Please educate yourself and know what you are talking about before commenting.

 

[Guest]

The Post Office does not get government subsides.