Amazon testing its own delivery truck fleet for "last mile" drop-offs

[Jos]

Amazon doesn’t want to rely solely on traditional logistics companies like UPS or FedEx to deliver packages to customers’ doorsteps. But it isn’t placing all its bets on autonomous drones either. Instead, the company is testing its own fleet of trucks to handle "last mile" drop-offs in certain markets.

The move should help the retailer expand its same-day delivery service and have more control over shipping expenses, which grew 29% last year. It’s also meant to avoid a repeat of last year’s holiday shipping mess, which resulted in hundreds of missed deliveries and Amazon offering compensations. 

Amazon trucks driven by Amazon-supervised contractors are currently being used in limited fashion to deliver packages in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. Customers who've received packages delivered by Amazon said they noticed a different tracking process, with no links to an outside shipper.

The company isn’t too worried with keeping its plans under wraps. A recent job posting laid out the reasoning behind the move:

"Amazon is growing at a faster speed than UPS and FedEx, who are responsible for shipping the majority of our packages. At this rate Amazon cannot continue to rely solely on the solutions provided through traditional logistics providers. To do so will limit our growth, increase costs and impede innovation in delivery capabilities. Last Mile is the solution to this [and will] revolutionize how shipments are delivered to millions of customers."

With more states now requiring Amazon to charge tax, thus reducing its competitive advantage, building its own delivery network will certainly give traditional retailers something new to worry about.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56524-amazon-testing-its-own-delivery-truck-fleet-for-last-mile-drop-offs.html

 

[tipstir]

They have their own delivery trucks (white vans) the guys that drive them wear red shirt with black shorts down here in the deep south for two years now unless it was a training or test program. Service is better than UPS the packages don't get lost or damaged.

 

[jeromie]

This is brilliant for Amazon. If they can work out all the bugs in deliveries they can shrink their reliance on outside carriers. Amazon is all about quality and safety as I have worked there a few times. No Amazon employee is going to deliberatly destroy a customer's package like UPS and FedEX have been caught doing. Last I heard it costs $39.99 every time a customer gets a bad or broken package delivered. I was working on Chirstmas Eve to get those last thousands of packages loaded on the truck by midnight. Hearing about how their deliveries not even making it out of FedEX and UPS is just sad as they were paid and signed contracts to do them on Chirstmas Day.

 

[cartera]

This is nothing new in the UK either, I believe they have been doing this for the past few months here. I have had a few deliveries where the driver has arrived in a rented van and said Amazon delivery at the door.

Their service has been good to.

 

[captaincranky]

They have their own delivery trucks (white vans) the guys that drive them wear red shirt with black shorts down here in the deep south for two years now unless it was a training or test program. Service is better than UPS the packages don't get lost or damaged.

Where does everybody come up with all the complaints about Fedex and UPS. Neither carrier has lost, broken, or even been a day late, with a package of mine for as far back as I can remember.

So, you need to call and complain more, or move out of your backward area. Either that, or come Christmas, make sure to tip your UPS driver..

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

They have their own delivery trucks (white vans) the guys that drive them wear red shirt with black shorts down here in the deep south for two years now unless it was a training or test program. Service is better than UPS the packages don't get lost or damaged.

Where does everybody come up with all the complaints about Fedex and UPS. Neither carrier has lost, broken, or even been a day late, with a package of mine for as far back as I can remember.

So, you need to call and complain more, or move out of your backward area. Either that, or come Christmas, make sure to tip your UPS driver..

Maybe I do need to tip my driver, but it's sort of a joke that every time I order something from newegg it comes from UPS and the box is all beat up. I think UPS sees a newegg box and thinks 'soccer ball.' I've never had a damaged product, just smashed boxes, luckily, but they seriously take as much care of your package as your average airline baggage handler.

 

[captaincranky]

Maybe I do need to tip my driver, but it's sort of a joke that every time I order something from newegg it comes from UPS and the box is all beat up. I think UPS sees a newegg box and thinks 'soccer ball.' I've never had a damaged product, just smashed boxes, luckily, but they seriously take as much care of your package as your average airline baggage handler.

I swear to you, I even get boxes that I find difficult to recycle, beings as they're so pristine.

I also have another service used by Newegg and Amazon for free shipping called, "Lasership". I couldn't find a good word on the web about this company, and yet they've never missed with me either.

I think you might be forgetting that your delivery service, may not be the first freight handler the package has had to endure. This is particularly true of large items, that are being shipped in their sales carton, and not over-boxed.

 

[jacques]

They have their own delivery trucks (white vans) the guys that drive them wear red shirt with black shorts down here in the deep south for two years now unless it was a training or test program. Service is better than UPS the packages don't get lost or damaged.

lfmao

 

[Fbarnett]

They have their own delivery trucks (white vans) the guys that drive them wear red shirt with black shorts down here in the deep south for two years now unless it was a training or test program. Service is better than UPS the packages don't get lost or damaged.

Amazon trucks driven by Amazon-supervised contractors are currently being used in limited fashion to deliver packages in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.

Since when is New York and San Francisco down south?

 

[Guest]

Amazon's core problem is high cost in shipping, and they want to reduce that as much as possible. Shipping companies such as USPS, Fedex, and UPS raise their prices annually. In the long term, Amazon's shipping cost would continue to increase. Buying their own fleets and contracting drivers is a great initiative. The start out cost would off set the contracting cost with the shipping companies in the long-run. Amazon must consider the quality of these new drivers to ensure quality and minimize risk, which could factor into the total cost of ownership. In the end, the Amazon's idea is very smart if they want to keep the shipping industry innovative and have more control over their product locations and on-time delivery. This idea could also make the logistics more efficient due to the fact that there will be only Amazon products on the fleets. If this is a success for Amazon, other online company giants might want to consider owning their own fleets as well.

 

[Jcosten]

This is a really unique initiative by Amazon and I'm excited to see what a company famous for process improvements from data collection can do with the overwhelming increase in shipping costs. I agree that this can help alleviate some of the pain for Amazon around the holidays when orders cannot be fulfilled due to the lack of capacity, but how will this affect relationships with each of the major transportation companies? Will Amazon begin to phase out one of the logistics companies slowly and just rely UPS for example? Additionally, how will these effects on relationships affect overnight items that need to be transported by air? I know at this point Amazon is able to leverage its economies of scale to keep air and trucking costs low with logistics companies, but it seems that it might be difficult to continue that approach in the long term with less being demanded by a third party shipping company.

 

[Guest]

Amazon Just plain sucks - I hope they fall flat on their face. What your not reading here they treat their sellers horribly and compete against them as Amazon the company sells stuff. They kick people off selling for poor reasons and cut off communication. Avoid Amazon at all costs if you favor small business or good Amazon seller bad treatment!

 

[Guest]

Google how Amazon Screws sellers over!