Amazon set to launch own delivery service, competing with UPS & FedEx

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 59
    Is what's being reported here different than what's been going on in Metro Vancouver? Over the last few months many of our Amazon deliveries have been via "white van" or vehicles with Amazon livery. Does that mean they've already been operating their own delivery system here?
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 22 of 59
    I find it unbelievable how each time Amazon attempts to get into a market, Wall Street quickly decides that Amazon becomes the company to beat. I really don't understand why newcomer Amazon is ALWAYS given the nod. It's as though Amazon is immediately going to destroy all competition. It's really odd that Apple is viewed as the exact opposite. If Apple attempts to enter a market, Wall Street has all these negative concerns as how Apple is too late to the game or doesn't have the chops, or talent or something else. I know Wall Street believes Jeff Bezos is the perfect CEO but I think any person can make some mistakes in judgment. Wall Street shouldn't just automatically assume Amazon is going to always outdo the competition. Leave at least some room for doubt for investors. UPS and Fedex certainly aren't going to just roll over and die after being in the shipping business for so many years. There's also USPS which delivers most of my Amazon products. They seem to be doing a pretty good job depending on who the local delivery person is.
    edited February 2018 randominternetpersonspliff monkey
  • Reply 23 of 59
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,335member
    This is not surprising but it is somewhat of a gut punch to the current shipping services who have added capacity to accommodate Amazon driven growth. Sure, I totally understand the vertical integration and dependency management parts but I also suspect that regulators in some countries and states are going to get a little nervous about Amazon subsuming and disrupting yet another industry. Amazon definitely has the domain expertise, logistical infrastructure, and always-growing semi-captive customer base (Prime members) to make a serious dent in UPS's and FedEx's bottom line. It's only a matter of time before Amazon does something like Prime-to-Prime Member deliveries that has the potential to capture more of the USPS's bread & butter business model. No reason why a Prime member shouldn't be able to send letters and parcels to other Prime members via SWA. Not only that, with Amazon's deep knowledge of its customer base it could seriously disrupt junk mail by making it more targeted. That's the USPS's last bastion of semi-profitability. One really big caveat - one of the only true powers granted to the US president by the US Constitution (as opposed to the multitude of non Constitutional power grabs that have occurred over the years) is total control of the Post Office. It would be very easy for the president to cripple Amazon's conquests in areas that impact the USPS, even slightly.  

    I also think Bezos should rethink the SWA acronym before its shipping labels get referred to as SWA-stickers. 
  • Reply 24 of 59
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    I already had Amazon delivery at my house. When the package was delivered, they took a picture of the package on my door step and when I look on line for the delivery status the tracking number was did not take me to any of the normal delivery company it just show the status on Amazon's on site. I think they have been testing this around the country in the last few months.
    patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 59
    Soli said:
    So you think it’s a ruse and that they have no plans or desire to creating their own shipping company?
    I think it is perfectly logical if you look at the bigger picture. They bought WholeFoods and now this.
    Next? Perhaps they want to send the likes of WalMart to the great store graveyard in the sky. If they do that then therre is nothing stopping them from being the last major retailer standing.
    There goes your 'food miles'. 
  • Reply 26 of 59
     Wall Street quickly decides that Amazon becomes the company to beat.
    That says it all. They think that Amazon can grow and grow and grow and grow and grow until ?????
    Their bubble has to burst at some point then they will want profits. But how many other businesses will have to go by the wayside before that happens.

    Shop Local and buy locally grown food.

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 27 of 59
    The race is on...

    My homePad is out for delivery -- a 3.5 mm audio cable I ordered from Amazon is out for delivery.

    The 3.5 mm cable is so I can hook my iPod HiFi to an old Airport Express.

    As I posted on another thread, I have been experimenting with iTunes comparing the sounds of various speakers.  I have:
    • older Bose Acoustic Wave System -- their initial offering, circa 1985, cassette based *
    • older Bose Wave system, circa 2000, cassette based
    • iPod HiFi
    • older B&O with McIntosh Speakers
    • iMac 5K with 2 speakers
    • appleTV
    • soon to arrive homePod
    * this system was purchased at the Apple Store in 1986 -- when there was only 1 Apple Store -- at Apple HQ on Bandly Drive

    I don't expect the homePod to outperform the B&O McIntosh setup, but it should compare well with the others.  It will be interesting to see how the homePod with automatic equalizer settings compares with the various settings for the other speakers.

    I am especially interested in using it in the family room connected to the appleTV...  

    My daughter and I have been watching Victoria with the sound turned down and closed-caption on -- because it is too loud for her and too soft for me (besides, it translates German, French, etc.).  We'll see if we can place the homePod to satisfy us, both!





    tokyojimu
  • Reply 28 of 59
    The race is on...

    My homePad is out for delivery -- a 3.5 mm audio cable I ordered from Amazon is out for delivery.
    I sent feedback to Apple last year saying that I appreciate free shipping, but am surprised that free deliveries from Amazon arrive much more quickly than shipments from Apple. I find it a little bit frustrating to wait over a week for a premium-priced product from Apple when $25 worth of stuff from Amazon arrives in 3-4 days.

    It's obviously not a big deal and there may well be perfectly valid considerations I'm not aware of, it just seems like the massive margins in Apple products should be enough to pay for a shipping method that's at least equivalent to what Amazon is able to provide for low-margin items.
  • Reply 29 of 59
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Soli said:
    So you think it’s a ruse and that they have no plans or desire to creating their own shipping company?
    I think it is perfectly logical if you look at the bigger picture. They bought WholeFoods and now this.
    Next? Perhaps they want to send the likes of WalMart to the great store graveyard in the sky. If they do that then therre is nothing stopping them from being the last major retailer standing.
    There goes your 'food miles'. 
    How is buying Whole Foods an elaborate hoax?
  • Reply 30 of 59
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    lmasanti said:
    quote: “At the same time, that would funnel money towards a chief competitor”

    That's nothing new for Apple. Apple is ‘tunneling’ lots of money to it rival Samsung thru chips. memories and displays.
    And enabling lots of money to Google and MS for search.

    zoetmb said:
    I just heard a news report on this.   According to what I heard, it's only for overnight shipping.   What percentage of people pay for that today (aside from businesses)?  And that's a huge capital and labor cost for Amazon - I expect they'll lose money on this for years to come.   But I suppose if they can get other companies to use the service, it covers the cost of trucks and labor that they're already investing in anyway.
    You're kidding, right?! They are already building out their own freight service for inbound and outbound shipments. Look it up. This will actually allow them to maximize use of the infrastructure they are building and lower the overall cost of each delivery.

    emig647 said:
    Competition is good. Be interesting to see where this goes. I feel like shipping prices from some of these places are a bit out of touch.
    Keep in mind that very often the Shipping and Handling charge stores charge are mostly "handling" that the store keeps for themselves, not the actual shipping cost they pay the carrier. My pet peeve is when the stores charge for delivery based on the price of the item, not the weight/size. Makes no sense as pricing for any carrier is by weight with a tiny amount maybe for extra insurance if it's valuable.
  • Reply 31 of 59
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Is what's being reported here different than what's been going on in Metro Vancouver? Over the last few months many of our Amazon deliveries have been via "white van" or vehicles with Amazon livery. Does that mean they've already been operating their own delivery system here?
    Yep. They've been doing that in areas surrounding their distribution centers for some time. If it's in stock in that warehouse and you're within that delivery area it will most often come in an Amazon delivery van. Been like that in central/north NJ for a while now.
  • Reply 32 of 59
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
     Wall Street quickly decides that Amazon becomes the company to beat.
    That says it all. They think that Amazon can grow and grow and grow and grow and grow until ?????
    Their bubble has to burst at some point then they will want profits. But how many other businesses will have to go by the wayside before that happens.

    Shop Local and buy locally grown food.

    In NY, you can't grow tomatoes in winter. Oranges, bananas, avocados ever. Just to name a few. We'd go pretty hungry in the northeast most of the year. One of the great things about this country is we can experience avocados from California, potatoes from Idaho, grapefruit from Florida, beef from Texas or Illinois and bread made from wheat that comes from the midwest.


    edited February 2018
  • Reply 33 of 59
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    We live in the SF East Bay Area. The thing that blows my mind is the Same Day Delivery that Amazon periodically offers on some items -- consider the infrastructure (vehicles, scheduling, inventory, warehousing, etc) necessary to support that.
    I have same day delivery here as well. What sucks is when Amazon uses Dynamex for same day delivery. They are awful. The last two same day delivery orders I had, Dynamex put the boxes on my driveway. I guess it was too far to walk the 20 feet or so to my front door. 
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 34 of 59
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    metrix said:
    I am still upset that they destroyed all book stores so going to avoid them. 
    Ditto here. Plus the fact that they completely screwed me over by failing to deliver items ordered a month ahead of time at Christmas a few years ago, then wouldn't even bother to respond with anything more than a (poor) computer generated reply when I complained. I'd rather pay more at a local brick and mortar store than go with Amazon.

    I do have to wonder what percentage of UPS & Fed Ex's business comes from Amazon, though. It is undoubtedly a non-negligible amount.
  • Reply 35 of 59
    Given the routinely horrible experience with Amazon's own "in-house" delivery service, I wouldn't expect much. This in-house service got to be so bad got that I demanded Amazon stop shipping my orders with their service. It took a few tries and several phone calls to get it done, but they did finally agree to my request.
  • Reply 36 of 59
    Saw this last week - shipped by Amazon.

    *edit: I guess this isn't the new system, but the old system...
    edited February 2018
  • Reply 37 of 59
    My hunch is that they will skim off the cream and leave the unprofitable routes to the established companies. 

    High density urban areas are easier and more profitable than serving ranches and farms in rural America, so I doubt you will be seeing an Amazon delivery truck in Rawlins, Wyoming. BTW- the same addresses it would be profitable to skim the delivery charges on would be the same ones targeted for Amazon Fresh home grocery service.

    I can see Amazon using the Whole Foods brick and mortar as warehouses for Amazon Fresh grocery delivery on trucks shared with the delivery of high priority Amazon non-food purchases. Keeps the trucks full and busy to lower overall cost. Same for bulk shipment on ships and planes- they will skim off the profitable routes and use FedEx and UPS . They might also switch over to the USPS for regular (non-rush) delivery, where Amazon moves it to a local city and then lets the Post Office do the rest. FedEx and UPS already do this for slow boat shipping.


    studiomusic
  • Reply 38 of 59
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    MplsP said:
    metrix said:
    I am still upset that they destroyed all book stores so going to avoid them. 
    Ditto here.
    You guys really blame Amazon for customers choosing not go into B&M bookstores as often? You know the customer had a choice on where to shop, right?
    dasanman69
  • Reply 39 of 59
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Soli said:
    MplsP said:
    metrix said:
    I am still upset that they destroyed all book stores so going to avoid them. 
    Ditto here.
    You guys really blame Amazon for customers choosing not go into B&M bookstores as often? You know the customer had a choice on where to shop, right?
    I stopped going to bookstores a long time ago. I chose Amazon over B&M bookstores because the local stores never had what I wanted. 
  • Reply 40 of 59
    Soli said:
    MplsP said:
    metrix said:
    I am still upset that they destroyed all book stores so going to avoid them. 
    Ditto here.
    You guys really blame Amazon for customers choosing not go into B&M bookstores as often? You know the customer had a choice on where to shop, right?
    You know Amazon dropped the price so much lower than the brick and mortar stores (more than just B&N, Borders, etc) and undercut them to drive them out of business.  The took losses on books so they could corner the market and yes people chose to go along.  Now opening up their own brick and mortar stores is basically pissing on the graves of every indie and national chains put out of business.

    james
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