Faster delivery of almost everything is the next big thing | Work and money



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NEW YORK – The wait is so strong.

Customers want more and more that their orders arrive at their doorstep as soon as they click a button, that it 'sa hot, hot meal. grocery store or sofa. In response, retailers are betting big on delivery services to deposit packages faster.

In the latest development, the online leader Amazon, which has played a crucial role in increasing consumer expectations for almost instant gratification in recent years. to assemble its own fleet of delivery vans that would be operated by independent contractors.

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D&#39 other companies are also considering radical new initiatives to put their products in the hands of customers more easily, thereby helping to transform shopping as we know it

. Look at the changing environment for deliveries:

What are retailers doing to deliver products faster to buyers?

Many have developed services that allow online shoppers to take their orders at the store. But the last strategy? Delivery of products to customers' homes the same day.

Walmart plans to extend grocery delivery the same day to more than 40% of US homes, or to 100 metropolitan areas by the end of the year. He will continue to use road transportation services, but he is also testing the use of store employees to drop goods into homes at the end of their shift.

With its $ 550 million acquisition of Shipt Logistics startup, Target plans Walmart to test smart lock technology that allows delivery people to enter a customer's home and replenish the refrigerator. And some Amazon Prime members may have packages deposited inside their home or car.

Meanwhile, startups like Deliv are working with retailers such as Best Buy and Macy's to deliver home products the same day. This kind of challenge is that a problem for FedEx and UPS?

Amazon uses major parcel delivery services, as well as small businesses and the post office. But it also launched its own fleet of 40 aircraft, deployed a truck convoy and built its own distribution centers.

UPS and FedEx executives long mock the idea that Amazon can pass from a customer to a competitor, and most analysts are in agreement – and always do it.

Losing more Amazon's business would hurt the giants of delivery, but would not crush them. Analysts estimate that UPS pulls up to 6% of its revenue from Amazon and FedEx deliveries around 3%.

UPS uses, for example, approximately 117,000 trucks and 500 aircraft and employs 2,700 pilots to deliver an average of 20 million parcels a day worldwide.

What are the risks for Amazon?

At present, when parcels are delivered late or not at all, or when they are left outside in the rain or damaged, Amazon may blame the delivery companies. If the company switches to its own delivery vans, customers will have to blame that Amazon

Will it hurt the US Post Office?

It is not known if Amazon will reduce its postal services. deliveries in favor of his own and how fast that could happen. But it's no secret that the US Postal Service is in financial trouble because of the high costs of pensions and healthcare and declining revenues from letters and other first-class couriers. Shipping and packaging services, which includes boxes from Amazon and other ecommerce companies, grew 12 percent to $ 19.5 billion for the year. 39, fiscal year 2017.

Are there enough deliverymen to meet the demand?

Courier and delivery services in the United States jumped by a third over the last two decades to 737,300 in May. In the broader category of transportation and warehousing, which also includes the trucking and other industries as well as delivery people, there were more jobs than what was filled in April. This suggests that companies can not find the workers they need

But will not robots take over for humans by delivering products to homes?

Not yet, at least. Only a few retailers and restaurants are testing driverless wagons for deliveries, including Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut.

Kroger says that he plans to launch an autonomous delivery service by the end of the year, becoming the first US grocer to make deliveries without a human walk to the case where something is wrong.

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