Amazon Plans Startup Delivery Services for Its Own Packages

SEATTLE – Amazon has more than 100 warehouses. He has a fleet of trucks, and even his own planes. Now, in another effort to help ship his millions of packages to buyers faster, he also wants to build an army of deliverymen.

The new business program wants to help people start their own business – delivering packages for Amazon. 19659016] For a minimum investment of $ 10,000, US users will be able to open and manage their own delivery service by processing Amazon packages. Although the couriers will not be employees, they will have access to Amazon brand vehicles, uniforms and more.

According to company calculations, an owner could earn up to $ 300,000 a year by operating a fleet going up to

The program is a potential solution to a growing problem that Amazon faces because it manages an ever-growing number of parcels for customers across the country: how to get parcels quickly from its various sorting centers to the door of consumers.

But the startup service is certain to ask itself questions about whether it could challenge – or even replace – part of the work done by Amazon's partners, including United Parcel Service and the US Postal Service. The service has been the subject of close scrutiny in recent months. President Trump has argued on Twitter that Amazon's postal agreement, which sets the amount that Amazon pays to the agency, costs taxpayers billions of dollars.

"I'm just about Amazon costing massive amounts of money for their Boy delivery," Trump tweeted in April.

Although the details behind the agreement are not public, the available evidence suggests the opposite: Amazon's business has been a boon to the post. Some current and former leaders of the White House have said that Trump sometimes mixes Amazon with the Washington Post, which has aggressively covered his administration. The post is owned by the CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos.

In mid-April, Trump abruptly issued an executive order requiring an assessment of the postal service's finances. The ordinance does not mention Amazon, but it was clear that he would like the group of experts to corroborate his claims that the financial arrangement with Amazon, his biggest parcel forwarder, is a loser.

Amazon executives have ruled out any link between the new delivery program and Trump's tweets

"It does not play any role in this debate," said Dave Clark, vice president of global operations From Amazon, Wednesday afternoon at Admiral's House, a historic property overlooking Elliott Bay in Seattle

Clark said his job was to think about five or fifteen years later on the needs of Amazon and that the new delivery program has been designed to meet the demands of growth and capacity. He added that Amazon would continue to use all of its partners, including the postal service, to get packages to its customers.

Amazon has tested a number of programs that could replace or reduce its reliance on delivery partners. This year, for example, it plans to test a service in which courier companies would pick up products from companies that sell goods via Amazon and deliver the goods to its warehouses. Currently, this work is done by UPS, FedEx and other companies.

The new program is also separate from Amazon Flex, which allows people to pay between $ 18 and $ 25 an hour to deliver their parcels from their own vehicle. Individuals will not be employees or even independent contractors of Amazon, but rather, be the owners of their businesses, under contract with Amazon to deliver parcels. Amazon said that its vehicles could be used to deliver packages only to the company, not its competitors.

The program will begin in more than two dozen states, many of them along the coasts. But business executives were encouraging people interested in signing up even if their city or region was not currently listed because Amazon expects the program to develop.

Amazon hoped that hundreds of people would enroll in the next 12 to 18 months. delivery service partners. If the service is successful, it would likely be extended to other countries, said Clark

and in order to attract military veterans, Amazon is offering $ 10,000 refund for qualified candidates to start their own business. which are accepted in the startup program will have access to a variety of discounts Amazon has negotiated on their behalf, including Amazon brand vehicles, as well as fuel, insurance coverage and more, executives said.

One of the participants in the Amazon test In his new offer, Olaoluwa Abimbola, said that after arriving from Nigeria, he spent years working in an office and, more recently, to drive for Amazon Flex. Now, he said, he was excited to run his own company, which has 40 full-time and part-time employees.

"It means the world to me," said Abimbola in front of a gray Amazon Prime truck behind the Admiral's house. "This opportunity offers a future for my family, my daughters, I live my dream and I have the time of my life."