Faster delivery of almost everything is the next big thing

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO and DAVID KOENIG, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) – The wait is so great yesterday

Buyers want more and more as their orders arrive at their doorstep as soon as they click a button, whether it's hot or not. meal, grocery 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.

Other companies are also considering radical new initiatives to put their products more easily in the hands of customers, helping to transform shopping as we know it. ] Here is an overview of the changing environment of deliveries:

WHAT MAKES RETAILERS TO DELIVER PRODUCTS FASTERLY TO BUYERS 'HOUSES

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 same day delivery of groceries to more than 40% of US households 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 start-up of Shipt Logistics, Target plans Walmart to test smart lock technology that allows delivery people to enter a customer's house and replenish the refrigerator . And some members of Amazon Prime may have packages deposited inside their home or car.

Meanwhile, start-ups like Deliv are working with retailers like Best Buy and Macy's to deliver home products the same day

. THE CHALLENGE MAKES THIS POSE TO THE FALSE OF FEDEX AND UPS?

Amazon uses large parcel delivery services, with smaller 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 business from Amazon 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?

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

WILL IT ENDRATE THE POST OFFICE?

It is unclear whether Amazon will reduce its mail deliveries to its speed. 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 e-commerce companies, grew by 12 percent to $ 19.5 billion in the US. Fiscal year 2017.

Are there enough drivers to meet the demand? ] Courier and delivery services in the United States jumped by a third over the last two decades, reaching 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 THE POSSIBILITY FOR HUMANS TO DELIVER PRODUCTS TO HOUSES

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

Kroger says he plans to launch an autonomous delivery service by the end of the year, becoming the first American grocer to make deliveries without human overlap in case something goes wrong

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Chris Rugaber, AP Economic Editor in Washington, contributed to this report.