According to a report in the Wall Street Journal Amazon are developing an app that would pay participating members of the public to deliver goods. This scheme is one of many which Amazon are developing to try and cut cost in their delivery sector as it is one of the most expensive costs within their company.
Amazon is planning on calling the delivery program ‘On My Way’ internally, however before it can solidify there are many logistic problems to be worked out beforehand. The issues include theft prevention, protection against liability, and of course, cost – big delivery companies and the Post Office are much more efficient than most alternatives. Amazon are prepared to be flexible about its parcel delivery options and this particular model – where people making a journey for their own reasons will give a “lift” to a package. This delivery strategy is already being used by a number of companies, including Roadie in the US and Nimber in Scandinavia and the UK.
Amazon has sealed an exclusive deal with the post office to deliver parcels on a Sunday. Amazon is also looking into adding another customer option called ‘Bring It To Me’. This option will use the customers GPS to locate their location and will then deliver a parcel to them within 30 minutes via drones. Another way in that Amazon are tying to offset their high shipping costs is to start advertising on the outside of their parcels.