Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yesterday I ordered an item from Amazon that had free next day shipping. I monitored its progress.
It did not get processed until this morning. It left Chattanooga at around 9 or 10am, and was scanned at an Amazon facility in Smyrna at 4:23pm. Then, it went out for delivery at 5:50pm. I was able to watch exactly where the driver was and knew when he was heading to my house. The package was dropped at my doorstep at 8:23pm.
This was for an item that cost $70 and the shipping was free.
If I wanted it to ship this quickly with UPS, it would have easily cost $35... and I don't know that UPS could even get something to me next day if I didn't order it until 8:30pm the night before.
Amazon is unbelievable. They are definitely mastering logistics. I think it's because they have to, because all the other players are, well, terrible at it.
Once they really perfect everything, I don't see why they couldn't go entirely into the parcel industry. Why wouldn't they start delivering any package from anyone and to anyone for a fee? I think if they did, the service would be better and the price cheaper than UPS or USPS. Maybe they'd only do it for big e-commerce players, who would be responsible for getting everything to an Amazon distribution facility, and then they would handle it from there.
I don't know exactly what it would look like. All I know is UPS, USPS and FedEx better clean up their acts and figure out how to do their jobs better and cheaper.
What do you think? Could Atlanta's own UPS be in real trouble? I think they are.
Yesterday I ordered an item from Amazon that had free next day shipping. I monitored its progress.
It did not get processed until this morning. It left Chattanooga at around 9 or 10am, and was scanned at an Amazon facility in Smyrna at 4:23pm. Then, it went out for delivery at 5:50pm. I was able to watch exactly where the driver was and knew when he was heading to my house. The package was dropped at my doorstep at 8:23pm.
This was for an item that cost $70 and the shipping was free.
If I wanted it to ship this quickly with UPS, it would have easily cost $35... and I don't know that UPS could even get something to me next day if I didn't order it until 8:30pm the night before.
Amazon is unbelievable. They are definitely mastering logistics. I think it's because they have to, because all the other players are, well, terrible at it.
Once they really perfect everything, I don't see why they couldn't go entirely into the parcel industry. Why wouldn't they start delivering any package from anyone and to anyone for a fee? I think if they did, the service would be better and the price cheaper than UPS or USPS. Maybe they'd only do it for big e-commerce players, who would be responsible for getting everything to an Amazon distribution facility, and then they would handle it from there.
I don't know exactly what it would look like. All I know is UPS, USPS and FedEx better clean up their acts and figure out how to do their jobs better and cheaper.
What do you think? Could Atlanta's own UPS be in real trouble? I think they are.
I think that it all depends on if a company like Amazon were to want to get entirely into the parcel industry, which it is far from certain that they would want to.
I just think that Amazon's core competency is fast shipping of its own online retail items to its retail customers, sometimes/often by way of shipping companies like UPS, USPS and FedEx, and sometimes/often by way of Amazon's own contract delivery personnel.
Check the date on that article. It's almost a year old. A lot has changed since then, and a lot can and will change over the next year.
Can Amazon put UPS out of business? Indirectly, perhaps, or at least they can severely change/shrink UPS' business.
It's a time-honored tradition: An upstart (and in terms of logistics, Amazon is an upstart) with heavy funding enters into an industry and cherry-picks the most profitable portions of the industry for its offerings. After a while, the incumbents are left with a business model that is increasingly dominated by the unprofitable portion of their business. Eventually, the incumbents have no choice but to either dump the unprofitable business (i.e., leaving vast portions of the country under-served) or go under.
Amazon did it to other industries. Why not logistics?
I disagree that the other players are terrible at logistics. Amazon is using them too.
I'm just wondering how long Amazon's free shipping model/free 2 day with Prime membership will last. It doesn't make financial sense. It costs real money to ship things. Where is that money coming from?
That delivery driver that drove out to the country to my daughter's farm last Sunday night at 8:30 pm to deliver a $10 book for free? How is Amazon paying for this?
I disagree that the other players are terrible at logistics. Amazon is using them too.
I'm just wondering how long Amazon's free shipping model/free 2 day with Prime membership will last. It doesn't make financial sense. It costs real money to ship things. Where is that money coming from?
That delivery driver that drove out to the country to my daughter's farm last Sunday night at 8:30 pm to deliver a $10 book for free? How is Amazon paying for this?
Well, given that Amazon booked $10 billion in profit last year despite huge expansion costs, I'm guessing that the business model works pretty well.
Yesterday I ordered an item from Amazon that had free next day shipping. I monitored its progress.
It did not get processed until this morning. It left Chattanooga at around 9 or 10am, and was scanned at an Amazon facility in Smyrna at 4:23pm. Then, it went out for delivery at 5:50pm. I was able to watch exactly where the driver was and knew when he was heading to my house. The package was dropped at my doorstep at 8:23pm.
This was for an item that cost $70 and the shipping was free.
If I wanted it to ship this quickly with UPS, it would have easily cost $35... and I don't know that UPS could even get something to me next day if I didn't order it until 8:30pm the night before.
Amazon is unbelievable. They are definitely mastering logistics. I think it's because they have to, because all the other players are, well, terrible at it.
Once they really perfect everything, I don't see why they couldn't go entirely into the parcel industry. Why wouldn't they start delivering any package from anyone and to anyone for a fee? I think if they did, the service would be better and the price cheaper than UPS or USPS. Maybe they'd only do it for big e-commerce players, who would be responsible for getting everything to an Amazon distribution facility, and then they would handle it from there.
I don't know exactly what it would look like. All I know is UPS, USPS and FedEx better clean up their acts and figure out how to do their jobs better and cheaper.
What do you think? Could Atlanta's own UPS be in real trouble? I think they are.
How did that item get from the factory, to the Amazon facility in Chattanooga, to the Amazon in Smyrna?
Also, don't confuse what you pay (or a small company pays) for shipping, with what Wal Mart, Amazon, etc, pay. They fill a large truck or fleet of trucks. Your cost, per package, would be a heck of a lot lower if you received a truck full of goods every day.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
