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Amazon Quietly Confirms It Is Competing With UPS and FedEx (businessinsider.nl)
schwit1 shares a report from Business Insider: Amazon declared in its 2018 annual filing that it competes against transportation and logistics companies, as CNBC first reported. It's a clear warning shot against UPS and FedEx, two companies that used to claim Amazon is simply their customer. Meanwhile, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky told analysts last week that the retail giant will "continue to expand (its) Amazon logistics and (its) delivery capability" in 2019. Meanwhile, UPS CEO David Abney said the company "monitor(s) them (Amazon) as is if they were a competitor." And FedEx claimed, seemingly out of nowhere, last week that Amazon is not their largest competitor, claiming just 1.3% of the company's 2018 revenue.
Amazon is working toward not needing any of them. Most of my Amazon deliveries lately have been by their drivers in white vehicles.
When the shipper isn't listed on amazon purchases, I get afraid that I'll not get it, on time, as expected. About 1-in-5 packages shipped by companies other than FedEx, UPS, USPS are lost/never arrive.
It used to be LaserShip was the main problem. Getting a package from them was 50/50. Most of the time, it was tea that would be lost. Once is was a TV and the other time a $900 laptop. Amazon always made it good, if they were the seller, but more and more, they mix inventories and there's no way to ensure you are only buying directly from amazon.
This last Xmas season, I must admit to all packages arriving by the 2nd due date. So much for 2-day shipping.
Not like Amazon is absorbing this cost in a negative way. They are paying contractors to deliver exclusively with Amazon. It may not negatively impact customers, but I am not sure its a good deal for contractors or drivers. I doubt the drivers make nearly as much as UPS or Fedex drivers, or provided good benefits. This is just a way for Amazon to control delivery prices.
shipments internationally. This is now a FedEx monopoly, and FedEx is the worst of the worst, especially in places where they're using franchises.
Weird. I use DHL for that.
Amazon is working toward not needing any of them. Most of my Amazon deliveries lately have been by their drivers in white vehicles.
I just saw an Amazon delivery vehicle the other day. It has a blue design with the Amazon name and the Amazon fish hook on it.
All dump mail that is not lucrative to deliver or cannot be delivered by them into the massive United States Postal Service. Fleas. They will never "not need" the USPS. Only the USPS delivers practically every day to every address in the United States.
E Proelio Veritas.
DHL, USPS, UPS all ship internationally.
shipments internationally. This is now a FedEx monopoly, and FedEx is the worst of the worst, especially in places where they're using franchises.
Yep. Never seen an Apple Mac Pro survive being shipped by FedEx.
Fedex said Amazon is not it's biggest customer, not competitor.
Have you read my blog lately?
they say the package was delivered 24 hours prior, in order to beef up their stats.
they also say the package was delivered, when it never arrives!
Been saying for a while now it's only a matter of time before Amazon starts offering to ship your packages through their network just like UPS & FedEx. Once you've built up all that backend, it only makes sense to use it to capacity, even if you're carrying packages that didn't originate at an Amazon facility.
They have Amazon prime delivery trucks running around my neighborhood. Amazon has a history of building something for their own use, and then offering it to the public. I can easily imagine Amazon building out their fleet of delivery trucks and offering delivery services for third parties. Competition is good, so I look forward to this development.
I've seen plenty. I've delivered them. By "Seen Plenty" means the box is intact, not torn, and not crushed. If apple skimps on packing materials, thats their problem
It took MCI to break up AT&T. who's gonna break up amaz?
Im kinda guessing that the WaPo isn't going to start dropping op eds to do so ;)
As of 2017, DHL's market share for global parcel delivery was 38% compared to FedEx at 24%. When we ship to consumers internationally we go through DHL due to their coverage. We only use FedEx when shipping internationally to our own distribution centers and retail stores.
Not sure why small electronics would flow through one carrier, unless maybe you are ordering things that all come from the same company and they have a contractual arrangement with FedEx?
Before Christmas, we started getting some literal guys showing up driving down our long rural driveway. Their cars were older, and with out of state plates. The drivers were invariably men in their twenties, who were dressed 'city.'
Their random appearance was initially... worrying and weird.. Would have been much different if their cars had large Amazon swoop magnetic decals, and they at least wore caps.
In retrospect, they were amaz surge delivery team. At the time, some mention in the delivery email that the typical usps, FedEx, ups delivery guys were being augmented would have avoided the worrying and weird.
Unfortunately I havenâ(TM)t been able to find confirmation of this on the web yet, but a colleague of mine in the public transit space says that Amazon recently âoebought outâ production of Dodge Ram ProMasters through September (appx. 50,000 vehicles).
These same chassis are used in the paratransit space to build ADA-compliant cutaway buses, so itâ(TM)s affecting their ability to replace aging vehicles in their fleets, short-term. But itâ(TM)s interesting from the perspective of this article, as well.
FWIW, this chassis has also recently been the focus of autonomous driving efforts - firms investing in creating a common control-by-wire interface for them. No idea if this is also in Amazonâ(TM)s plan (at least near-term), but also interesting...
This is now a FedEx monopoly
All my cheap, small electronics come from China, and tend to arrive via ePacket->USPS handoff. I can't remember the last time I got anything via FedEx. I have had more problems with FedEx than any other shipper, but it's all been stuff related to the fact that they don't have distribution centers everywhere like UPS does, so if there's a problem getting a package, it becomes a BIG problem. I can't just have them send it to the local center and then go get it, there isn't one! They come from over a mountain range where I live now, and where I lived last, they were both over a mountain range and in a different county.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
That implies that ship for others. That would only apply for associate companies or whatever you call them that sell on amazon. I wouldn't call that competition. Maybe in the distant future... they might take public shipments. But for now I wouldn't call them competitors. They are simply doing the job of delivery for themselves which if they can do it for cheaper or the same they should. It also gives them leverage against traditional shippers in their price and quality of service negotiations. I can so see them doing the same for truck shipments.
Is this a misquote:
And FedEx claimed, seemingly out of nowhere, last week that Amazon is not their largest competitor, claiming just 1.3% of the company's 2018 revenue.
Sounds like he's saying that they are not their largest *customer*, which I can believe since I rarely get Fedex packages from Amazon, but doesn't say anything about them as a competitor. (and since I haven't seen any non-Amazon packages being delivered by Amazon, I'd guess that they are not a competitor at all.... yet, but could become one quickly)
Most of mine comes goes China Post -> USPS (even stuff from Singapore), but some of it goes China Post -> DHL.
ePacket might only be a service level, it is like saying "first class" instead of USPS.
That means it's shipped by Amazon's delivery service and there's a good chance it'll get lost. They're worse than UPS, which is pretty bad.
AliExpress lessons
Logistics IS an AI issue(brute force actually) so Amazon rightly decided not to pay for established player tax, and simulated what adds to the bottom line, with an Uber like twist in USA. It did not do that in Europe where Uber contractors got declared as employees. US internal post rates for other than the top 10 customers is too much. Aliexpress also runs simulations.
Well ChinaPost got too greedy, as did the near ones out of HK or Singapore. In Australia I now see Philippine or Cambodia post.
I suspect high value add packets that weigh nothing have priority, and low value metallic items and liquids get lesser priority.
Good luck buying good quality electronic components from China. I've test-tried several times and every time they send fakes or garbage instead of the specified item.
I had one TBA tracking # that "went missing" before delivery. I had to figure out a way to call amazon then sit on hold to request a refund. Refunds for underliverable and identified as lost in transit items do not occur automatically. It took a second call to actually receive the refund because the first was denied.
Another TBA delivery was placed outside a neighbors barn, which was behind their house, and 1/4 mile away from mine.
A third delivery was stacked next to my trash cans at the curb on trash day.
I'm done ordering from amazon. hello walmart, target, newegg, and b&h.