Amazon Prime, now with free, same-day deliveries

[oldngray]

Here come the Amazon boxes.

Prime by bedtime.

That's a phrase millions of Amazon Prime members may start reciting, thanks to the online retailer adding free, same-day deliveries to the $99-a-year membership program.

For now, Amazon's new service, unveiled Thursday, will be a stripped-down version of Prime's current, free two-day deliveries. Over 1 million items will be available for free, same-day shipments -- a fraction of the 20 million available in the US for two-day deliveries. Orders must total more than $35 to qualify. The purchase must also be made before noon, or it will arrive the next day. The service will initially be available in 14 metro areas across the US.


http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-prime-now-with-free-same-day-deliveries/

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

Cue the "AMAZON IS TRYING TO DROP US AND DO EVERYTHING THEMSELVES" posts

 

[Wally]

Lets hire more drivers to pick up and deliver this service.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Cue the "AMAZON IS TRYING TO DROP US AND DO EVERYTHING THEMSELVES" posts

Yep. At best the volume diverted from the UPS hubs in those citkes will be negligible.

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

Lets hire more drivers to pick up and deliver this service.

Why? This is a money losing service at best.

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

Yep. At best the volume diverted from the UPS hubs in those citkes will be negligible.

Pretty much. You're talking about stuff that people would probably go to the store for. This just means they don't have to stop on the way home.

 

[Shifting Contents]

Why? This is a money losing service at best.

I haven't seen amazon do anything that actually makes money so far so your point is moot

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

I haven't seen amazon do anything that actually makes money so far so your point is moot

No, my point is valid because I'm talking about UPS not Amazon. We wouldn't make crap on this.

 

[oldngray]

It's probably mostly a PR stunt to generate interest in Amazon similar to their drone delivery BS.

 

[Returntosender]

Why? This is a money losing service at best.

A few months ago, Upstate mentioned UPS offers a similar same day service. One of these I think, Speed, Super, Sonic Air.

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

A few months ago, Upstate mentioned UPS offers a similar same day service. One of these I think, Speed, Super, Sonic Air.

Yep we do. But they charge up the rear for it. I'm pretty sure they utilize passenger airline flights to get it from A to B, there's no way they use our aircraft for it.

But it comes down to what are we going to charge if we were to do this for Amazon? They're charging 5.99 for the service. Even if we charge 4x more than that (which I mean, we pretty much have to) we are losing money on it. The beauty of our structure now is we have set routes so you know you're going to get there at some point in the day. With this, you can't, it's a cluster. You're paying drivers to hop all around town all day. You'd need some serious volume for it to make sense. We can make the prices Amazon pay us work now because we are picking up feeders and feeders worth of volume at one time that they load. I highly doubt we are going to fill a package car with that, never mind a feeder.

 

[Wally]

Why? This is a money losing service at best.

Don't forget, we have a secret weapon of huge profits: Orion!

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

Don't forget, we have a secret weapon of huge profits: Orion!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

A few months ago, Upstate mentioned UPS offers a similar same day service. One of these I think, Speed, Super, Sonic Air.

We used to---it was called Sonic Air. Rates started at $169 for a letter.

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

We used to---it was called Sonic Air. Rates started at $169 for a letter.

We still do. It's called Express Critical. I believe you have to have a contract and make arrangements over the phone.

 

[By The Book]

We still do. It's called Express Critical. I believe you have to have a contract and make arrangements over the phone.

Express critical......really?

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

Express critical......really?

Yep.

 

[By The Book]

Yep.

Isn't that copyright infringement?

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

Isn't that copyright infringement?

What does it infringe on?

 

[By The Book]

What does it infringe on?

I was just toying with the idea they would have done that with express, by now. I know we have that name in our other services as well. Just seeing it I think of Fedx.