Will Amazon Fire UPS Over Christmas Catastrophe?

[worldwide]

Not saying it will never happen but right now this is laughable. It would take years just to build the buildings to do this.

Not sure if you if you are referring to Amazon warehouses or not but they are well positioned with current locations to deliver shipments via ground in 1-2 days. Current Amazon D.C.'s include:
Goodyear, AZ
Phoenix, AZ
Patterson, CA
San Bernardino, CA
Tracy, CA (opening 2014)
Windsor Locks, CT
Middletown, DE
New Castle, DE
Jeffersonville, IN
Plainfield, IN
Whitestown, IN
Coffeyville, KS
Campbellsville, KY
Hebron, KY (near Cincinnati, OH)
Lexington, KY
Louisville, KY
Baltimore, MD (opening Fall 2014)
Robbinsville, NJ (opening early 2014)
Fernley, NV
North Las Vegas, NV
Nashua, NH
Breinigsville, PA
Carlisle, PA
Hazleton, PA
Lewisberry, PA
Lexington, SC
Spartanburg, SC;
Chattanooga, TN
Lebanon, TN
Murfreesboro, TN
Irving, TX[91] (between Dallas and Fort Worth)
Schertz, TX (near San Antonio)
Chester, VA
Dinwiddie, VA (near Richmond, VA)
Sterling, VA
Bellevue, WA
DuPont, WA
Sumner, WA.
Huntington, West Virginia

There are strong regional carriers in each of these areas so the combination of the Amazon locations plus the expanding regional network is something that UPS and Fedex will face as increasing competitors. To ignore it or pretend they can' t take pieces of UPS and Fedex volume is foolish. When RPS started off they were written off by many at UPS. It took them severla years to evolve but once acquired by FDX, they became a formidable foe to UPS. There's no reason that the regional carriers can not eventually join together to form a viable "3rd carrier" network in the US.

 

[TUT]

1. It won't take 100 years because of technological advances. Amazon is very good with technology. Their system seems to ship orders from the closest possible DC. I'm sure if reliable regional shippers exist in some areas they can route packages to the regional shippers in only those areas, or possibly just route a percentage of the packages in those areas to allow controlled growth. As more regional shippers come online and/or expand it could be pose a real threat to UPS over time.

^That isn't a complete list of current Amazon DC's.

For some reason I rarely get it from the three closest one's. It probably just isn't possible to have all products at all locations.

General: But I agree, they will do more and more with local/regional. However my assumption is Fedex/UPS are giving them a very nice discount to the point they are as competitive as regionals. They already use everyone imo, they probably have a good read on what each can do and how to slice it up.

 

[brown metal coffin]

Building an infrastructure to ship just nationwide cannot be done overnight and it is more than just building huge warehouses to accommodate packages. Just ask DHL how it worked out for them in the US. Im not saying that UPS is like Braveheart or anything but only the strong survive in this game.

 

[TUT]

Regional carriers like OnTrac and Lasership. Go to Amazon forum boards and read the complaints.

- Joe delivered in old beat up car. My wife was a afraid to open the door.

- Package was delivered 2 days after OnTrac tracking showed it delivered.

- Package was delivered at 2am in the morning. Yes 2am in the morning.

- Please Amazon. Don't just reship missing package from Lasership through UPS/FDX. Use UPS/FDX from the start. Preferable UPS.

Complaints may not change who they ship short term. Long term complaints will like that will. Regional carriers are not a long term option.

I've had no issue with OnTrac. I haven't bought anything that they just don't leave on the porch so the wife doesn't have to feel threatened, BOO! I hear the "Driver Car and Driver Looks" a lot... from competing carriers Sales Teams. It is over-stated by them from our investigations which are more in-depth than what they have. I also know that there is a percentage of shills in the industry as well. For example, it is far from unheard of that a UPS related person calls up and complains about any carrier other than UPS delivering to them, just to protect the mother-ship. This happens. Now there are legit complaints as well, but it's not as big of deal as the Big 2 make it out to be. It's a "nice to have" and if price is "near" equal they would win out vs a regional. UPS/Fedex aren't immune to unsatisfactory deliveries.

The one that kills me is the person who calls Amazon and says "Do not use X carrier again", their system and partners are not set up like that, you pretty much get what they have pre-choosen, in almost all cases.

Regional carriers improve like everyone else, long-term they will improve if they remain profitable. That said, as I mentioned the Big 2 are probably a lot more competitive than one thinks in these next day zone 2's.

 

[Ouch]

Hey worldwide their is 2 more coming to east Tn. Part of the deal our governor made for them to set up shop here. Tax breaks till 2014 and they have to build x amount of distribution centers.

 

[upschuck]

Regional carriers could merge, and make a more formidable foe too.

 

[bbsam]

Fedex Ground could probably get close to regional carrier rates if they wanted to and still turn a decent profit. I truly think they simply don't want to, or possibly don't want to yet.

 

[TUT]

Fedex Ground could probably get close to regional carrier rates if they wanted to and still turn a decent profit. I truly think they simply don't want to, or possibly don't want to yet.

Regionals do really well with smaller accounts where Fedex and UPS aren't going to give steep discounts for their volume. But when it gets big, they step up to bat (in many but not all cases). Educated guess, Amazon gets steeeeep discounts where Fedex/UPS are competitive with local regionals on many weights. Fedex each quarter discusses that Ground could get more aggressive but capacity and certain margins are still factoring in.

 

[bbsam]

Ground does very, very little Amazon except on Saturdays when UPS doesn't deliver ground. I submit that that is by Ground's design and will.

 

[rod]

My Daughter in Dallas mentioned that if they ordered something through Amazon by noon they could pick it up at an Amazon delivery locker after 3:00 P.M. (or something like that). I don't know how it works but I assume Amazon uses their own trucks to deliver to satellite lockers where the customer opens the door of a locker with a code of some sort. Same day delivery.

 

[TUT]

My Daughter in Dallas mentioned that if they ordered something through Amazon by noon they could pick it up at an Amazon delivery locker after 3:00 P.M. (or something like that). I don't know how it works but I assume Amazon uses their own trucks to deliver to satellite lockers where the customer opens the door of a locker with a code of some sort. Same day delivery.

Yes there is some articles out there about the lockers. Now that has its own issues, like one that hits me is... the product needs to be unique, otherwise why not just go to the store? We'll see.

 

[STFXG]

There are strong regional carriers in each of these areas so the combination of the Amazon locations plus the expanding regional network is something that UPS and Fedex will face as increasing competitors. To ignore it or pretend they can' t take pieces of UPS and Fedex volume is foolish. When RPS started off they were written off by many at UPS. It took them severla years to evolve but once acquired by FDX, they became a formidable foe to UPS. There's no reason that the regional carriers can not eventually join together to form a viable "3rd carrier" network in the US.

Good article on the regionals topic:

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304773104579266682206635994?mobile=y

 

[STFXG]

http://m.us.wsj.com/article_email/S...4579266682206635994-lMyQjAxMTAzMDMwMTEzNDEyWj

Full article. Tried to edit, app crashes.

 

[bbsam]

How do you think claims are handled going from regional carrier to regional carrier?

 

[upscat]

Amazon is as much responsible for this regional failure as we are.

FedEx turned away Amazon volume mid-way through Peak.

Until such time as Amazon has their own delivery company in place they will have to continue to deal with UPS and FedEx.

According to MsPacMan, UPS and Amazon signed a 5 year exclusive contract beginning in 2014.

is the term regional failure a form of denial? Louisville rolled a lot of packages on christmas eve thats a corporate failure any way you shake it.

amazon has never been 100 percent exclusive to ups. They also use the post office, fdx in smaller quantites and a lot of other carriers. Here is one that delivered a package to me on a sunday that came from amazon kentucky

http://www.lasership.com/

 

[ORLY!?!]

Amazon is that beast in the corner no one wants to talk about. You all scoff at the idea of some other company doing as good or even better then us. How many packages do you touch in a given day from amazon? I'd say 70% or more on a given night for me.

There will be a day when wal-mart and amazon dominates our service. They do have the resources, and they will work weekends and late nights. 24 hours, to boot. When, where and how many; no problem. And we'll even ship it to you for free.

As for those amazon centers, they're building them all over the place. Theres one to be built by our Orlando hub. All the signs show volume growing for us because of it. But it also shows signs of them starting their own delivery program. If you cant see it your deaf, dumb and blind. They've been planning this for years. Once amazon goes, I dont even want to think about the outcome for us.

 

[JL 0513]

So I had 68 stops today (holiday) and estimate that at least 40 of them were Amazon (all 2 day/ 2nd air).

What did we do on holidays before Amazon? I guess only a handful of air drivers would have to come in. Because of Amazon alone, now 1/3 to 1/2 of the drivers in each center have to work.

 

[Brownslave688]

So I had 68 stops today (holiday) and estimate that at least 40 of them were Amazon (all 2 day/ 2nd air).

What did we do on holidays before Amazon? I guess only a handful of air drivers would have to come in. Because of Amazon alone, now 1/3 to 1/2 of the drivers in each center have to work.

Yep we had a driver just looked straight pissed this morn. I said what is wrong "I haven't worked New Year's Eve in 15 years". I told him he could thank amazon prime for his double time today. His reply? friend amazon.

 

[Returntosender]

Amazon is that beast in the corner no one wants to talk about. You all scoff at the idea of some other company doing as good or even better then us. How many packages do you touch in a given day from amazon? I'd say 70% or more on a given night for me.

There will be a day when wal-mart and amazon dominates our service. They do have the resources, and they will work weekends and late nights. 24 hours, to boot. When, where and how many; no problem. And we'll even ship it to you for free.

As for those amazon centers, they're building them all over the place. Theres one to be built by our Orlando hub. All the signs show volume growing for us because of it. But it also shows signs of them starting their own delivery program. If you cant see it your deaf, dumb and blind. They've been planning this for years. Once amazon goes, I dont even want to think about the outcome for us.

Interesting that Amazon builds the DC next to a UPS hub. If Amazon is doing that all over the CONUS. A few years ago they showed us a video where UPS was in transition to logistics company where UPS Worldport would become storage facility where business could store their products there. UPS would pick and pack the item for delivery once a order placed. Who knows in 20 years if Amazon/ecommerce kills off big box retail and Amazon just dominates all retail purchases. Amazon might buy UPS or UPS buy Amazon.

 

[ORLY!?!]

Interesting that Amazon builds the DC next to a UPS hub. If Amazon is doing that all over the CONUS. A few years ago they showed us a video where UPS was in transition to logistics company where UPS Worldport would become storage facility where business could store their products there. UPS would pick and pack the item for delivery once a order placed. Who knows in 20 years if Amazon/ecommerce kills off big box retail and Amazon just dominates all retail purchases. Amazon might buy UPS or UPS buy Amazon.

I could see UPS buying amazon to save itself from being crush by the competition. I'm also sure that brown has it eyes on them for awhile. Once amazon starts in on the whole campain of " amazon, we deliver! ", you bet UPS will start in on them. It wouldnt be a buy out, moreso a merger.

As for those flying drones, I think its really cool. The future, what a wonderous age we live in. But most of you guys talk about people shooting at them, really? Risking going to jail becuase you wanted to shoot at a amazon drone, ok makes sense. My thoughts, the bigger problem would be birds.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/83763958/

The birds attack the drone. Alike smaller birds attacking larger ones from their nest.