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Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

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Re: Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

#11

It's good for Amazon, but is it good for consumers? Isn't a postal service something of a natural monopoly — the more competing services there are, the less efficient each is, because instead of one vehicle with one load of deliveries, you have two or more vehicles with fractions of that amount? It's certainly not good for the environment at least.

Natural monopoly means that it's not possible for more than one supplier to survive. This is clearly not the case for packages delivery.

For consumers the more suppliers the better.

Re: Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

#12
In any e-commerce business you have challenges like:

1. Getting traffic to online store.

2. Converting it to sales.

3. Able to deliver it to customers in time.

4. Service the complaints or product in time.

Out of this website traffic is directly linked to assortment and sales is directly linked to price (value for money vis a vis quality) and delivery besides traffic. Logistics i.e. storing, sorting and last mile delivery is one of the toughest challenges to solve in this business. Amazon used UPS, FedEx and USPS in the beginning to help them understand how its done, acquire expertise. They took that knowledge and than applied technology to solve some of the challenges and reduce costs.

It was just a matter of time they become full logistics company, because in reality every retailer and distributor is primarily a logistics company with stores, warehouses and distribution center.

So it's hardly surprising they are competing with them. But I feel UPS, FedEx still do many other B2B supply chain work like delivering components to manufacturing site, vendor managed inventory, defence supplies, government supply chain, Olympics, major events and sports supply chain etc. so there will still be room for them to grow.

Re: Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

#15

It's good for Amazon, but is it good for consumers? Isn't a postal service something of a natural monopoly — the more competing services there are, the less efficient each is, because instead of one vehicle with one load of deliveries, you have two or more vehicles with fractions of that amount? It's certainly not good for the environment at least.

I think Amazon delivering stuff I want is better for the environment than USPS delivering junk mail daily.

Re: Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

#16
post #6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fedex contracts out its deliveries. They are more like franchise. This is kind of what amazon is doing for the past few years.

fedex ground drivers are contractors, fedex express are employees. fedex ground originated as a totally separate company that they acquired and re-branded. https://about.van.fedex.com/our-story/history-timeline/histo...

FedEx reps love to tell you they are "totally separate" when anything goes wrong with Ground, too

Re: Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

#17
I just find it amazing that Amazon found it more profitable to buy tens of thousands of delivery vehicles and build a service from the ground up than to find better deals through the available shippers.

Now I see their trucks nearly as often as Fed Ex and UPS.

Re: Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

#18

It's good for Amazon, but is it good for consumers? Isn't a postal service something of a natural monopoly — the more competing services there are, the less efficient each is, because instead of one vehicle with one load of deliveries, you have two or more vehicles with fractions of that amount? It's certainly not good for the environment at least.

Natural monopoly means that it's not possible for more than one supplier to survive. This is clearly not the case for packages delivery. For consumers the more suppliers the better.

Consumers benefit assuming all suppliers are equivalent, which is not at all the case with Amazon. They're gaining a price advantage over using real carriers mainly through incredibly exploitative labor practices in the warehouse and abusing uber-like contractors to cover the last mile for pennies on the dollar.

Not only is the human/societal cost high, consumers directly suffer as well as untrained contractors working irregular routes rush to meet unrealistic deadlines. Every day a different person in a rented van pulls up to throw armloads of packages at my building, may or may not be the right entrance, they don't know the place and have no time to check, before racing off to the next location.

Re: Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

#19

I just find it amazing that Amazon found it more profitable to buy tens of thousands of delivery vehicles and build a service from the ground up than to find better deals through the available shippers. Now I see their trucks nearly as often as Fed Ex and UPS.

Most of their fleet is private contractors who supply their own vehicles. Minimal capital investment for Amazon

Re: Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx

#20

I just find it amazing that Amazon found it more profitable to buy tens of thousands of delivery vehicles and build a service from the ground up than to find better deals through the available shippers. Now I see their trucks nearly as often as Fed Ex and UPS.

Maybe they see value also in being able to fully control the customer experience.

Your trusted Amazon delivery guy could fill your fridge while you supervise him through Amazon branded devices.

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