Amazon.com has just announced it will start working with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver packages on Sunday. The program will start immediately in the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas.
Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service plan to roll out this service to a large portion of the U.S. population in 2014 including Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix, according to Amazon.
Is this a government subsidy of Amazon or should this be viewed as Amazon being forced to deal with the only first class mail delivery organization allowed?
I would say the latter. Amazon is simply taking the world as it is, rather than what they may or may not desire it to be. If this the way to get the best deal in the current environment then I say go for it, and applaud them for doing so.
ReplyDelete"Is this a government subsidy of Amazon or should this be viewed as Amazon being forced to deal with the only first class mail delivery organization allowed?"
ReplyDeleteIt could be both of course. I don't trust Jeff Bezos so I would be surprised if he were anything other than a rent seeking, opportunistic crony capitalist. Has The Washington Post improved at all since he rescued it from a much deserved bankruptcy? Not that I can tell.
I believe the latter, if FedEx, UPS, DHL and other delivery services aren't offering services on Sunday and the USPS is than unfortunately this is what Amazon has do deal with. Perhaps if Amazon's Sunday delivery is successful it would cause the companies I mentioned and others to reevaluate their polices.
ReplyDeleteMan, I love this site. Yesterday, I pulled out of my driveway and saw a postal truck on the corner with its back open revealing a whole bunch of smiling Amazon boxes. I scratched my head in disbelief (since it was Sunday) and went along my way. Twenty-four hours later, I fire up EPJ.com and my ignorance is cured! Thanks Robert Wenzel!
ReplyDeleteIf you were one of "The Many" you'd report the truck to the police because of "see something, say something"
DeleteI live on a private, rural road. FedEx and UPS both deliver to my doorstep. USPS does not. The drivers for FedEx and UPS are unfailingly polite. The postmaster is an utter misery, and more times than not, can't find my package. So nowadays if an online retailer only offers USPS as a delivery option, I don't order from them.
ReplyDelete