Amazon follows Uber's lead

Amazon follows Uber's lead
By Euronews with Reuters
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Amazon is looking to follow the Uber model to cut costs with a trial using freelance drivers to deliver packages via its Flex service.

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Amazon is looking to follow the Uber model to cut its costs.

For its new Flex on-demand delivery service the online retailer has been recruiting freelance drivers who use their own vehicles and sign up for shifts via an app to deliver packages to its Prime customers.

Now Amazon is also getting some of those drivers to handle its standard packages, thereby replacing the US Postal Service, UPS, FedEx and the local carriers which currently deliver for Amazon.

For the moment it is only a trial in the US state of Texas, but a sign that one of the world’s biggest e-commerce companies wants to control more of its own deliveries and reduce its ballooning shipping costs.

The “last mile” portion of delivery – the final and usually most expensive stretch of a package’s journey from a retailer’s warehouse to a customer’s front door – has become increasingly important as shoppers expect cheaper and faster delivery.

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