Once, when you ordered a package via Amazon, it would arrive in the mail or via a delivery service like UPS. Now, it’s increasingly likely that your Amazon package will be delivered by, well, Amazon. A new report at The Verge notes that Amazon is now delivering around half of its own packages, compared to 20% a year ago.
At The Verge, Nick Statt writes that Amazon’s foray into logistics can be seen as a continuation of their ongoing efforts to control all aspects of someone’s order online: not simply packing it and shipping it, but potentially handling all steps involved, from manufacturing or printing something to getting it to its recipient directly.
As it turns out, building out a rival to two of the largest shipping companies out there doesn’t come cheap:
The company said in October that in the three months spanning June to September, it spent 50 percent more — an eye-popping $9.6 billion — on fulfillment alone, due both to one-day Prime shipping and the general expansion of its retail operation in the US.
Statt’s article also notes the effect of Amazon Prime shifting from two-day shipping to one-day shipping. Admittedly, that also hasn’t been without its share of criticism, for decidedly understandable reasons.
Brad Stone’s 2013 book on Amazon and Jeff Bezos was titled The Everything Store. At the time, that description seemed ominous; now, it almost seems too small in scale for what Amazon has planned. What happens when the everything store also becomes the everything shipping company and the everything manufacturer? That moment of convergence might not be too far off.
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