News April 09, 2020
Amazon to Halt a Business Shipping Service
Amazon is suspending a shipping service in which it delivers packages for businesses. Promotional products companies that were using the service or anticipating using it will now have to turn to other carriers.
Known as Amazon Shipping, the service will be halted in June, according to The Wall Street Journal. A relatively new offering in its beginning stages, Amazon Shipping was only available in select cities in the U.S. and internationally in locales like London.
The offering centered on Amazon delivery personnel picking up packages from businesses and delivering them to intended recipients. While only a nascent service, the program stood as a direct competitor to FedEx Corp. (FedEX) and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS).
The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon is at least temporarily nixing the program because it needs all the personnel it can muster to deliver products from Amazon warehouses.
Amazon is halting a delivery service that competed directly with FedEx and UPS. https://t.co/mx26rPAqRZ via @WSJ
— Paul Ziobro (@pziobro) April 7, 2020
Demand for delivered products has skyrocketed amid a surge in online buying that’s been fueled by people sheltering at home amid the coronavirus pandemic. UPS and the U.S. Postal Service also make deliveries for Amazon. FedEx does not.
To power its in-house delivery capabilities throughout the U.S., Amazon has more than 30,000 vehicles, 20,000 trailers and dozens of aircraft.