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I believe your scenarios (especially the "truck dispenser") address the market Amazon has in mind: the suburbia. If you notice, both video examples show the dr
by mnglkhn2 11y ago
I believe your scenarios (especially the "truck dispenser") address the market Amazon has in mind: the suburbia.
If you notice, both video examples show the drone delivering at a house. It seems obvious that an urban setting is difficult to address. And actually delivery costs are higher in the suburbs, due to population spread, than in the cities.
The interesting thing is how do UPS/FedEx/USPS feel about this, considering that Amazon is aiming to "evolve" their business model? We should soon hear about FedEx/UPS trying to do drone delivery. But this is not only logistics but also a lot of other software and I think Amazon might be better suited for it.
- mschuster91 11y agoUSPS won't care, their (legally protected) business is shipping letters.
- foobarian 11y agoI always thought USPS would be a perfect partner for Amazon since their post offices would be ideal takeoff points for the drones. They are everywhere and they already deal with receiving packages.
- thinkling 11y agoUSPS was worried enough to agree to start delivering packages for Amazon on Sundays, which must've required some interesting negotiations with their unions.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoSunday delivery workers are paid just above minimum wage and are non-union.
- giaour 11y agoDelivering letters costs the USPS more than they charge customers; they make money on package postage and use that to offset the losses they incur delivering mail.
- saryant 11y agoUPS has been experimenting with drones for a while.
- jessaustin 11y agoI was under the impression that UPS/FedEx are going to merge to form UP/Ex, which will utilize railgun launchers and aerodynamically-self-steering packaging to deliver anywhere in a 100-mile radius from a single facility?
- dba7dba 11y ago'The interesting thing is how do UPS/FedEx/USPS feel about this, considering that Amazon is aiming to "evolve" their business model?' UPS/FedEx/USPS can feel whatever they want but there's not a darn thing they can do about it.
- TaylorGood 11y agoWhat Fedex does in my neighborhood I haven't seen prior.. they recently brought a gas-powered golf cart and the driver uses his truck as the "warehouse" and makes rounds all day.
- jml3on 11y agoI'd guess they'll be elated. Delivering packages in the far reaches of suburbia (and beyond) is probably costing them money, as it takes a lot of truck&driver time to deliver a single package. If we assume they maintain their hold on urban deliveries and let amazon take care of the suburbia ones; their margin will go up. Also, I'll point out that in my area of suburbia, UPS/Fedex sometimes deliver to USPS and let USPS do the last mile. it's not hard to imagine they'd deliver to an amazon base station where robots & drones would take over.
- mnglkhn2 11y agoBased on a comment in this thread which suggested that USPS would be a prime (no pun intended :) ) candidate for a partnership, especially due to the existing real-estate infrastructure. If we think about it: USPS can very easily deliver letters/magazines using Amazon's service. What if Amazon soon will develop the AWS-of-postal-delivery infrastructure?!