4 ms·
sales/employee ratios: Amazon: 670k Walmart: 220k Assuming the ratio stays the same, when Amazon gets to Walmart level sales, it will need about 700k employee
by gitah 11y ago
sales/employee ratios:
Amazon: 670k
Walmart: 220k
Assuming the ratio stays the same, when Amazon gets to Walmart level sales, it will need about 700k employees which is still 1/3 of Walmart's current employee count.
- brianobush 11y agoAmazon is betting on technology to allow it to scale so that it won't need the meet that ratio.
- fragsworth 11y agoIt is important to consider that delivery companies account for the bulk of the people employed as a result of Amazon, though not employed directly by Amazon. Self-driving vehicles will probably replace the need for most of these employees, however.
- Forbo 11y agoHow so? Sure, a few drivers would be replaced. However, the last-mile driver is also taking care of the doorstep delivery. Even if you replace the driver, someone needs to finish the delivery/get signature/whatever.
- dylanjermiah 11y agoBy the time SDC are here drones should be prevalent, which will take care of the last mile.
- analognoise 11y agoSure, as soon as they solve the battery problem.
- andyidsinga 11y agoin this use case- truck to door, alternatives like compressed air might work ..especially if they can recharge in the truck
- jon-wood 11y agoI'm trying to think what you'd use compressed air for here, and the only thing I'm coming up with is some sort of parcel cannon, which while awesome does seem to have a few issues. What am I missing?
- kalleboo 11y agoTo power drones, presumably. You have the example of Tata's compressed-air car prototype http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/cars-running-on-air-still-on-tata-motors-radar-115013000151_1.html http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/cars-runn... Although I suspect a compressed air tank with enough capacity would be way too heavy for a drone to carry.
- andyidsinga 11y agoyes - that's the type of thing I'm talking about. I've heard of taxi's running on compressed air motors in dense urban environments ..maybe NYC?. The power to weight ratio is the key issue. Also -- noise could be an issue too -- want to have quiet deliveries.
- andyidsinga 11y agocompressed air motor (edit>) and tank instead of electric motor and batteries.
- andyidsinga 11y agoalthough the parcel cannon is a fantastic idea! ..not to different from how my paper is thrown at my house at 4am today :) I'm thinking parcel cannon + small airbag bumpers and maybe a little parachute to slow decent at exactly the right time :)
- aswanson 11y agoIt doesn't take a lot of battery power to fly a mile.
- jacquesm 11y agoDepends on the weight of your package.
- throwaway342526 11y agoThere is no battery problem for truck-to-door. The truck charges between deliveries and spare swap-in packs pick up any slack if the duty cycle is too high.
- rasz_pl 11y agoSelf-pickup/Drop-off wall of drop boxes ... mounted on a self driving truck that sends you sms 10 minutes before showing up, or better yet lets you schedule your own time and place. Shit, with retarded patent system in US someone is already patenting this as you read my post.
- moe 11y agoSure, a few drivers would be replaced. However, the last-mile driver is also taking care of the doorstep delivery. I agree that the last-mile driver will stick around for a bit longer, but their number is relatively small. For example: UPS owns 100k vehicles, worldwide[1]. In comparison, over 3 million people are employed by the transportation industry in the US alone[2]. [1] http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/about/facts/worldwide.html http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/about/facts/worldwide.html [2] http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_201.htm http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_201.htm
- blazespin 11y agoThis. What people don't reLize is that 1/4 to 1/2 of amazonz biz is delivery. Which is why they are so focused on replacing fedex/ups/etc. Amazon fresh is their Trojan horse.