Amazon Prime Deliveries Once a Week as a Means to Help Environment
March 1, 2019 by Douglas A. McIntyreTwo-day free shipping has been a hallmark of the benefits of Amazon Prime. Longer cycles of days to get packages delivered by ground transportation were no longer the norm. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) wants to bring back slower delivery for some people. These Prime members will only get deliveries once a week. Amazon management says this is part of the company’s plan to make “shipments net zero carbon, with 50% of all shipments net zero by 2030.”
Amazon has cast the new arrangement as one of convenience. A Prime member can pick one day a week to get all deliveries. Amazon holds all ordered merchandise until that day. Then, the entire order is delivered at once.
The new service is called “Amazon Day” delivery. Amazon presents it as a way for people to plan their deliveries better. A once a week delivery means people can decide when they will be home for an Amazon drop off. It is free to Prime members.
The Amazon Day promotion assumes that people will stay at home most of one day. Amazon will combine orders “when possible,” a term it does not define. The storage of items by Amazon for delivery is pitched as a benefit.
Prime members can still get their deliveries under Amazon’s normal system. However, Maria Renz, Vice President, Delivery Experience at Amazon, said, “We’ve been testing this program with a group of Prime members and Amazon Day has already reduced packaging by tens of thousands of boxes — a number that will only continue to grow now that the program is available to Prime members nationwide.” The statement does not tell whether some Amazon Prime members have objected to the new system over the course of the test. And management does not say what percentage of people have decided against the service and opted to get normal Amazon Prime two-day delivery.
Renz also summed up Amazon’s description of benefits: “Amazon Day adds another level of convenience to the many shipping benefits Prime members already enjoy. Prime members can now choose to get their orders delivered together in fewer boxes whenever possible on the day that works best for them.” That is unless no single day works best for them at all.
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