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Amazon announced that it will suspend its third-party shipping service that aimed to compete with FedEx and UPS. The online retailer is pressing pause on Amazon Shipping which operated in select cities and delivered packages that were not ordered on Amazon. This decision was made in order to focus on its main e-commerce business which has skyrocketed in volume among the coronavirus pandemic.
Packages Ordered On Amazon Will Still Be Delivered
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This doesn’t affect any Amazon Prime packages or regular orders purchased from the retailer. The Amazon Shipping service was a third-party operation that allowed Amazon drivers to pick up packages from businesses and directly deliver them to buyers, removing the necessity of shopping on the Amazon website. The service, which is only available in a few major cities, will stop in June – a large number of Americans will not be affected by the change.
Amazon Suspended Its 2-Day Shipping Option in March
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As the uprise of the coronavirus pandemic led to panicked shopping in grocery stores, Amazon Prime shoppers believed they could order all of their supplies online and receive everything within the regular guaranteed two-day delivery option. But on March 25, the option was no longer available due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the sharp spike in shoppers buying items online that they would normally buy in stores. Amazon addressed this in a statement:
“To serve our customers in need while also helping to ensure the safety of our associates, we’ve changed our logistics, transportation, supply chain, purchasing, and third-party seller processes to prioritize stocking and delivering items that are a higher priority for our customers. This has resulted in some of our delivery promises being longer than usual.”
To help catch up with their service, Amazon plans to hire 100,000 full and part-time workers to fulfill the delivery orders across America. For the employees working through the coronavirus in April, Amazon said it would increase their wages by $2 an hour.
