Category: Industry News

Get ready for the Amazon vs. UPS storyline to intensify

For years, Amazon has been laying more and more groundwork for its own logistics and delivery network — one that today only ships and delivers Amazon orders, but could someday do much more in a direct challenge to UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service.

Today, it is taking another big step toward that potential reality — even if it won’t say so for now.

The e-commerce giant is unveiling a program meant to fuel the creation of hundreds of new package-delivery businesses that can help Amazon handle the fast growth that its U.S. retail business continues to enjoy. Amazon says the program will offer new partnering delivery companies access to discounted rates on everything from fuel to vehicle insurance to delivery vans, as well as coaching from Amazon and an app to guide delivery people on which order should be dropped off when.

It seems technology changes are accelerating faster than ever before. In the last 10 years there’s been a digital revolution followed now by burgeoning artificial intelligence breakthroughs. One industry that has been impacted more than most by recent tech advances is transportation and related services. Companies like Uber and Lyft have redefined how people get from point A to point B. These innovative firms have also shaken up taxi and shuttle services around the U.S. that remained stable for decades.

Now, technological change is again targeted at the massive delivery and transportation markets. In the next two decades you will see self-driving UPS and FED EX trucks all over. While many people are not surprised by that prediction, there’s another major breakthrough coming that might surprise you.

A recent tech start-up based in South San Francisco called Dispatch is working on cutting edge technology that could put many workers in the delivery field out of work permanently. Huge staples in the American economy like U.S. postal workers, couriers, Federal Express and UPS drivers could be dramatically impacted. This means millions of good paying jobs may go the way of the robot.