Speedy Delivery

Wow - that came fast...

I'm a big fan of shopping locally whenever possible. Yet, around the holidays, I favor online shopping to fighting crowds, snotty nosed germ factory kids and looking for someplace to park. For me, it's ho-ho-hell no.

For better or worse, Amazon is the king of online ordering, fair pricing and superfast delivery. The company started in Jeff Bezos' garage in Bellevue, Washington as an online bookstore called Cadabra in July 1994. Over the past 30+ years since its inception, Cadabra was renamed Amazon in 1995 to represent Bezos' vision of being "exotic and different" using the name of the largest river of the world, the Amazon. Amazon went public with an IPO in 1997 and moved from books to a wide variety of products and services which included third party sellers onto its platform in 2000. It quickly became known as the "Everything Store".

As with any successful company, there were rivals eager to sue for their share of the pie. Amazon was sued by Barnes and Noble first and later by Walmart who claimed Amazon stole Walmart's trade secrets by hiring away Walmart executives. Both suits were settled.

Much has been written about Amazon's business practices and methods over the years - too much to be included in this post. Colleges and business schools teach Amazon's processes and business classes that explore Bezos' vision and methodology. The corporation has evolved from that small garage startup to over 1.56 million full time employees worldwide and an additional 250,000 seasonal workers during the holidays.

So how does Amazon get me my package so quickly?

• I place my order on the Amazon app on my phone or website.

• The order gets transmitted immediately to one of the company's fulfillment centers (over 1,200 currently).

• My package gets loaded onto a larger trailer truck which takes it to an amazon air site where it gets put on an aircraft.

• The plane lands and my package is transferred to a sort center, where it's organized by zip code.

• Trucks and sometimes cars carry my package to a delivery station, which delivers it to my door.

What differentiates Amazon from a Walmart is that Amazon doesn't have physical stores - just big warehouses. But shipping from the west coast to the east coast took time, so Amazon figured out that they needed to build more fulfillment centers across the US. They use demand forecasting and AI to determine how many of various items customers will want to order. It's a game of scheduling, coordinating and transporting. As you can guess, the infrastructure of warehouses, fulfillment centers, trucks, planes and delivery systems is a massive undertaking. Amazon tweaks its processes based on the customer's needs. Amazon uses everything from Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Vans and Rivian Electric Vans to autonomous robots and DSP (Independent contractors using personal vehicles) to deliver packages.

We were in New York over Christmas and spied an electric assist Amazon Wagon making deliveries in busy downtown Manhattan:

In 2021, Amazon started Amazon Prime Air drone service in College Station, TX and has since expanded its one-hour drone delivery to three states; Texas, Arizona and Michigan.

It was determined that 90% of amazon products were under ten pounds, so the use of drones for delivery seemed viable.

Drone delivery needed FAA approval and initially restricted Amazon drones to fly no higher than 400 feet at speeds no faster than 100 mph. Their initial drone was the MK27 (above).

Amazon now uses MK30 drones that weigh upward of 55 lbs. and intends to start moving packages weighing up to 5 lbs. within a 10-mile radius of its warehouses at speeds up to 50 MPH.

MK30 Drone

In 2024, Amazon Air started using drones in the UK and Italy, with plans to expand to other European countries from there.

What happens to the package once it's loaded on the MK30 drone? According to Amazon, the package is delivered within 30 minutes to its designated delivery location and hovers over the drop-off point at around 150-200 feet. The sensors built into the drone conduct a safety check to ensure the area is clear of obstacles and people.

Once the drone determines the drop-off area is safe, it drops down to 60 feet, rechecks the area and then lowers the package to the ground using a winch and biodegradable string. Once the package is delivered the drone returns to its base or home location.

Amazon Air Drone Service goal is to deliver 500 million packages annually per year by 2029.