Amazon’s offers are extensive in terms of its products and labor. Now, the e-commerce giant offers that you can be your boss for “only” $10,000 as an independent franchise for delivery of Amazon Prime packages. Something that, for the moment, has started in the United States and that may not be liked by everyone (especially Trump) because of what it may mean in the long run.
It is called Delivery Service Partner, and according to the company, it has a series of advantages, such as being a low investment, as specified on the web. On the other hand, with this, they could have better control of their deliveries since, as we have seen (for Spain and other countries), the cases in which there are incidents with the delivery by third parties are not very rare.
Another way of working at Amazon but independently
After having announced it on Wednesday, since yesterday, this type of work consisting of distributing company packages, with its uniform and its corporate vans, can be requested. The objective: is that the packages go from the Amazon center to the customer so that as we said, everything remains within the company, without a third party.
It’s an independent business, so $10,000 is the minimum cost to start it with at least five delivery vans and build up to 20 over time. Entrepreneurs will be able to work collecting and delivering packages for other companies as long as they add another “non-Amazon” vehicle to their fleet for it.
As detailed on CNN, there are a series of aids for those who opt for this job, such as certain discounts on insurance, fuel, and the van rental itself. For its part, a maximum of 100 employees may be hired and have a maximum of 40 vans, having to achieve at least $300,000 in annual profit.
Trump may not like this.
From Amazon, they communicate that it is a business opportunity to “be your boss in your community,” in the words of Dave Clark (Amazon’s senior vice president of global operations). Some distributors will be added to the fleet of 7,000 trucks and 40 planes the company already has.
It is not the first initiative of this type that we have seen since those who choose to be a Delivery Service Partner will join those who are part of the Flex program, which did end up leaving the United States and arriving in Spain and, which is based on the hiring of self-employed who have to have their car, that’s the difference (nothing about “being your boss” even if you are self-employed). To them and to FedEx, UPS, and the national postal system, who, at the moment, are the third parties with which Amazon works in the United States for delivery.
And it is because of them that Donald Trump probably does not like this at all, after some statements last April. The President maintains that “the company is ripping off the national postal service”, and given that Amazon currently uses that service for 40% of its deliveries, if these independent (but owned) fleets increase, the dependence on the national service could be reduced, as well as that percentage. However, in principle, the contracts with third parties would remain intact, according to Clark.
We will see if this changes in the long term, if the new type of work benefits those who opt for it, and if the initial investment also pays off in terms of working conditions. As for the delivery men in Europe, there have been important strikes. After having verified it, the Atlantic did not speak too highly of the experience of being a Flex delivery person.
Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.
