Amazon Pushes Forward On Quest for One-Day Shipping

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, buckle up for some fast news. Amazon is hiring thousands of new drivers and potentially building more delivery stations in a push to make Prime one-day shipping standard throughout the country. Bust out those credit cards, because nationwide one-day shipping is a lot closer than you think.

Why Moving to One-Day Shipping Is Such a Big Deal

The biggest reason why moving to nationwide one-day shipping is such a big deal is simple. It will set expectations in the marketplace, and the major carriers will need to play catch up in order to meet those expectations. Major shipping companies would need to make major investments and network redesigns, which would cost a ton of money. Needless to say, the major carriers don’t have as much cash reserves as a giant company like Amazon. Playing catch up to the eCommerce giant would prove financially precarious.

In addition, the move to nationwide one-day shipping is a big step in the direction of Amazon’s real goal: same-day shipping. As Amazon continues to expand its own delivery network, that goal becomes more attainable. One day it will be a reality; it’s simply a question of “when,” and not “if.” Knowing that, it makes you wonder if the fastest service each major carrier offers will continue to be “good enough” for consumers in the future.

What Current Employees Think About One-Day Shipping

Generally speaking, Amazon’s employees’ reactions to the company’s plan have been mixed. Some workers are pumped about the company’s move to 0ne-day shipping, such as Jessica Ferryman, an Amazon Flex driver in Chandler, Arizona.

“I just see job security!” she said. “More packages, more work. I’m okay with that.”

However, not all Amazon employees share Ferryman’s sentiment. On the other side of the argument, some workers see the company’s shift to one-day shipping as much more work with not enough reward. In addition, some employees also worry about being stretched too thin to meet the inevitable surge in demand that will come.

“I don’t know how we’re going to do it,” a driver based in Richmond, Virginia said. “It’s going to be hectic.”

This particular driver works for an Amazon-contracted third-party courier company, and chose to remain anonymous. He isn’t necessarily wrong—remember that article about Amazon drivers’ grueling working conditions? With one-day shipping and (eventually) same-day shipping on the horizon, Amazon drivers’ jobs are about to become even more taxing.

How Amazon Is Making It Happen

The move to nationwide one-day shipping means a ton of investment on Amazon’s behalf. In fact, the company plans to invest $800 million to make one-day shipping happen in just the second quarter alone.

There’s a variety of areas where that money gets funneled to. For starters, Amazon is hiring thousands of new full-time drivers in order to make it happen. This continues Amazon’s trend of employing more private delivery partners in order to expand their delivery network and speed up shipping timeframes.

Amazon will also likely need to build out another 300 delivery stations throughout the country in order to support one-day delivery in markets with a population of 100,000 or more. Where delivery stations don’t currently exist, the company has even gone so far as to erect massive tents to serve as package hubs. Amazon calls these tents modular delivery stations. Since these tents only take a few weeks to build, they help the company rapidly mobilize in new cities. We’d bet that a ton more of these modular delivery station tents will pop up over the next few months.

Whether it’s at the joy or disgruntlement of their current employees, one thing is for certain: Amazon is inching towards its endgame of same-day shipping, and eCommerce delivery as we know it is about to change.