Amazon Wants More Tractor-Trailers
Amazon Wants More Tractor-Trailers – “Amazon is planning to launch an “Amazon Freight Partners” program to help train delivery upstarts that would, in turn, join Amazon’s fleet of exclusive delivery partners”
Amazon is planning to launch an “Amazon Freight Partners” program to help train delivery upstarts that would, in turn, join Amazon’s fleet of exclusive delivery partners, per a new report from The Information.
The e-commerce giant continues to grapple with high freight volumes, and it has struggled to partner with enough delivery partners to meet that demand.
Amazon plans to expand its trucking fleet to more than double its size this year through the incubator — it currently has about 100 delivery partners and is working to push that number up to 285 by the end of 2021, per the report.
Amazon said in an internal document that the program would include business training for managing 20 to 50 tractor-trailers or commercial trucks, loans for truck costs, and other guidance.
The participants will be required to work exclusively with Amazon and wouldn’t be able to propose their own rates or routes, according to The Information. They also must have $30,000 in liquid assets to qualify for the program or they can apply for a business loan from Amazon, the report said.
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Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Amazon Wants More Tractor-Trailers – “The Amazon Freight Partners program could successfully result in Amazon’s branded semi-trucks ballooning from 1,100 to between 2,280 and 5,700 in total”
The Amazon Freight Partners program could successfully result in Amazon’s branded semi-trucks ballooning from 1,100 to between 2,280 and 5,700 in total, according to the document viewed by The Information. The 12-week incubator could have a public kick-off this summer.
Amazon had long been relying on smaller trucking firms to ship their freight instead of large trucking companies until a few months into the pandemic. The lockdowns caused a surge in online consumer shopping and the company saw a higher volume of orders. So Amazon bucked its norm and began to ask for more service from major trucking companies in September.
The company has long had sky-high plans for establishing a more robust logistics system, including plans for Amazon’s own vehicles, planes and ocean freighters to eventually be solely responsible for transporting orders at every mile. It has built up an in-house, middle-mile network of freelance-type truck drivers, who sign on to Amazon via its brokerage app Amazon Relay.
Amazon Wants More Tractor-Trailers – “But truck drivers have taken poorly to Amazon’s rates attached to the loads they pick up via the app. Some said in 2019 they were hesitant to join in on the company’s Relay platform because the pay was too low.”
That network is composed of 13,000 truck drivers, per a 2020 report from the company. Those are the large 18-wheelers often seen on highways and are different from how Amazon delivers packages directly to customers’ homes.
But truck drivers have taken poorly to Amazon’s rates attached to the loads they pick up via the app. Some said in 2019 they were hesitant to join in on the company’s Relay platform because the pay was too low.
