Amazon Intelligence Gets a New Data Stream
June 28, 2018
I read “Amazon’s New Blue Crew.” The idea is that Amazon can disintermediate FedEx, UPS (the outfit with the double parking brown trucks), and the US Postal Service.
On the surface, the idea makes sense. Push down delivery to small outfits. Subsidize them indirectly and directly. Reduce costs and eliminate intermediaries not directly linked to Amazon.
FedEx, UPS, and the USPS are not the most nimble outfits around. I used to get FedEx envelopes every day or two. I haven’t seen one of those for months. Shipping vis UPS is a hassle. I fill out forms and have to manage odd slips of paper with arcane codes on them. The US Postal Services works well for letters, but I have noticed some returns for “addresses not found.” One was an address in the city in which I live. I put the letter in the recipient’s mailbox. That worked.
The write up reports:
The new program lets anyone run their own package delivery fleet of up to 40 vehicles with up to 100 employees. Amazon works with the entrepreneurs — referred to as “Delivery Service Partners” — and pays them to deliver packages while providing discounts on vehicles, uniforms, fuel, insurance, and more. They operate their own businesses and hire their own employees, though Amazon requires them to offer health care, paid time off, and competitive wages. Amazon said entrepreneurs can get started with as low as $10,000 and earn up to $300,000 annually in profit.
Now what’s the connection to Amazon streaming data services and the company’s intelligence efforts? Several hypotheses come to mind:
- Amazon obtains fine grained detail about purchases and delivery locations. These are data which no longer can be captured in a non Amazon delivery service system
- The data can be cross correlated; for example, purchasers of a Kindle title with the delivery of a particular product; for example, hydrogen peroxide
- Amazon’s delivery data make it possible to capture metadata about delivery time, whether a person accepted the package or if the package was left at the door and other location details such as a blocked entrance, for instance.
A few people dropping off packages is not particularly useful. Scale up the service across Amazon operations in the continental states or a broader swatch of territory and the delivery service becomes a useful source of high value information.
FedEx and UPS are ripe for disruption. But so is the streaming intelligence sector. Worth monitoring this ostensible common sense delivery play.
Stephen E Arnold, June 28, 2018
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