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Back in the olden days, believe it or not, Amazon used outside carriers to deliver its packages.
But after a holiday mishap in 2013, which resulted in outside carriers failing to deliver Amazon packages in time for Christmas, Amazon basically said “screw this.”
Fast forward to 2021 — yesterday, Amazon’s CEO of worldwide consumer business said the company could be the largest US package delivery company by year end.
In short, Amazon did what Amazon does best: It built its own solution to its own problem, rapidly assembling one of America’s largest transportation networks. In less than a decade, the company put together:
So if you feel like you’re seeing more Amazon logos around your neighborhood, it’s because you are.
… is that it utilizes all this physical real estate as a giant billboard.
When Amazon has a new show on Prime Video, it can advertise it on the packing tape on cardboard boxes. Or if it’s trying to drive up Prime subscriptions, it can slap a funny slogan on the back of 40k semis.
Amazon’s investment in delivery could prove to be a highly successful vertically-integrated move. Much more so than the time it unknowingly updated its app icon to look like Hitler’s mustache.