Augmenting Amazon Delivery with Bikes?
 

It seems Amazon wants people to take on their deliveries as independent contractors by investing $10,000 in buying their delivery vans.
Amazon wants you to start a business to deliver its packages

My first thought was why not use bikes for the deliveries?

Then my critical mind went to work questioning the viability of using bikes: won't it delay deliveries? what about rain? will the delivery addresses be dense enough to make it efficient to carry several packages into the same neighborhood on a bike?

Here is the solution I came up with: One van can act as a 'mother-ship' for a large load of packages. Then, cyclists make deliveries and return to the mothership as it moves through a general route central to the deliveries. This way, one van could potentially suffice where multiple vans would be needed in the absence of cyclists.

Obstacles to achieving this idea: 1) will you have to hire the cyclists and pay personnel costs for them, which will make it too expensive to run the business? 2) will Amazon say no because what this deal is really about is selling the vans, so doing the job of multiple vans with one van and multiple helper-cyclists would mean lower van sales?

What do you think? Is there a way for Amazon to use cyclists as part of their delivery system? Why or why not? If they did, do you think many people would want to pick up a few packages and deliver them if they could choose a time that fits into their schedule and allows them to make a few dollars while biking for exercise?

Amazon, Uber, PostMates, UberEats, and the trucking industry love the gig economy because it shifts a portion of the salary back to the laborer.

Suppose you have a salary of 40K per year. It probably cost the company around 60K if you include the rest of compensation such as medical. Amazon wants to make a one-time investment in you in order to shift that cost to you for all time.

A broken arm costs 50K. Medical insurance is easily 1K per month. Have a couple of employees? The temptation is also to gig them (Amazon gigs you, you gig your riders).

Amazon is the master of shifting costs from themselves; more likely they have done their homework while us (the entrepeneurs) will by trial and error figure out if this work.

Why couldn't they just pay by the parcel and if you take 50 or 100 parcels to deliver instead of 150 or 200, make less money but the amount of time you take, when you take breaks, and what kind of vehicle you use is your business, so long as the delivered parcels satisfy customers?

Basically this translates into piecework instead of hourly-wage work, but that's actually a good thing because it means you can manage your own time instead of being held accountable for your choices because you're on the clock.

Bicycle delivery persons... Sounds great for letters/documents, and such... Oh wait, they already have those...

Looking at the article I posted they already use this method in England. So we can easily do the math. The article said they get to the warehouse at about 8;30 in the morning and they get back as late as 8:30 in the evening. They get 12 pounds an hour for 150 to 250 parcels expected to be delivered in that time frame. now do the math. 12 pounds and hour is 15.72 and hour for the one driver and van. Reduce the number of packages and increase the number of delivery people and the hourly rate drops like a stone.

Look at the article and see how you would work it out. It doesn't matter what I think until you do the math.

Have you not heard of bicycle couriers/messengers?


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-2...en-age/6350802

Sweatshop on wheels...Just ask any bike courier about the realities of being a bike delivery person...TP wouldn't understand because he lives in alternate reality.

It sounds like Amazon has already been building a fleet to do the main distribution of their goods, but have been contracting with USPS, Fedex, and UPS for the "last mile" delivery.

They must have decided that this semi-franchise business would save them money and be more reliable for that last mile delivery.

The bicycle (and E-Bike) delivery scheme is unique.

Benefits of Bikes/E-Bikes:

• "Green", and in vogue.
• Theoretically low cost vehicles.
• Cheaper fuel (even for E-Vehicles).
• Potentially easier to park.
• Likely cheaper liability insurance (but, probably more personal injury insurance).
• Potentially quick in dense delivery areas.

Costs of Bikes/E-Bikes

• Decreased capacity.
• Slower in sparse delivery areas.
• Potentially greater labor costs (fewer packages per day per employee).
• Potential for more minor maintenance issues, flat tires & etc.
• Hard work.
• Sub-Optimal weather.

Some kind of a hub delivery system would make a lot of sense for bikes.

@tandempower's idea of a mobile hub sounds like a unique idea. It eliminates the cost of maintaining a fixed hub, and could move with the delivery vehicles, whether they are small vans, or bikes.

However, if I was doing the bike thing, I'd probably start at one of the major hubs/fulfillment centers.

Whew, Amazon has quite a few of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...nd_warehousing

Although, looking at the two Portland centers, they are apparently on opposite ends of the city... not bad for van delivery, but pretty bad locations for bike delivery (too far from the city center).
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Other cities in Oregon would need some kind of truck service, and likely the truck would have to drop and run, hitting a half dozen cities. Say the I-5 Corridor, Portland to Salem/Albany/Corvallis/Eugene/Roseburg/Grants Pass/Medford (and a few smaller cities/towns).

Actually, I wonder how many packages a small town of say 10,000 would get a day. It might make a unique part-time job for a truck to drop in the AM, then a bike to do in-city deliveries of say 100 packages. Then do a couple of close-in rural deliveries, and dump the rest of the rural deliveries to the post office. Have a backup system for Christmas and major holiday deliveries.

Ok, so let's say they are paid 12 hours at $15, which amounts to $180. Now for simplicity's sake, let's say they deliver 180 packages, which translates to $1 per package. Now let's say you want to make $100 in a day as a cyclist. Depending on the size of the packages, you could fit 10 to 30 in a bike trailer at a time. So in approximately five two-hour shifts, you could make $100. That wouldn't be a bad way to keep warm and healthy in the winter, though it would be tiring. I think it would really depend on the geography of the delivery area(s).

Of course, with driverless delivery drones coming, I'm not sure what the relevance of couriers will be, whether in vans, on bikes, on foot, or any by any other mode.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5c36d22b4f.png
. . . but thanks for the linked article with some history. It looks interesting. I'll check it out.

No, I get that it would be a lot of work biking all day with all those packages, and irritating if the packages had to be picked up at a bad location that wastes time and effort cycling. That's why I suggested the van as a mobile delivery hub, and note that I posted several reasons that would be difficult to implement. It's really unfair when people accuse me of insanity like you do here, because I explicitly note potential obstacles and hassles when I post ideas.

CliffordK, this was a really good and thorough post. Kudos for best post in the thread so far.

That would be cool to have my 55" TV delivered by bike during a raging thunderstorm that pops when it's en route to my house. Seriously TP? You really never think this stuff out.

"Ideas" that are the product of an electronic outpouring of stream of consciousness untethered by the bonds of reality do not require much thinking, just a vivid imagination in combination with extreme naivete. Might be useful for self published Sci Fi books.

If one was in a big city, one could send the big packages through normal delivery routes (UPS, Fedex, USPS, or by motorized van), and send the small convenient stuff by bike.

There are already big companies experimenting with bike deliveries.

https://pressroom.ups.com/pressroom/...1114356396-572

https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod...1500128077.jpg

Assuming your TV fits, there is no reason why it can't be done by bike.

I suppose if the per package shipping cost for the TV is greater than for bicycle brake cable, then it may still be economical to deliver by bike.

I was trying to imagine the economics.

Assume 8 hour shifts...

Nonetheless, that $180 a day won't go far if it includes paying for the vehicle, vehicle maintenance, fuel, insurance, depreciation, and the mini-franchise owner.

The "last mile" delivery costs would have to be quite a bit higher.

And your cycle delivery person likely has every fixed cost reduced by a lot.

Then, a lot would depend on the route. An urban USPS mail person might do well with a bicycle that they could either pedal from mailbox to mailbox, or pedal, park, and walk.

But, Amazon may not have the necessary delivery density... yet.

Amazon has already stated an interest in drones. I wouldn't be surprised if other organizations follow too. It might not be a good time to dump a lot of capital into one's mini-Franchise. Although, the drones are still probably 5 to 10 years out, if not more. So, if one is talking delivery van, it will have taken a beating during that time, and would be ready to be replaced.

This may well be something that Amazon is looking at building the delivery network, and building the drone fleet simultaneously. So, these delivery vans would likely be an excellent investment for them, but shouldn't necessarily be considered long term for the proprietors.

Even slow moving cycle delivery vans might be comparable to the drones, and would be worth incorporating into their net.

I enjoy these kinds of logistical challenges. We should discuss this kind of thing more and bicker less about philosophical differences.

One possibility is that the van would spend all its time going back and forth to the warehouse. The driver would probably want to load the packages directly into crates that could be moved from the van to the bikes directly and secured without rearranging them. Somehow they're going to have to be organized in a way that's logically efficient for the bike couriers, which could probably be done by how the packages are coded, e.g. by the four digit add-on of the zip code (i.e. zip+4), which I'm hoping would correspond with an ideal number of packages for a cyclist to carry, at least.

As for splitting the $180, that doesn't really make sense because the $180 is the amount of packages a single van can deliver without cyclists helping. With the van going back and forth to the warehouse only and passing organized crates to the cyclists, the number of packages per day goes up. The question is whether it would go up enough to pay everyone enough for their time, as well as paying for the van, fuel, etc. And of course the cyclists have vehicle expenses too. Those could be offset by giving them discounted bikes and parts, though, the same way the cost of the van seems to be discounted.

Anyway, I think the ultimate question is whether more packages can be delivered per hour with a system of vans making runs between a warehouse and bike couriers, or whether more get delivered by the van-driver doing the door-to-door deliveries as well. I think the answer is probably with the cyclists involved, but they might get the work done so fast they'd run out of packages and then some people would want them to slow down to make Amazon pay out more hours-per-job.

The design for incorporating bikes would have to come down from the top.

As I mentioned, it appears as if Portland has two Amazon warehouses that are quite distant from the majority of the population, although there likely would still be some local population accessible by bike around the warehouses. Oh, Hillsboro is bigger than I thought. :)

One could probably do palatalized/containerized cargo for bikes. So, fill the bike containers at the warehouse, then load them into a truck, and head off... then just load the containers directly onto the bikes. The transfer could be quick and efficient.

One could even design the cargo containers to contain a battery for e-bikes. Recharge at the warehouse, then when one loads the bikes, they also get fresh batteries.

Even at the warehouse, load up the containers while the bikes are buzzing around, then when they return, drop the empty container and snag a full one for the next delivery.

I could imagine an agreement with a local shopping mall for off-peak access to the parking lot. Roll the truck into the parking lot. Offload onto bikes like little worker bees, and send them out. Then take the truck to either the next destination, or back to the warehouse to refill.

Everything would have to be above board, but it could be made to work.

And, might be good PR for Amazon, especially in so-called bike cities like Portland.

I think the big question is whether the package density would be enough to support bikes.

Say for a city of 100,000. If every citizen orders on average one item from Amazon a year, that is 100,000 packages a year to deliver. Say at 300 working days, that is 333 packages a day (likely weighted towards holidays).

Or, 41 packages an hour for an 8 hour shift. :P

Likely the Post Office can hit close to 1 mailbox every 2 minutes, but that would really push it for almost any vehicle delivery, but again, it depends on how close they are, or people receiving multiple packages (different origins?).

I think you need a certain density to make last-mile-bike-delivery to work. If it's 2000 deliveries per square mile (i.e. very dense), then the current model of human-in-van is more efficient. If it's sparse, say 5 deliveries in 50 square miles, then the human-in-van is also the more efficient model. In between there is a sweet spot where the van + bicyclists becomes more efficient.

So you need to find that density sweet spot and the squad of bicyclists to make it work.

I don't think it's feasible.

Lots of questions...

Are paperboys obsolete now?

https://carfreedays.files.wordpress....erboy_full.jpg

At one time, it was efficient for the newspaper companies to drop a pile of papers in a drop box for the paper boys, then the kids would go pick them up from the drop box, and deliver them to the local houses.

Packages are somewhat different, but perhaps not that different.

It's interesting they are obsolete where I live. I used to be a paperboy in this same neighborhood a long long long ago, but now they're delivered by cars.

I wonder if it's because of reduced density.

A missed delivery of a paper is much less of an issue than a missing Amazon package. I was a paperboy and all my customers had my (parents) phone number, and every now and then I'd get a call that someone didn't get their paper, so I'd just run one over.