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Got $10K? Amazon Wants YOU to Deliver Packages

samsig03

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Basically Amazon wants to help you start a company delivering its packages for the last mile or so from the local Amazon fulfillment center. They will handle much of the back office stuff but will set standards for employee wages and benefits. Also you must scale under their guidelines. This sounds very intriguing, but I don't think it is ultimately fastlane. It is somewhere in-between because it appears Amazon still holds the control and has quite a few stipulations. Interesting never the less.

Amazon wants its delivery network to include hundreds of startups
 
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Scot

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And in 6 months when amazon decides they don’t like this program anymore (which amazon has done multiple times) your entire business is gone.

That’s a big fat nope for me.
 

Jason "GrandK"

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It looks like a great opportunity for someone who has never started a business before. From your article,

Once a Delivery Service Partner is up and running, Amazon will provide not only stuff to deliver but also the back-end infrastructure needed to manage it; assistance with issues such as training, taxes, and payroll processing; and discounts on insurance, fuel, and truck leasing. The company will sign each firm to a contract based on goals for delivery volume and says that it will be possible to turn $300,000 in profit a year from such a business.

If I was a 20 or 30 something budding entrepreneur, I would seriously consider this opportunity. Granted, Amazon is in control, but the hands on education and support is worth the trade-off.

While Amazon says it won’t be intimately involved in telling owners how to operate their businesses, it will set standards for minimum salaries and stipulate that positions offer benefits and paid time off. The services it will provide and the discounts it has negotiated might help these delivery firms provide better jobs than the typical tiny company can.

Right here, you may be able to get some solid employees working for you. It cuts both ways, but I believe the advantage is with the business owner, being able to offer competitive salary jobs for a well known company (Amazon). Anyway, it is definitely worth investigating if you are on the fence trying to find a place to get your chops and produce value on your own terms (somewhat).
 
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jcvlds

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Why not take advantage of the opportunity? Yes you know you lack control and it could be taken away, but if it’s not your only or entire basket, why not make some side income?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

SummerGladness

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Why not take advantage of the opportunity? Yes you know you lack control and it could be taken away, but if it’s not your only or entire basket, why not make some side income?

How can this be anything but your entire basket. While Amazon have got you slaving away running their business for them, you won't have any time for your own business. Hell, you won't have time for your own wife and kids let alone working on meaningful side projects.

This is exactly against what MJ prescribes. Having just recently read the control section of Unscripted I couldn't think of a worse idea.
 

Argue

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This lacks control so for that reason I’m out.
 

JAJT

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This is basically a franchise model, from the sounds of it.

You spend your $10k, and you get a "business in a box".

Honestly, this sounds like a killer opportunity for folks who want more than a job but aren't quite ready or able to go from-scratch on their own ventures.

For sure this isn't a business you own or control in any meaningful way, but I'd certainly encourage anyone looking to get their feet wet to jump on this. The learning experience sounds incredible with pretty good financial upside.
 

AFMKelvin

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So I just signed up for their delivery service and this is what I got in my email. This is not something I want you'll be a slave to Amazon just for the idea of having your own "business" no thanks. You are required to work every day of the year.
 
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SummerGladness

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The learning experience sounds incredible with pretty good financial upside.

You can experience the same learning curve by starting your own Legacy though and then the financial upside will be infinitely higher and you won't be surrendering control.

You are required to work every day of the year.

Wow plenty of time to work on side projects and spend time with your loved ones......NAAAAAAAAAWT
 

Scot

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Also, as a side note, do some research on what it’s like to work for Amazon. They’re notoriously bad to their employees and have high turnover rates. I can’t imagine they’d be better to their vendors.
 

LittleWolfie

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Interestingly there are still countries that don't get Amazon or they don't ship everything too (I think Poland was only the last couple of years) so people order these then ship them on for a small fee. Brexit might cause issues, as I think a lot of these come in via Amazon.uk then out this Eurostar to underserved areas.
 
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Real Deal Denver

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I read the link in the original post. Two things I found very interesting.

1) A delivery service was set up by a Nigerian immigrant, and within five months he had a business with almost 40 employees.

I can work with that. I consider myself an excellent manager/supervisor.

But then.

2) It is set up in Aurora, CO. That's where I live. Oh well. But I will say that I get a fair amount of things from Amazon, and their delivery service is excellent, for me.

An immigrant. Five months later - 40 employees. I like the possibilities. My market seems to be fully developed, but I think this could be a good opportunity if you were to get in on the ground floor. Give it five months and see if you can do better than an immigrant that doesn't have an ivy league education, or even a background in our culture.

I'd piggy back this on Lyft drivers, and it could really take off. (Not Uber - they left me high and dry one time AND charged me $5 for it, which they did not refund)

Amazon Aurora Delivery Service.PNG
 

Patrickg

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I'd be curious to see more about it. Might be good transition for someone to build up and work. And if you were making those revenues you could even sell it. For a fairly fast turnaround. Then build their true fastlane business.
 

Late Bloomer

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This is basically a franchise model, from the sounds of it.

That's exactly what I thought. The same concept as McDonald's or any other franchise seller. It provides a business operations plan, suppliers, qualities standards, and customers just show up. McDonald's recently announced they are getting rid of all corporate-owned restaurants. They believe franchisers are better equipped to do some growth focused investments like remodeling stores. Looks like Amazon figures the same thing. It's more scalable to have a lot of little independent business owners running their model, without Amazon having to fund every local last mile.

Thanks for sharing that note, Kelvin. They had a typo for the word culture. I think what they really meant is "You'll develop a cult inside our cult." How do they expect any business owner to work literally 365 days a year, with no time off ever?
 
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AgainstAllOdds

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365 days a year is pure bullshit.

But for what it's worth, I have a friend that was trucking for Amazon from Chicago to Louisville and back everyday. He made over $200k last year and got a nice bonus as well.

It could be a lucrative gig short term.

Also depends on how the agreement is structured. If you're able to sell the route later on then it's worth it.

Look up https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-problems-in-buying-a-FedEx-route-Is-it-a-profitable-investment Fedex delivery routes. Essentially you can trade profitable routes like real businesses at significant multiples. If that's the case for Amazon then it could make sense to buy in at $10k and then sell later on at a premium when you've proven cashflow and are tired or being an Amazon slave.
 

AFMKelvin

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That's exactly what I thought. The same concept as McDonald's or any other franchise seller. It provides a business operations plan, suppliers, qualities standards, and customers just show up. McDonald's recently announced they are getting rid of all corporate-owned restaurants. They believe franchisers are better equipped to do some growth focused investments like remodeling stores. Looks like Amazon figures the same thing. It's more scalable to have a lot of little independent business owners running their model, without Amazon having to fund every local last mile.

Thanks for sharing that note, Kelvin. They had a typo for the word culture. I think what they really meant is "You'll develop a cult inside our cult." How do they expect any business owner to work literally 365 days a year, with no time off ever?
Lol exacy what it is. They repeat it so much and in every link I clicked they tell you about the team building culture.
 
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LittleWolfie

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365 days a year is pure bullshit.

But for what it's worth, I have a friend that was trucking for Amazon from Chicago to Louisville and back everyday. He made over $200k last year and got a nice bonus as well.

It could be a lucrative gig short term.

Also depends on how the agreement is structured. If you're able to sell the route later on then it's worth it.

Look up https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-problems-in-buying-a-FedEx-route-Is-it-a-profitable-investment Fedex delivery routes. Essentially you can trade profitable routes like real businesses at significant multiples. If that's the case for Amazon then it could make sense to buy in at $10k and then sell later on at a premium when you've proven cashflow and are tired or being an Amazon slave.
Also makes a difference if you have to be available or if your service needs tonne available, one is scalable.
 

socaldude

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In other words you pay $10k to be an independent contractor and youll probably have to incorporate.

You get all the liability and no control.

This is their way of passing on losses and liabilities to someone else while running their own show. Its a model thats very common in the package delivery business. Not to mention you have to pay your employees overtime while amazon pays you using a different method.

Your 10k is basically a security deposit so if you dont meet the terms of agreement you take a loss.

Yeah you can make money but not without a massive headache.

No thanks.
 
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Patrickg

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365 days a year is pure bullshit.

But for what it's worth, I have a friend that was trucking for Amazon from Chicago to Louisville and back everyday. He made over $200k last year and got a nice bonus as well.

It could be a lucrative gig short term.

Also depends on how the agreement is structured. If you're able to sell the route later on then it's worth it.

Look up https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-problems-in-buying-a-FedEx-route-Is-it-a-profitable-investment Fedex delivery routes. Essentially you can trade profitable routes like real businesses at significant multiples. If that's the case for Amazon then it could make sense to buy in at $10k and then sell later on at a premium when you've proven cashflow and are tired or being an Amazon slave.

I agree. If you can sell the business there is a upside. Also you don't have to work 365 it's called a manager. You just have to scale to a point that makes to hire someone.

Regardless, I'm not saying it's the sexiest business ever but what an opportunity for a budding entrepreneur to make a translation. Especially, if they are veteran. They are pledging 10k reimbursement so you'd potentially starting this gig for nothing. just trying to bring up the positives.
 
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hughjasle

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I'd be curious to hear more about this. I read an unreliable source stating that each van you get is capped at $7500 profit per year. I don't like that sounds of a cap. Would be interested to see the real information and details.

For kicks I went straight to Amazon to figure it out. Read their brochures etc. Not much info. So I signed up. They ask you a few questions, ask you to pick your top 3 desired locations for a business (not all states or cities are available) then send you an email with ANOTHER application to fill out.

This new application is where I stopped. Too many hoops just to get info for me right now. They want your full history, financial report, schooling information, and resume along with other dumb things like "what kind of a leader are you" and "what 3 words best describes the culture you'd have in your business and why".

I don't have the time to sit and fill at out at the moment. Maybe I'll get to it later (but i don't have a resume... haven't needed one in a decade...) I just want to know the real info behind it. They say they only want you to have 40 vans max, but in their own testimonials they showcase ppl having 40, 50 and 75 units.

So who knows. Lots of questions and uneasiness around it. Was hoping someone here might have more solid info rather than just guesses. If someone gets further than me in getting the info, post it up :)
 

TheCj

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Sounds like another way Amazon is trying to solve a problem or tweaking a part of there business that is not as profitable or efficient as they would like. I think they were testing out drones before. Is this there way to cut out UPS, Fedex?

Sounds just like Uber and Lyft, people working these jobs not realizing the total cost. I think Uber was better paying than a taxi job at the beginning when it started. Then over time the payout rate goes down etc..
 

Roli

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Basically Amazon wants to help you start a company delivering its packages for the last mile or so from the local Amazon fulfillment center. They will handle much of the back office stuff but will set standards for employee wages and benefits. Also you must scale under their guidelines. This sounds very intriguing, but I don't think it is ultimately fastlane. It is somewhere in-between because it appears Amazon still holds the control and has quite a few stipulations. Interesting never the less.

Amazon wants its delivery network to include hundreds of startups


This is a great short-term investment opportunity, and as long as you don't view it as a long-term fastlane biz it could be very profitable.

My plan with this would be to burn it for 6-18 months, because as @Scott says, Amazon could easily decide they don't like the program in that time and scrap it.

So you get into it, live like a Spartan whilst saving almost every penny in profits, getting ready to make your next move. If it's still around in 2 years, you sell it to someone else and move on, ditch them before they ditch you.

Though still do your due diligence, how far do you live from the nearest centre? Are you on a busy enough route to make this worthwhile?

It won't work for everyone. But could be very lucrative.
 
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Late Bloomer

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Fedex delivery routes. Essentially you can trade profitable routes like real businesses at significant multiples.

It never occurred to me that Fedex routes are a business that can be bought and sold like any other! That's interesting.

Regardless, I'm not saying it's the sexiest business ever but what an opportunity for a budding entrepreneur to make a translation. Especially, if they are veteran.

It looks like a higher-risk, higher-potential franchise option. If you buy a fast food sandwich shop, your work experience and profits are very predictable. This new franchise might give a shot at the big time, but nobody can make any promises about what it will really take and what it will really make.

They want your full history, financial report, schooling information, and resume along with other dumb things like "what kind of a leader are you" and "what 3 words best describes the culture you'd have in your business and why".

Wow! They are looking for followers who will do exactly as they're told, no matter how pushy or intrusive. When told to jump, their only question is, how high, sirs?

I think they were testing out drones before.

I remember a lot of hype about that a few years ago. I guess they figured they need the human element after all, but don't want to pay employees for it, yet Amazon wants to keep 100% control of the process.
 
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Envision

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Does anyone know if they guarantee you a certain number of shipments? I'd do this if they basically provide you with an income similar to FBA - the odds of other people competing in your area is slim to none as this rolls out there could be a lot of cash to be made.
 

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