Related – The Last Mile: Where Brawn Meets Brains
Amazon Wants Employees to Open Package Delivery Businesses
Amazon announced it will take an active role in helping interested employees launch their own package delivery businesses, expanding its Delivery Service Partner program with some additional incentives to help those employees make the transition.

Amazon wants to expand its small-business delivery package partners by helping employees quit and launch their own.
Photo by Deborah Lockridge
Amazon is encouraging its employees to quit, and start their own small businesses delivering packages for the e-commerce giant.
It is expanding its Delivery Service Partner program, launched last summer, which it says offers startup costs as low as $10,000, with discounts on Amazon-branded vans, insurance, and other business necessities; hands-on and in-the-field training; a technology toolkit; and $10,000 reimbursements for qualified veterans to build their own businesses.
Its new expansion of the program targets current Amazon employees. Amazon said it will take an active role in helping interested employees launch their own package delivery businesses. The new incentive will fund the startup costs, up to $10,000, as well as the equivalent of three months of the former employee’s last gross salary so employees-turned-business-owners can more easily get their package delivery companies off the ground.
“We received overwhelming interest from tens of thousands of individuals who applied to be part of the Delivery Service Partner program, including many employees,” said Dave Clark, senior vice president of worldwide operations, in the announcement. “We’ve heard from associates that they want to participate in the program but struggled with the transition. Now we have a path for those associates with an appetite for opportunities to own their own businesses.”
Since the launch of the Delivery Service Partner program in June 2018, Amazon said, it has enabled the creation of more than 200 new small businesses that have hired thousands of local drivers to deliver packages to Amazon customers. This year, the company said, it plans to add hundreds more new businesses.
One package-shipping analyst said the move indicates that Amazon is “finding they need to add people faster, and to do so they need to provide additional incentives to come on board,” Satish Jindel, president of ShipMatrix Inc., told the Wall Street Journal. As the program grows, he added, Amazon is likely to cut back on the amount of last-mile business it gives companies such as UPS, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service.
More Fleet Management

How Innovative Trucking Leaders Turn Change Into an Advantage
As the pace of change accelerates in trucking, the fleets that adapt best have more than the latest technology. They have cultures that embrace improvement.
Read More →
Freight Broker Bonds Just Got Harder to Get. Here's What That Means for Your Fleet.
When it gets harder for a freight broker to prove they are financially sound, the ones who cannot clear that bar get pushed out of the market. And those are exactly the brokers who used to leave motor carriers holding the bag.
Read More →
Long-Awaited Canadian Border Bridge to Open in Detroit
For trucking, the bridge opening should offer immediate improvements in efficiency and reliability, with new customs facilities, expanded inspection capacity, and direct freeway-to-freeway connections.
Read More →
Aurora Rolls Out Next Generation of Driverless Trucks for Commercial Freight
Aurora's latest autonomous trucks it's rolling out with International feature lower-cost hardware designed for a million miles as the company expands commercial driverless freight operations across the U.S. Sun Belt.
Read More →
Freight Tonnage Down, Rates up, as Lower Capacity Powers Trucking Recovery
The recovery from the freight recession continues to be driven by reduction in capacity rather than by increased demand.
Read More →
Think Your Trucking Fleet Isn't Using Much AI? Think Again
Shadow AI — the use of unauthorized artificial intelligence tools at work — is becoming increasingly common, putting sensitive company data at risk. Learn how trucking fleets can protect sensitive data while embracing AI.
Read More →
ArcBest Consolidates Brands, Cuts Workforce
The company will bring three business units under the ArcBest brand, eliminate about 2% of positions, and expects the changes to generate $40 million in annual savings.
Read More →
Trucking Fleets Faced Record Operating Costs During Third Year of Freight Recession
ATRI's annual operational cost report shows carriers trimmed fleets, delayed equipment purchases, and ran older trucks as expenses continued to outpace freight rates.
Read More →
Michelin Adds AI Assistant to MyConnectedFleet Platform
Michelin’s new generative AI tool delivers instant fleet insights, helping managers analyze fuel use, tire maintenance, vehicle status, and operational performance without manually creating reports.
Read More →
LytxOne Platform Now Features AI, Compliance, and Asset Tracking Tools
New enhancements add AI-powered insights, asset tracking, compliance automation, and configurable privacy controls to Lytx's all-in-one fleet management platform.
Read More →
