Photo by Geoff Parsons.
Amazon.com, in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, has announced that a series of cities will now receive online package deliveries on Sundays.
Los Angeles and New York metropolitan area Sunday deliveries began last week. Other expansion cities, along with New Orleans, will be included in the seven day a week delivery schedule beginning in 2014.
The service is free for Prime members, which costs $79 annually, but is also available to non-Prime members, who can get free five to eight-day shipping on orders of at least $35. “For non-Prime members, it’s like any other delivery day of the week,” said Dave Clark, VP of worldwide operations and customer service at Amazon.
It has also been noted that it will generate additional revenue for the struggling U.S. Postal Service.
“The future of package delivery is a seven-day-a-week schedule. We’ve got the capacity to do it,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
The company is using a flexible workforce approach, meaning employees will flexible schedules and it will eliminate the need for the postal service to make additional hires to complete the delivery schedule.
The online retailer has been planning the expansion for some time.
“The three big pieces of growth for us are selection, lower prices and speed,” said Clark. “Adding an additional day is all about delivery speed. An Amazon customer can order a backpack and a Kindle for their child and be packing it up on Sunday for school on Monday.”