Amazon Quietly Expands Logistics Delivery to Canada

Amazon has been testing their delivery service in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York since 2014, contracting their own personnel to deliver Amazon packages instead of using a third-party courier like UPS or FedEx.

The company has invested heavily in the service, including purchasing thousands of delivery assets like trucks and leasing 20 Boeing 747 freighter jets in order to expand this venture beyond the United States.

The company has stated that their goal isn’t to compete with other couriers, but to offer a faster delivery option for their customers.

The move has worried some financial analysts, as they’ve questioned Amazon’s intentions and fear that this move will increase the struggles of major delivery couriers.

On the other hand, the move does make sense for Amazon, as having their own courier service will help alleviate their costs of outsourcing shipping, especially with growing popularity of Amazon Prime, which offers free two-day shipping on all orders for subscribers at the price of $79.00 per year.

This move will also help Amazon customers, as it eliminates steps in the logistical process when ordering from Amazon. Instead of having to wait for a courier like UPS to pick up packages from an Amazon warehouse and sort it in their facility, Amazon can sort and expedite packages directly from their own warehouse, bypassing steps that can typically take a couple of days.

Top 10 Canadian Shipping Mistakes

The easiest and first mistake many businesses make is thinking that Canadians are just like Americans.

Although Canadians share many similarities with the U.S., thinking of Canada as “the 51st state” is not a recommended strategy.

While it’s true that most Canadians speak English, Canada is officially a bilingual country of English and French. Except, of course, Quebec Province’s official language is French, and it is home to about 20% of the Canadian population. So Quebec-bound labeling and shipping documents had better be predominantly in French, or you could say “finis.”

These mistakes are not all painful errors that result in lost time and increased costs - but understanding how to become a savvy cross-border shipper will give you a competitive advantage as you seek to understand the Canadian way.

Download the Paper: Ten Mistakes U.S. Businesses Make When Shipping To Canada

We tested this new service by placing an order with Amazon.ca on Tuesday, April 26. The account we used was not subscribed to Amazon Prime and we opted to use free super saver shipping. Although a day passed before we received a shipping notification (Wednesday, April 27 at 5:30 PM), the package itself was delivered the next morning at 6:00 AM. The 12-hour delivery time was impressive, especially when compared to previous orders shipped with free super saver shipping via Canada Post. However, our shipping address was located relatively close to a major Amazon warehouse, so your mileage may vary.

Amazon won’t abandon third-party couriers, as they’ll continue to use Canada Post, UPS, FedEx and others to deliver most orders. We aren’t sure if there’s a specific method to have an order delivered with Amazon Logistics, but we speculate that it’s determined by a combination of order size, product availability and address.

The service is in its infancy in Canada, but we can’t help but wonder if they’ll make this service an Amazon Prime exclusive in the future if it does prove to be better than third-parties couriers in an effort to gain more permanent Prime subscribers. Plus, this venture may also be a precursor to Amazon’s crazy yet brilliant plan of delivering packages with drones.

Source: RedFlagDeals.com

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Download: Ten Mistakes U.S. Businesses Make When Shipping To Canada