Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Can Amazon Save the Postal Service?

Our country's classic Postal carrier system has been losing ground - and lots of money - for years. Not too long ago, they tried to cut out Saturday delivery to trim budgets. Seemed like a pretty sound idea to me based on the extreme uptick in other forms of communications. Met with a myriad of protests (some from the union?), Saturday was back on the ticket.

But Amazon just announced what I think could be a possible savior for the PO - or at least a nice test-crutch for the holiday season. You guessed it - Sunday package delivery of products purchased through Amazon will be delivered by Postal carriers (even in the rain, sleet or snow!)

As someone who's into my AARP-eligible years, I have to admit, I'm encouraged to see this throw-back. Guess we'll wait and see how it goes and if they expand beyond LA and NY in the future.

But now that younger consumers are moving away from stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and doing more shopping on-line where every three-dimensional item they purchase needs a delivery mechanism, we just may see more of those little white trucks on the roads. Be careful out there since the PO is always the winner if there's a crash - or is that just an old rumor?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/11/11/amazon-sunday-delivery-usps/3479055/