Amazon is looking to the crowd sourcing market to help cut down on rising shipping costs.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is developing an app that gives users the ability to earn money by delivering packages for them. The move would allow the Ecommerce giant to reduce its dependency on big name couriers such as UPS, FedEx, and the like.
The WSJ report makes no mention of when the app might be available but claims the service is has been given the name 'On My Way' within the company.
To make On My Way work, Amazon will most likely enlist the aid of smaller retail stores and physical locations to store the packages. Then using the app, interested couriers can pick up the package from said location and deliver it to its final destination, earning a small fee in the process for delivering the goods.
This isn't the first time Amazon has tried to get creative with their shipping methods. The company has had many highly publicized attempts at getting others to ship their packages for them. These methods include getting Uber drivers to try and deliver packages, experimenting with pick up lockers in 7-11 outlets, unmanned drones, and using retail stores as pick up and drop off points for customers.
The motivation for Amazon is simple: to cut down on delivery fees. The WSJ article mentions that Amazon's shipping costs grew by 31% last year, faster than revenue did over the same timeframe.
Although the proposed app is still very much a rumour at this point, it already has its share of detractors.
Forbes published a piece saying the service is a 'bad idea' because it would negate Amazon's biggest asset, its sterling reputation for reliability. Enlisting the aid of regular people to deliver packages would no doubt bring up a host of other problems and be a nightmare to monitor. Things such as late deliveries, and possibly even lost or stolen packages might become more common place.
