Shipped with Amazon
When I recently bought an item on Amazon, I was surprised to see that it has been shipped with Amazon - as in, Amazon does the delivery, and not DHL, Hermes or any other well-known logistics company.
My item was quite bulky, so I knew it would probably not be sent via DHL, but in the past, these kinds of items have been shipped with verious specialized logistic companies. I didn't even know Amazon was doing the shipping themselves, and googling around a bit showed that this far from common.
So I was very curious on how it turned out. Here is what I observed:
- On the plus side, I had a real-time map on the tracking page and in the app. It told me where my shipment was and how many stops where planned before my delivery arrived.
- Interestingly, the truck seemed to be either a rented truck or belonging to a logistic company, so maybe the "shipment with amazon" thingy is a way of unifying the aforementioned various companies
- The drivers have been very friendly and thorough, and they carried my parcel where I wanted it to be (did I mention it was bulky?)
- On the flip side, I had to sign a lot of different documents, which genuinely surprised me, as everything else was paperless (one of the signatures was even on a mobile device)
I was very pleased with the tracking, as one major grief that I have with virtually all logistic companies is that their tracking is either very imprecise ("Your shipment will arrive between 8am and 4pm), or unreliable. I was also happy with their friendly and professional behaviour, as I also had experiences in the past where, for example, people where hauling a refridgerator into the hallway, right in the middle of it, then grumbled something incomprehensive and left.
Amazon has the opportunity to shaking up the economy again, creating more competition by putting the customer in the center. That is, by the way, one of the main reasons why I keep buying at Amazon: Their customer service is uber friendly and helpful, in contrast to many local businesses, which sometimes make you feel as if you have to be thankful for the opportunity to buy their stuff.
I hope the other logistic companies take Amazon as a serious threat and adapt, or proactively improve their services. Otherwise, Amazon's market entry into logistics in Germany be a quick curb-stomp battle.