While the nation waits for Amazon to decide where it will put its massive second headquarters, the e-commerce giant is hoping to entice thousands of people to launch their own businesses delivering Amazon packages.
It's a step beyond Amazon's normal delivery jobs. Under the new program, Amazon will share its delivery technology, provide training and offer van leases and insurance.
The company says startup costs are in the neighborhood of $10,000 and that entrepreneurs don't need any logistics experience to start a franchise. Amazon says people can earn up to $300,000 in annual profit with fleets of up to 40 vehicles delivering packages. It also created a $1 million fund which it will use to reimburse $10,000 of those startup costs for each qualifying military veteran.
“Customer demand is higher than ever and we have a need to build more capacity," Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, said in a news release. "As we evaluated how to support our growth, we went back to our roots to share the opportunity with small-and-medium-sized businesses."
Amazon says the program offers discounts on the most important assets need to launch a delivery business. That includes branded Amazon vehicles, uniforms and a fuel program. Essentially, they're saying, 'we know how to do this, so take our blueprint and run on our behalf.'
The company suggests delivery service partners will typically have 20-40 vans that run their own daily routes and 40-100 employees. The entrepreneur is responsible for hiring and developing their workforce, and the business needs to be able to deliver packages on all days of the year.
