The Future

Amazon still trying to solve a central problem: getting people what they order

The company rolls out yet another feature in an effort to make sure customers receive their orders.

The Future

Amazon still trying to solve a central problem: getting people what they order

The company rolls out yet another feature in an effort to make sure customers receive their orders.
The Future

Amazon still trying to solve a central problem: getting people what they order

The company rolls out yet another feature in an effort to make sure customers receive their orders.

Amazon Prime users now have the option to better control when their packages are delivered. On Thursday, Amazon launched a new “perk” for Prime subscribers called Amazon Day, which essentially works by allowing Prime users to choose a day of the week for their deliveries. Customers then go about their regular shopping on the site, deciding whether to have their items delivered on their chosen Amazon Day or opting for any of the company’s other delivery options of two, one, or same-day deliveries.

The feature is an attempt to solve the issue of “porch pirates” stealing packages from doorsteps, as well as missed deliveries ending up at drop point stores, defeating the point of ordering something online in the first place. But while the new option allows for choosing what day is most convenient for shoppers — therefore lowering the chances of you not being around to receive your package — there don’t appear to be any further guarantees that you won’t have to pick up your Amazon order at your local random hardware store in the end. This is largely because the option doesn’t shrink the window of delivery times on the specified Amazon Day, which can be anywhere from early morning to well into the evening.

Over the last couple of years, Amazon has become desperate to solve the logistics issues of getting everything it ships delivered, on time, to the people who ordered them.  Amazon Locker, Amazon Key, Amazon Scout, and even drone delivery have all been touted out as means of combating customer complaints of missed deliveries and package theft.

Amazon Day seems to make the most sense of all of these options, mostly because it’s so simple: just choose when you would prefer to receive your items.

The company is also trying to respond to concerns about the environmental impact of package shipment. The “Shipment Zero” initiative announced last week aims to have net zero carbon for 50 percent of all Amazon shipments by 2030. Consolidating a customer’s orders for just one day means fewer boxes, fewer stops along delivery routes and therefore less waste overall, at least on the corporations’ ends.

It’s unclear how much this new feature will help the strange game of door tag that often ensues with UPS, Amazon’s preferred carrier, and results in the dreaded sticky note stating the package has been dropped off somewhere else. In the end, we’ll still be taking trips to a neighborhood business to pick up online-ordered items that could have just been bought there in the first place.  What happens if 80 percent of people start to pick Saturday for their deliveries? Who knows, but probably more chaos.