Amazon may have hit on a winner with the Hub

Taking the last-mile delivery battle seriously, Amazon may have found a hit with its Hub. According to The Motley Fool, Amazon is putting Hubs in “multi-tenant dwellings like apartment buildings, condos, and complexes.”

With its 90 million Amazon Prime customers spending an average of $1,300 annually, and non-members spending $700, according to the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, there are a lot Amazon packages being left on front doorsteps. In apartment buildings, that is problematic.

The Hub was initially launched as a locker intended for receiving deliveries ordered from Amazon, but customers can now use them for orders from other online sites. With this benefit, Amazon has secured space to put Hubs in buildings housing up to 850,000 dwellings across the United States. Amazon has signed contracts with Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities Inc., two of the nation’s largest apartment and condo companies.

As online purchasing has led to more packages being delivered, apartment complexes and condos have seen problems with these packages piling up. Landlords are paying as much as $20,000 for Amazon Hubs to alleviate some of these problems. Packages are left in the Hub lockers for pickup by tenants.

The speed with which e-commerce has changed last-mile delivery has led to additional trust issues as various delivery drivers come and go.

“High speed delivery services are inherently expensive,” Kenco’s Richard Scott told Heavy Duty Trucking. “The consumer may not know who or what agency is going to pull up to their front door with their package.”

Amazon’s entry into logistics is viewed as an effort to retain a positive company image that can be tarnished by poor delivery service.

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