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By the end of 2023, Amazon may have teamed up with your favorite bodega.
In its latest effort to speed up deliveries, the e-commerce giant plans to partner with 2,500 local small businesses across 23 states to deliver packages through a program called Hub Delivery, according to Amazon spokesperson Maya Vautier.
How it works: The technology giant aims to partner with small businesses like “florists, coffee shops, clothing boutiques, gas stations, plumbers, and hair salons” as mini-hubs that can deliver packages, Vautier said. Each day, Amazon will drop off packages to small business partners, which will then deliver the packages themselves. The partner businesses will receive weekly compensation based on the number of packages they deliver. Each partner can expect to deliver between 20 and 50 packages per day, the company said on its website. The program is currently accepting applications.
Amazon is targeting larger cities including Boston, New York, and Los Angeles, as well as smaller towns like Findlay, Ohio, and Milton, Florida. Last year, Vox reported that Amazon was testing out the delivery partner program in rural parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Nebraska.
According to Vautier, Hub Delivery partners can expect to make up to $27,000 a year. Amazon will provide training and support, and partners can opt out of the program at any time.
Years in the making: Amazon has been looking to streamline its “last mile” network—which, logistically speaking, refers to the last stage of the package delivery process—for some time. In 2015, the tech behemoth debuted a version of Hub Delivery in India, which expanded to encompass more than 20,000 small business partners.
Also in 2015, Amazon tapped self-employed drivers to deliver packages through its Amazon Flex program. The company also opened lockers, called “Hubs,” in locations such as residential apartments and stores, in 2017. It’s all part of Amazon’s continued pullback from delivery companies like UPS, FedEx, and the US Postal Service as it looks to build out its own logistics services.