Getting all of these uber drivers to deliver packages, groceries and food for amazon customers makes too much sense.
EDIT: Looks like Amazon is already making moves in that direction with their own employees https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19901196
The Amazon delivery approach would require them to drive from the city, to a remote fulfilment center to pick up goods, and then drive back to the city to deliver them. Is there a different way this can be done?
They could probably even use amazon lockers to optimize the process.
They could probably crank up an Uber-style service quicker than anyone else, do it 100% internally, and be instantly integrated into Alexa and whatever else they have going on.
Then the service speeds on Uber's AWS instances start to slowly drop...
Uber has around 4 million registered drivers and millions of daily users and a huge team of engineers working on these problems. With Lyft and Uber in this space it makes no sense for amazon to try and compete with them.
Uber is trying to turn itself into a logistics business and Amazon is investing a ton into making 1 hour delivery work because perishable goods are a huge slice of commerce and a big growth opportunity for them.
Making a copy of Uber doesn't require Amazon to buy 4 million cars. They just need to launch a website and an app. Like another poster said above, Uber drivers aren't loyal to Uber and will swap to Lyft wherever and whenever. A third company doesn't cause any friction at all.
Opening up a few hundred stores is an expensive, time consuming endeavor. In contrast, creating a ride sharing app and promoting it a bit seems like something that a large tech company could pull off much easier.
Groceries, while being notoriously low margin, are the second largest retail business in the US (after gas stations). Launching a new grocery brand, especially one with Whole Paycheck's great brand reputation isn't cheap or easy. See Tesco's Fresh & Easy debacle for an example.
With Uber they have a 24/7 flexible contractor workforce and physical interaction with millions of potential customers.
Amazon could help them save a ton of money by moving their infrastructure onto AWS and reduce their marketing spend by promoting it on their properties.
Tying an uber subscription to Amazon prime could also help both businesses. I'm sure both Lyft and Uber are already working on some monthly membership model.
Amazon is the second largest private employer in the US, they seem to be fine with paychecks. I was just pointing out that buying Uber so you can deliver stuff is a phenomenally dumb idea, it would be cheaper to buy a company like FedEx that is valued by real assets and has proven capable at delivering stuff.
> With Uber they have a 24/7 flexible contractor workforce and physical interaction with millions of potential customers.
Amazon already does this and since Uber relies on contractors, they could sign up every driver in the country without paying a penny for Uber.
> Amazon could help them save a ton of money by moving their infrastructure onto AWS and reduce their marketing spend by promoting it on their properties.
Uber also already uses AWS. Getting paid for it seems better than spending billions to not get paid?
tl;dr I don't think Amazon buys either company, but there is no way in hell they buy Uber.
I think the bigger issue is unionization. In Canada, many Fedex workers belong to a union. Pretty sure that is non-existed at Uber.
Everything that I've seen from them in the past few years leads me to believe that they want to get rid of as many blue collar jobs as possible.
> I was just pointing out that buying Uber so you can deliver stuff is a phenomenally dumb idea
I'd agree with that but I'm arguing that combining ride sharing and delivery makes a lot more sense for both sides than being a courier.
If Uber and Lyft survive they'll have to do it on low margins and high volume. Nobody understands that game better than Bezos and Amazon.
Uber has built a great engineering team, including a ton of top notch machine learning / self driving researchers. They'd be a much bigger value add than anything they'd get from FedEx.
> Amazon already does this and since Uber relies on contractors, they could sign up every driver in the country without paying a penny for Uber.
You're describing postmates, which is too expensive for their average customer. By overlaying door to door delivery on top of something like uber pool you get the riders to eat a large portion of the cost.
Uber is already making progress in that direction with Uber Eats (https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/02/06/ubers-secr...)
> Uber also already uses AWS. Getting paid for it seems better than spending billions to not get paid?
Oh I could have sworn I just saw someone mention that they migrated off of it recently.
> tl;dr I don't think Amazon buys either company, but there is no way in hell they buy Uber.
As long as both of them are around they will continue to bleed. They might start looking like a good acquisition target in a few quarters.