AmazonFresh Has Launched in Bay Area
blogs.sfweekly.com
blogs.sfweekly.com
These Amazon pages don't say much, but they show pictures of delivery trucks in front of Victorians like mine and a grocery bag on a welcome mat. If they left a bag full of food in my entryway like that it'd probably last 20 minutes before being stolen.
Disclaimer: I don't work for these guys, have any investments, or anything to gain, I just like the service.
I have had groceries stolen from my front porch before (usually that never happens), but never if I take the time to instruct the delivery person to leave it in the side yard (front part is closed but not locked). If you still feel the need to keep it locked, perhaps a simple (i.e., 4 digit) combo lock?
It's impressive service. I would do it all the time if the prices were lower and selection was better.
The vehicle can then have lockboxes. You enter a code and it opens up letting you access your stuff. (Or you use your phone or whatever.)
I suspect the solutions that do get deployed will be something like a larger vehicle in the delivery area acting as a distribution point, and smaller ones making the deliveries from there.
Note that UPS costs come from having the human. They need larger vehicles to absorb that cost, and then have to get the most bang for the buck in the time used. Driverless deliver can use different sized vehicles and time is far less important.
I'm all for creative solutions to problems. Your solutions just aren't creative enough. Operations Research scientists have been working on this exact problem for well over four decades...UPS probably employs 1/3 of the logistics-specialized OR professionals in the entire world. Saying these solutions are simple, or just require a little bit more thought, is not much different from saying that proving P=NP is simple and requires just a little bit more thought. In fact, it is exactly like that.
The point is that driverless vehicles can be different sizes than current vehicles, and are significantly less constrained because of no human driver. Consequently the delivery strategy can better match financials. They can do things like meet you as you get home. Or wait somewhere for 30 minutes to better match delivery windows. Or charge more for priority. Or deliver at 3am. Or bring vehicles from other areas to match changing demand.
Fewer constraints means more scope for optimisation.
Ok, there's also Amazon Prime thrown in, which is good; and I suppose that in the Bay Area the average delivery journey is longer than in London. Still, it seems a bit steep to me. Maybe it tries to place itself as a luxury service in the Amazon range?
My Tesco delivery is arriving in the next 20 minutes ... plus no annual charge over here.
(e.g. I ordered food from NTUC, Carrefour (when they were still around) and Cold Storage super market websites for delivery in Singapore three, four years ago. They have done it even longer than that)
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/jeff-bezos-amazon-fresh-closer-...
They don't seem to be offering a very good argument for why the service is worth the cost IMO.
I really wanted an alternative to Instacart and Google Shopping Express especially for the random Amazon items I'd want to throw in and a little more competition (really missing Trader Joes delivery), but I'm pretty disappointed so far. I was in Seattle this past weekend and I was super pumped to try it just to buy a water kettle for my hotel room and going all "I wish this were in SF!" but I can't actually find anything that I want to buy at home that would come faster/better than regular Prime shipping or competing services.
I ended up ordering from Instacart with almost everything I wanted instead because I was so frustrated (and I would walk to the local market but I'm sick). Easily would have been willing to migrate my grocery shopping to any service but they're all kind of shitty so :(
Just like every delivery truck ever...
http://www.kivasystems.com/about-us-the-kiva-approach/manage...
It's unclear if Amazon has actually started using Kiva, though. Does anyone know? That 60 minutes special didn't show them using it.
Edit: Changed from "the prohibitive cost" to "a prohibitive cost."
Yeah. They use them a lot. A lot, a lot. It was cheaper to buy the company than pay to outfit every FC. All newish fulfillment centers ( http://www.amazonfulfillmentcareers.com/amazon-fulfillment/l... ) are divided into "kiva" and "non-kiva" areas. I think there is only one FC that is fully "kiva," but it may be as many as 3 now. Details are NDA.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=...
I'm trying to figure out, are they doing this on purpose (paper bags would be cheaper)? I'm assuming they are, hoping that you'll go shopping and use their cool bags and using this as a method of free advertising.
The packs are also cold-keeping, so I wonder if that makes the paper-bag alternative moot.
The experience isn't the best (someone has to be there and sign) but a) I have a nanny and b) I don't pay $299 or 14% more for the items.. in fact, I would pay less as I don't carry a loyalty card, but deliveries give you the loyalty price (presumably, they collect the same kind of info anyway).