Amazon will start offering deliveries of orders to customers on Sunday, thanks to an unusual deal with the US Postal Service. Customers in metropolitan areas will be able to place orders on a Friday for arrival on the Sunday, and is the latest move by the online retailer to provide more delivery options for its customers.
Members of Amazon Prime will be able to take advantage of Sunday deliveries under its free two-day shipping, though non-subscribers can also receive items on a Sunday under paid delivery options. A company statement advises that New York and Los Angeles will be the first cities to be covered under the new scheme, with Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, and Phoenix to gain the extra deliveries in the near future as well. Amazon plans to extend this to cover “a large portion of the US population” in 2014.
This is the latest move by Amazon to try and improve deliveries to customers. Amazon Lockers, a scheme that allowed customers to deliver to a local locker at a store or other location for pick-up at a time that suits them, was recently hit by a decision by Staples and RadioShack stores to start removing lockers from stores. Online retailers are also experimenting with faster deliveries, with Google and eBay providing same-day local deliveries in San Francisco and other select markets. The US Postal Service also briefly trialled same-day deliveries late last year.
