When it comes to world-dominating corporations with CEOs “richer, by far, than anyone in the modern world,” you can bet their decisions are made in pursuit of a singular goal: profit.
So when Amazon announced the new initiative, “Amazon Day,” on Thursday, with the express goal of providing “a new level of convenience and predictability to delivery,” it’s only natural to be skeptical. But upon closer inspection, the tool is a win-win-win — for you, them and the planet.
Amazon Day is an option now available to all Prime members that lets you choose a day of the week for all of your orders to be delivered together. So that Seiko watch, your monthly dog food and those new organizational tools will arrive in one shipment on the same day, rather than in a bunch of boxes throughout the week.
For you, this means no more worrying about porch pirates or apartment building bandits, since you’ll be able to get deliveries exclusively on the day you work from home or on Saturdays. It’ll also cut down on your cardboard waste, as well as your walk of shame when lugging said cardboard to the recycling every week. But never fear, when checking out you’ll still have the option to choose standard Prime shipping rather than your Amazon Day.
For Amazon, this is a cost cutting measure. As Business Insider writes, the company’s fulfillment costs rose 43% to $25.2 billion in 2017, and are looking to spike to $43.3 billion in 2019. Fewer deliveries mean lower costs. And for the planet, this is just one part of a larger sustainability initiative called Shipment Zero, which is a “vision to make all Amazon shipments net zero carbon, with 50% of all shipments net zero by 2030.”
Don’t get the wrong idea, Amazon is no paragon of sustainability. But Amazon Day is a no-brainer for all involved, and if it cuts down on package theft too, we wouldn’t be surprised if societal anxiety dipped as well.
Image by josemiguels on Pixabay
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