Amazon ends Prime Now bicycle courier program in Seattle

Amazon has stopped the delivery of Prime Now packages via bicycle courier in its hometown of Seattle. Announcing the decision, Amazon disclosed the closing down of deliveries with bicycles and are shifting all deliveries via vehicle. Amazon directly communicated this information to the respective contract companies.

According to industry insiders, the latest move by Amazon will affect about 60 bicycle couriers, who carried packages for Amazon’s Prime delivery program in and around Seattle.

Meanwhile, a contract company revealed to couriers that the Seattle bike delivery program was an exceptional case. The decision to migrate to full vehicle delivery was primarily intended to create a more uniform and robust delivery infrastructure in Seattle.

Amazon took this drastic step in a short span of three days. However, a company revealed to us that Amazon could
reconsider the decision at a later time and the abandoning of bicycle deliveries i only a temporary rearrangement.

Recently, Amazon had started to assign riders a numeric score nicknamed as Perfect Delivery Rate (PDR). This score is allocated based on the riders overall performance, delivery times, customer interaction and improved customer service.

Amazon, meanwhile, has started to aggressively develop their own delivery and transportation system and the company periodically test drive new initiatives in its home town in Seattle.