It sounds like Amazon has already been building a fleet to do the main distribution of their goods, but have been contracting with USPS, Fedex, and UPS for the "last mile" delivery.
They must have decided that this semi-franchise business would save them money and be more reliable for that last mile delivery.
The bicycle (and E-Bike) delivery scheme is unique.
Benefits of Bikes/E-Bikes:
- "Green", and in vogue.
- Theoretically low cost vehicles.
- Cheaper fuel (even for E-Vehicles).
- Potentially easier to park.
- Likely cheaper liability insurance (but, probably more personal injury insurance).
- Potentially quick in dense delivery areas.
Costs of Bikes/E-Bikes
- Decreased capacity.
- Slower in sparse delivery areas.
- Potentially greater labor costs (fewer packages per day per employee).
- Potential for more minor maintenance issues, flat tires & etc.
- Hard work.
- Sub-Optimal weather.
Some kind of a hub delivery system would make a lot of sense for bikes.
[MENTION=346408]tandempower[/MENTION]'s idea of a mobile hub sounds like a unique idea. It eliminates the cost of maintaining a fixed hub, and could move with the delivery vehicles, whether they are small vans, or bikes.
However, if I was doing the bike thing, I'd probably start at one of the major hubs/fulfillment centers.
Whew, Amazon has quite a few of them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...nd_warehousing
Although, looking at the two Portland centers, they are apparently on opposite ends of the city... not bad for van delivery, but pretty bad locations for bike delivery (too far from the city center).
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Other cities in Oregon would need some kind of truck service, and likely the truck would have to drop and run, hitting a half dozen cities. Say the I-5 Corridor, Portland to Salem/Albany/Corvallis/Eugene/Roseburg/Grants Pass/Medford (and a few smaller cities/towns).
Actually, I wonder how many packages a small town of say 10,000 would get a day. It might make a unique part-time job for a truck to drop in the AM, then a bike to do in-city deliveries of say 100 packages. Then do a couple of close-in rural deliveries, and dump the rest of the rural deliveries to the post office. Have a backup system for Christmas and major holiday deliveries.