{"id":31564,"date":"2022-10-17T01:36:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T01:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=31564"},"modified":"2022-10-20T20:47:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T20:47:54","slug":"how-many-amazon-packages-get-delivered-each-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/how-many-amazon-packages-get-delivered-each-year\/","title":{"rendered":"How many Amazon packages get delivered each\u00a0year?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anne Goodchild<\/a>, University of Washington<\/a><\/em> and Rishi Verma<\/a>, University of Washington<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Curious Kids<\/a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How many Amazon packages get delivered each year? \u2013 Aya K., age 9, Illinois<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s incredibly convenient to buy something online, right from your computer or phone. Whether it\u2019s a high-end telescope or a resupply of toothpaste, the goods appear right at your doorstep. This kind of shopping is called \u201ce-commerce\u201d and it\u2019s becoming more popular each year. In the U.S., it has grown from a mere 7% of retail purchases in 2012 to 19.6% of retail and US$791.7 billion in sales in 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazon\u2019s growing reach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Amazon, the biggest player in e-commerce, this means delivering lots of packages. In 2021 the company shipped an estimated<\/a> 7.7 billion packages globally, based on its nearly $470 billion in sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If each of these packages were a 1-foot square box and they were stacked on top of one another, the pile would be six times higher than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Laid end to end, they would wrap around the Earth 62 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the early 2010s, most things bought from Amazon.com were shipped using a third-party carrier like FedEx<\/a> or UPS<\/a>. In 2014, however, Amazon began delivering packages itself with a service called \u201cFulfilled by Amazon.\u201d That\u2019s when those signature blue delivery vans<\/a> started appearing on local streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Amazon\u2019s logistics arm has grown from relying entirely on other carriers to shipping 22% of all packages<\/a> in the U.S. in 2021. This is greater than FedEx\u2019s 19% market share and within striking distance of UPS\u2019s 24%. Amazon\u2019s multichannel fulfillment service<\/a> allows other websites to use its warehousing and shipping services. So your order from Etsy or eBay could also be packed and shipped by Amazon. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3K2RaQ63w28?wmode=transparent&start=0 Amazon came to dominate online shopping by offering free two-day shipping to Amazon Prime members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The supply chain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To handle that many packages, shipping companies need an extensive network of manufacturers, vehicles and warehouses that can coordinate together. This is called the supply chain<\/a>. If you\u2019ve ever used a tracking number to follow a package, you\u2019ve seen it in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who make decisions about where to send vehicles and how to route packages are constantly trying to keep costs down while still getting packages to customers on time. The supply chain can do this very effectively, but it also has downsides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More delivery vehicles on the road produce more greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change<\/a>, along with pollutants like nitrogen oxides and particulate matter that are hazardous to breathe<\/a>. Traffic congestion<\/a> is also a major concern in cities as delivery drivers try to find parking on busy streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban freight solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Are there ways to balance the increasing number of deliveries while making freight safe, sustainable and fast? At the University of Washington\u2019s Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center<\/a>, we work with companies like Amazon and UPS and others in the shipping, transportation and real estate sectors to answer questions like this. Here are some solutions for what we and our colleagues call the \u201clast mile\u201d \u2013 the last leg of a package\u2019s long journey to your doorstep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Electrification: Transitioning from gasoline and diesel vehicles to fleets of electric or other zero-emission vehicles reduces pollution from delivery trucks. Tax credits and local policies, such as creating so-called green loading zones<\/a> and zero-emission zones for clean vehicles, create incentives for companies to make the switch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Common carrier lockers: Buildings can install lockers<\/a> at central locations, such as busy transit stops, so that drivers can drop off packages without going all the way to your doorstep. When you\u2019re ready to pick up your items, you just stop by at a time that\u2019s convenient for you. This reduces both delivery truck mileage and the risk of packages being stolen off of porches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Cargo bicycles: Companies can take the delivery truck out of the equation and use electric cargo bicycles<\/a> to drop off smaller packages. In addition to being zero-emission, cargo bicycles are relatively inexpensive and easy to park, and they provide a healthier alternative for delivery workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about supply chains and delivery logistics, check with your town or city\u2019s transportation department to see if they are testing or already have goods delivery programs or policies, like those in New York<\/a> and Seattle<\/a>. And the next time you order something for delivery, consider your options for receiving it, such as walking or biking to a package locker or pickup point, or consolidating your items into a single delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Package delivery can be both convenient and sustainable if companies keep evolving their supply chains, and everyone thinks about how they want delivery to work in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com<\/a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And since curiosity has no age limit \u2013 adults, let us know what you\u2019re wondering, too. We won\u2019t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne Goodchild<\/a>, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director, Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center, University of Washington<\/a><\/em> and Rishi Verma<\/a>, PhD Student in Industrial Engineering and Research Assistant, Urban Freight Lab, University of Washington<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anne Goodchild, University of Washington and Rishi Verma, University of Washington Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. How many Amazon packages get delivered each year? \u2013 Aya K., age 9, Illinois It\u2019s incredibly convenient to buy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":31565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,1862],"tags":[1874,650,139,12763,1542,2717,5618,5809,4337,3069,4205,161,5661],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31564"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31595,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31564\/revisions\/31595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}