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Comment by stevenrace | Hacker News Reader

As I followed Amazon's buildout over the years, I couldn't help but wonder why FedEx is either overlooked in (or overlooking) this market.

I worked in one of these facilites many years ago, asked, and got mostly shrugs.

Their 'Global Distribution Centers' offer 24/7, 365 fulfillment, and exclusive 'last minute' access to shipping hubs.

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I expect that it has to do with the fact that building a shipping infrastructure takes a lot of time to ramp up. Amazon has a sweetheart deal with FedEx and if FedEx thinks that Amazon is going to try to replace them, FedEx can make it very expensive for Amazon during the transition.

This is why Amazon Grocery is so important - it lets Amazon build out a shipping infrastructure in a way that seems uncompetitive to UPS/FedEx

FedEx does not have the technical culture to compete with Amazon. Flat out. Most people in Memphis know someone who works there or worked there and it's a hot mess on the inside. They succeed, and have for many years, but I tend to think of them as one of the whales that gelled technical "Ahab" teams that understand the value of the hacker culture will take down one by one over the next 20-40 years.

Technical debt, poisonous power structures, aging entrenched workforces, layoffs, and shifting economic conditions will force places like FedEx to innovate and I've got my money on them not being able to compete in the next economy. It's a case study I've thought a lot about and I really can't wait to find out if I'm wrong.

I was also curious about this, I assumed the competition between UPS and Fedex was fierce enough to keep them both fairly innovative, but it sounds like Amazon is finding room for improvement...

FedEx is about business documents mostly, as far as I know.

Not to mention, they're a middle man. Amazon gains a lot by cutting out the middle man.

FedEd is not the kind of establishment that likes to shake things up.

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