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Comment by opaque_salmon | Hacker News Reader

What kind of infrastructure does it take to be able to offer this kind of service in the chosen metropolitan areas? Do they have warehouses and delivery trucks located nearby that are ready to go at a moment's notice?

In any case, this is super cool of Amazon, they are really stepping up their game.

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I think this is basically the case. Here in indianapolis there is a local Amazon warehouse and I got notification that this service is now available. I think they've been working on this for a while w/ various strategies.

For example: I order diapers via Subscribe-and-Save. Sometimes the diapers come in the standard amazon boxes from UPS/Fedex/USPS. Sometimes a guy in an unmarked pick-up truck filled with diaper boxes drops off the diapers(with an amazon shipping label adhered directly to the pampers box).

How does the subscribe-and-save work as your child grows and goes up diaper sizes?

You just cancel the subscription and start a new one on the larger size.

You don't have to cancel the subscription, they have an option for many items to just change the size.

Could be. I haven't done it in a while. Diapers are weird though, some kinds only go up to size 2, then you have to switch to a different kind and its not really just changing sizes.

They've been building out warehouses for a long time.

In the UK they have multiple local depots just to cover London alone, and their own delivery company (Amazon Logistics) as well as new deals both with a newspaper/magazine delivery business that will deliver packages to your local newsagent for pickup (~12h hour delivery times) as well as the Post Office.

Going to see those delivery times keep coming down.

In the UK they're facing increasing competition on delivery times from companies like Argos - a large retailer that operates a catalogue plus online coupled with retail presences that are basically warehouses with pickup desks. Argos bought a courier delivery company a while back, and now offers 2 hour delivery as a (relatively expensive) option for online purchases in many locations...

In NYC they bought a huge property in a super busy area (Herald Square) next to the Macys building. I believe there were reports that stated it wasn't a warehouse, but people have seen Amazon carriers go in and out of it.

They've been doing Amazon Now / Amazon Fresh in the metropolitan areas for a while. They can accomplish the 1 day delivery basically by piggy backing off these services.

It's a warehouse. Place a Prime Now order for Manhattan delivery and they show you where it's originating, and it's the Herald Square building. (on 34th across from the ESB.)

Yeah, I just recall reading an article where Amazon was denying it was a warehouse.

If you're interested, read "The Everything Store". I just finished it, and it talks all about this.

It's not as written as well as other books, but it's definitely factual and based off of new information (interviews with Amazon employees).

Thanks for the recommendation chubot, I always appreciate being able to see/read behind the scenes. Sometimes logistics can end up being more interesting than the end result.

It doesn't really have to be ready at a moment's notice. The time available is relatively short, but not absurdly so. The deal is order by noon, get it by 9PM, so that's (at least) nine hours to get it to you. Certainly the warehouse has to be close, but aside from that they should be able to follow the traditional model of packing orders as they go, sorting them into trucks after the cutoff time, generating routes, and having each truck deliver a full day's load in one trip.

Indeed, that is exactly how it works here on the SF Peninsula. It's an ordinary OnTrac delivery, just shifted about 12 hours from their usual time.

> Do they have warehouses and delivery trucks located nearby that are ready to go at a moment's notice?

Likely this. I noticed when I got my last Amazon Fresh purchase that there was a number of regular Amazon boxes along with the groceries, so at least in Fresh markets they piggyback off that.

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