Amazon to ask small businesses to deliver packages

Amazon is targeting Boston with a new delivery service that aims to enlist the help of coffee shops and corner stores in getting packages to your door. The e-commerce giant will soon begin recruiting 2,500 small businesses in 23 states, including Massachusetts, to take part in the program dubbed Amazon Hub Delivery. Participating stores — everything from florists to gas stations — will receive an average of 30 packages a day with instructions to deliver “to customers in your area when you have time during the day.” No prior delivery experience is required. Businesses will be paid for each package they deliver in weekly direct deposits, up to $27,000 annually. If the average stands, that amounts to $2.50 per package. (The announcement was first reported by Axios on Monday.) Stores in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, and Washington will also be part of the pilot program. The pilot launches on the heels of a difficult time in delivery. After a massive push to build out smaller, more nimble warehouses that focused on so-called last mile delivery during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon is grappling with a dearth of delivery and warehouse workers amid an enduring labor shortage and tussling with unions who are trying to organize its distribution network. Last August, it announced plans to close five warehouses in Massachusetts in an effort to compensate for overgrowth during the COVID-19 pandemic. — DITI KOHLI