Amazon Flex driver Ricardo Escalona works to deliver his same-day orders during Cyber Monday from an Amazon fulfillment center in Tampa, Florida, on November 27, 2023.
Octavio Jones | News Getty Images | Getty Images
Amazon is shutting down a service that offered same-day delivery from malls and retailers, according to CNBC.
The company has stopped any new development of the service, called Amazon Today, and will begin to finish it, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The people asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Most of the program will close by Dec. 2, the people said. Select retail partners will be able to continue to fulfill orders with Amazon Today until January 24, 2025, Amazon told CNBC.
A small number of employees will be laid off and laid off, while others will be transferred to other positions within Amazon, the company said.
Employees working at Amazon Today learned the news at a meeting Monday, where some employees were told they would be laid off, the people said. About 300 employees worked at Amazon Today, the people said.
Amazon Today’s shutdown is the latest example of the company’s broader cost-cutting efforts.
Starting in 2022, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is on a company-wide cost-cutting campaign to respond to rapidly changing macroeconomic conditions. Starting in 2022 and extending through 2024, Amazon has begun the largest layoffs in its history, cutting more than 27,000 jobs. Jassy has taken a harder line on the company’s unproven, more expensive bets than his predecessor, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Jassy has completed several projects including a telehealth service, a video calling device for children and a roving treasure truck.
Launching in 2022, Amazon Today allows retailers who sell on Amazon to offer fast delivery from their stores and malls in select cities. Amazon’s Flex contract drivers, who make deliveries using their own vehicles, pick up packages and drop them off at customers’ doors within hours of the order being placed.
Amazon Today was part of the company’s push to get online shopping to shoppers’ doorsteps faster. Amazon continues to add more facilities that focus on same-day deliveries in an effort to boost sales and compete with other companies that provide ultra-fast delivery. That includes Instacart and DoorDash, which have expanded beyond food and groceries into retail.
The company had signed up several retailers to Amazon Today, according to the program’s website. That list included Office Depot. Staples; Petco; PacSun? vitamin and dietary supplement chain GNC; and Fabletics, the sportswear brand owned by actress Kate Hudson.
Amazon is working with retailers that have signed up for the service to ensure a smooth transition for them, the company said. Amazon added that it continues to prioritize and invest in fast delivery.
The decision to close Amazon Today comes as a surprise as Amazon was in the process of integrating other retailers, one of the people said. The company also did the service to more retailers at a conference last week.
The service was more expensive than traditional delivery routes where Flex drivers can fill their cars with packages from an Amazon warehouse, one of the people said. Amazon Today’s routes, which the company calls “retail deliveries,” typically didn’t fill the driver’s trunk, making the program less useful for Flex contractors.