Amazon Purges Three Last-Mile Vendors This Week

Three owner-operators have lost delivery contracts with Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN this week, resulting in anticipated layoffs for hundreds of drivers.

On Friday, Delivery Force notified the state of Washington that it planned to permanently release 272 workers in King and Snohomish counties beginning April 16. The company, based in Kent, Washington, used a fleet of vans to provide last-mile parcel delivery to Amazon Prime customers.

An Amazon official, speaking on background, confirmed that the company had cut ties with Delivery Force.

Earlier this week, Kansas-based RCX Logistics said it planned to lay off more than 600 drivers in Texas, Alabama and Florida in April.

And Bear Down Logistics, based outside Chicago, notified Ohio and Virginia authorities that it is shutting down operations in those states in mid-April. A company official said a total of seven stations were being closed.

Amazon  says it regularly evaluates vendors for meeting performance and other standards.

Amazon launched its Delivery Service Partner program in 2018, creating new capacity beyond FedEx and UPS to handle its own shipments with one-day delivery commitments. There are hundreds of companies in the program handling the so-called last mile to the consumer. The program has saved Amazon money compared to outsourced transportation and pulled business from the U.S. Postal Service.