Currently, Amazon dominates the retail sector on all days but one. That would be Sunday, the one day off our various postal services get. Amazon, however, is unsatisfied, and wants to ensure that postal workers go seven days a week. But hey, we’ll get our stuff faster.
The idea comes courtesy of the retailer and the United States Postal Service. Let’s face it, for the USPS, this idea is kind of a gimme. But it’s not coming for everybody just yet: It’s only in New York and LA for now, although it’ll expand next year. And it’s not for everything on the site, either:
Eligible items will list Sunday as a delivery option at checkout. The delivery option will be free to Prime customers who choose the two-day shipping option. Customers who do not have a $79-per-year Prime subscription will be able to use Sunday delivery as well, but they will pay standard shipping costs for business day delivery.
The biggest winner out of this is actually not the consumer or Amazon, but the Post Office, which has been struggling to stay relevant since email took off. They deliver less and less and most of what they deliver is stuff you don’t want — in 2010 alone, for example the Post Office delivered 160 billion pieces of junk mail.
Being able to deliver Sundays, something Amazon is apparently happy to pay to enable, won’t be a lot of fun for postal workers, but it might keep the post office around. And hey, if they make it a nationwide deal, we probably ship enough stuff to our homes to make up that $6 billion deficit you hear so much about.