Amazon Considering Paying ‘Ordinary People’ to Deliver Its Packages: Report

Amazon is developing a mobile application that would pay ordinary people, rather than courier companies, to deliver packages en route to other destinations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.Amazon would enlist brick-and-mortar retailers in urban areas to store the packages, likely renting space from them or paying a per-package fee, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company’s timing for the service, known internally as “On My Way”, could not be learned, the Journal reported.

The service could give Amazon more control over the shopping experience and help limit shipping costs, the report added.

Shipping costs at the Seattle-based e-commerce giant rose 31 percent in 2014, outpacing sales growth of 19.5 percent.

Amazon could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the meanwhile, Amazon on Tuesday said that states and local communities should not be allowed to regulate unmanned aerial systems (UAS) authorised by federal aviation regulators, seeking to bolster its efforts to deliver products via drone.

“Uniform federal rules must apply,” Paul Misener, the e-commerce retailer’s Vice President for Global Public Policy, said in written testimony released by a US House of Representatives oversight committee ahead of a Wednesday hearing.

“Given the interstate nature of UAS operations, states and localities must not be allowed to regulate UAS that the FAA has authorized, including with respect to airspace, altitude, purpose of operations, performance and operator qualifications.”

Misener is scheduled to appear Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of a witness panel that also includes a senior Federal Aviation Administration official and a privacy advocate.