Staples Uses Existing Commercial Delivery Fleet To Make Same-Day Online Deliveries

Image courtesy of eflon

Same-day delivery for online orders is a hot trend in retail, and Staples is hopping on the delivery van to compete. The office supplies retailer has a unique advantage, though: they don’t need to team up with a ride-hailing service or hire independent contractors to make deliveries. They already have a fleet of delivery drivrs and vehicles.

You may not have come in contact with these drivers before, but they exist to make deliveries to the company’s corporate supply customers. Those customers were the reason why Staples wasn’t allowed to acquire Office Depot.

The Federal Trade Commission argued that the two companies are really the only two retailers able to provide what large corporate customers need in their office supply providers, and one of those important services is same-day delivery.

Instead, business and individual e-commerce customers can place orders online, and orders placed by 3 PM wil be delieverd the same day. The service will cost $14.99 per order.

“By offering a wholly-owned same-day delivery experience, Staples is providing businesses the type of customer service they’ve come to expect from us throughout their entire transaction,” the company’s executive VP for supply chain and logistics said in a statement.

That’s a nice shot at their competitors for consumer business, like Walmart, which has partnered with ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft to make same-day deliveries, and Amazon, which has hired independent contractors to make Prime Now deliveries in their personal vehicles.

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