Amazon Cuts Ties With 1,200 Delivery Drivers

More than 1,200 Amazon (AMZN) delivery drivers from seven firms have been cut under Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program, CNBC reported.

The DSP program is a contract offering from Amazon that partners with small delivery companies across the world for delivery services of consumer orders from the e-commerce giant. The DSP program was started in 2018, giving Amazon the ability to ramp up its shipping capabilities as demand increases, while competing with UPS and FedEx on delivery services.

Under the DSP program, Amazon-branded vans are used to deliver packages from Amazon delivery locations to consumer homes. The startup cost for DSP is reportedly about $10,000.

Amazon ended the contracts with the delivery firms, with Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications indicating that 1,205 drivers were laid off, and some of the delivery companies’ facilities have been closed.

The cuts affected the delivery companies of Courier Distribution Systems, Systemize Logistics, TL Transportation, Prime EFS, JST Transportation, Deliverol Global, and Sheffield Express, CNBC said. Previously, Amazon reportedly cut ties with Transportation Brokerage Specialist, Bear Down Logistics, Express Parcel Service, and Delivery Force, causing at least 2,000 layoffs.

“We have ended relationships with some partners and Amazon is working closely with all impacted drivers to ensure they find opportunities to deliver Amazon packages with other local Delivery Service Partners with little to no disruption to pay,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC.

To date, there are over 1,300 DSPs located in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Spain, and Germany that have added 85,000 jobs and delivered more than 1.8 billion packages to consumers worldwide, Amazon said in a blog post earlier in August.

Shares of Amazon were trading at $3,204.76 as of 12:26 p.m. ET, up $42.52 or 1.34%.