Going my way?

Via the information superhighway, Amazon wants to make it worth your while to be a courier;

“On My Way” emerged as Amazon considered an on-demand taxi service called Rides, which would be similar to Uber or Lyft Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. Amazon has since put the Rides project on hold, the people said.

But learned something, as entrepreneurs are wont to do;

Crowdsourced delivery could offer Amazon an escape valve for the shipping woes it suffered around the 2013 holiday season, when it had to compensate customers after some packages failed to arrive by Christmas. Last year, Amazon’s shipping costs jumped by $2.07 billion to $8.7 billion, or 9.8% of sales, compared with 8.9% the year prior.

Taking a cue from UPS, which; 

has a service in New York and Chicago using dry cleaners, convenience stores and other small retailers as pickup points so that customers don’t have to be home to sign for them. UPS pays the retailers a per-package fee for the service.

Amazon itself has a network within 7-11 stores where customers can pick up packages in lockers. Amazon pays for the space and the convenience stores get additiional foot traffic.