The following was sent to www.21cpw.com for informational purposes.  It is from an APWU MVS member (verified) who wishes to remain anonymous:

This situation with the new Amazon Fresh is really beginning to mushroom. Postal management is bending over backwards for these people, to the extent that they have ordered a whole fleet of new 2 ton trucks with A/C, just for the Amazon Fresh. They have taken over 3/4 of our loading dock, and management is more interested in Amazon than they are about the service.

Trying to combine 2 operations out of the same AO is a pain in the butt. They have over 25 CCA’s, working 3 shifts, delivering from 2am, till 10pm. They get 2 shipments from the Amazon contractor, and they come in rolling containers, with ice on top. They also bring extra dry ice. The totes are insulated, and ice/ dry ice is put inside. They deliver everything from cases of water, meats, fruits, gourmet food, etc. There are times when I cannot access the dock.

I am a TTO, and my route is from Irvine, to the P&DC. The CCA’s are working up to 7 days, and 10 hours per day. The Fresh is a 7-day operation. The current delivery area is from Huntington Beach, all the way down to San Clemente, with some exclusive gated neighborhoods. They have had numerous issues with security gates, as some of them have guards which do not come on until 6 am. Amazon doesn’t want the customer disturbed, nor do they want the order to come back.

They used up most of the CCA’s that were being used to carry mail, so now they’ve been interviewing, and hiring more CCA’s. What ever happened to the cap? Then, to top this off, we have some lead clerks working 12 hours to assist this operation, taking them away from distribution.

“These Amazon Fresh containers are empty. Since they go to different cities, when they are empty, they are left for the carriers to return to their office, transport it to the P&DC, then cross dock it back to Irvine.”

From what I see, and hear, Amazon wants to expand this service, and will probably add more stations in the coming months. This just started this past Tuesday, and they are averaging over 650 orders. In my opinion, Amazon is helping the USPS move towards the part time workforce, by using all these CCA’s. This is a bigger threat than Staples. The reality of the Amazon deal is – the USPS is only making a few dollars on each package, yet they receive Carte Blanche service. We are bending over backwards for them. The cost of membership to Amazon Fresh is 299.00 annually, with a minimum order of 35.00. They do their own processing, transport it by third party, directly to the stations, so that it never enters mail processing, or our transportation networks. We do the final scan, then delivery.