Amazon Spain: the logistics collapse nobody saw coming
Fake deliveries, SEUR as dead weight and 900 layoffs: Amazon's logistics in Spain are in a tailspin. Real cases that expose the breakdown.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The decline of Amazon deliveries: from the myth of reliability to the chaos of SEUR
A customer receives an email from Correos (the Spanish postal service) announcing that their parcel has been delivered, but the courier company claims it could not be delivered because the recipient was out. The problem: the customer was home all day and nobody rang the doorbell. This is not an isolated case. In less than a week, the same user racks up two incidents: an incomplete shipment from Poland (they offered him an 8€ discount on a 50€ order, which he refused) and a pair of barefoot shoes officially shown as delivered to a pickup point he never chose.
Massive outsourcing and loss of control
Amazon has outsourced a growing share of its logistics to companies like SEUR, known for its terrible fruta. The problem is that the customer cannot know in advance which carrier will handle their order: sometimes it arrives with Amazon's own fleet, other times with SEUR or Correos. The difference is huge. While Amazon's own drivers are usually professionals who keep to their schedules, the subcontractors pile up complaints over fake deliveries, non-existent attempts and non-existent customer service. In December, Amazon laid off 900 office employees in Spain. Something smells like a badly managed restructuring.
System overload: too many parcels, too few drivers
Some point to a saturation point: order volumes have grown so much that the delivery infrastructure, based on cheap, poorly paid labour, can no longer cope. Drivers change every week, don't know the routes and don't care about the service. The result: parcels that never arrive, customers losing hours filing complaints, and trust that is crumbling.
What's left of Amazon's promise?
Amazon built its empire on the promise of fast, reliable deliveries. If even that doesn't work, what sets the platform apart from any other Chinese online store? Convenience comes at a price, but when the service fails, customers start wondering whether it's worth it. For now, the answer is an awkward silence.
Related discussions in the forum
A customer receives an email from Correos (the Spanish postal service) announcing that their parcel has been delivered, but the courier company claims it could not be delivered because the recipient was out. The problem: the customer was home all day and nobody rang the doorbell. This is not an isolated case. In less than a week, the same user racks up two incidents: an incomplete shipment from Poland (they offered him an 8€ discount on a 50€ order, which he refused) and a pair of barefoot shoes officially shown as delivered to a pickup point he never chose.
Massive outsourcing and loss of control
Amazon has outsourced a growing share of its logistics to companies like SEUR, known for its terrible fruta. The problem is that the customer cannot know in advance which carrier will handle their order: sometimes it arrives with Amazon's own fleet, other times with SEUR or Correos. The difference is huge. While Amazon's own drivers are usually professionals who keep to their schedules, the subcontractors pile up complaints over fake deliveries, non-existent attempts and non-existent customer service. In December, Amazon laid off 900 office employees in Spain. Something smells like a badly managed restructuring.
System overload: too many parcels, too few drivers
Some point to a saturation point: order volumes have grown so much that the delivery infrastructure, based on cheap, poorly paid labour, can no longer cope. Drivers change every week, don't know the routes and don't care about the service. The result: parcels that never arrive, customers losing hours filing complaints, and trust that is crumbling.
What's left of Amazon's promise?
Amazon built its empire on the promise of fast, reliable deliveries. If even that doesn't work, what sets the platform apart from any other Chinese online store? Convenience comes at a price, but when the service fails, customers start wondering whether it's worth it. For now, the answer is an awkward silence.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (49 replies).
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