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Amazon purges three last-mile vendors this week

Eric Kulisch
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(Image: Delivery Force)

Three owner-operators have lost delivery contracts with Amazon.com this week, resulting in anticipated layoffs for hundreds of drivers.

On Friday, Delivery Force notified the state of Washington that it planned to permanently release 272 workers in King and Snohomish counties beginning April 16. The company, based in Kent, Washington, used a fleet of vans to provide last-mile parcel delivery to Amazon Prime customers.

An Amazon official, speaking on background, confirmed that the company had cut ties with Delivery Force.

Earlier this week, Kansas-based RCX Logistics said it planned to lay off more than 600 drivers in Texas, Alabama and Florida in April.


And Bear Down Logistics, based outside Chicago, notified Ohio and Virginia authorities that it is shutting down operations in those states in mid-April. A company official said a total of seven stations were being closed.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)  says it regularly evaluates vendors for meeting performance and other standards.

Amazon launched its Delivery Service Partner program in 2018, creating new capacity beyond FedEx and UPS to handle its own shipments with one-day delivery commitments. There are hundreds of companies in the program handling the so-called last mile to the consumer. The program has saved Amazon money compared to outsourced transportation and pulled business from the U.S. Postal Service.


Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He won Environmental Journalist of the Year from the Seahorse Freight Association in 2014 and was the group's 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. In December 2022, Eric was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist by the Seahorse Freight Association. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. He has appeared on Marketplace, ABC News and National Public Radio to talk about logistics issues in the news. Eric is based in Vancouver, Washington. He can be reached for comments and tips at ekulisch@freightwaves.com