Amazon is testing a new 24/7 delivery service that breaks the day into 10 distinct windows of time spanning 24 hours, according to documents viewed by Business Insider. Historically, the company’s delivery hours have run from 6am to 10pm.
The new system divides the day into overlapping windows, each roughly three hours long, with internal codenames like “Sunrise,” “Coffee,” and “Nightowl.” Maybe they should call the late-night shift “Careful.”
3am somewhere… “Who’s that coming up our driveway? Get the shotgun! Oh wait, it’s just Amazon…”
Jokes aside, this seems like an extremely dangerous value proposition for drivers and a disturbing behavior for customers. I personally do not want any delivery vehicles approaching my home during late night or early morning hours, and I can’t imagine that I’m alone in feeling that way.
While I don’t see the 24/7 delivery being a fit for certain neighborhoods, I could see it working well for dense urban areas and apartment complexes where packages are often delivered to front desks or lockers.
The initiative began as a pilot program with plans to potentially expand across Amazon’s entire logistics network later this year, according to the documents. As part of the test, Amazon has explored charging extra fees for the faster delivery, separate from the 1-hour and 3-hour delivery options that were made public last week. Amazon expects the model to generate roughly $260M in operating profit by 2027 if fully rolled out by September 2026.
Amazon is also testing a program that allows shoppers to receive Prime shipping on external merchant websites without logging into an Amazon account. The initiative, codenamed “Confidential Product” in seller invitations, is being piloted by a small group of merchants who use Amazon MCF to fulfill items sold on their websites.
Historically, Buy with Prime — the program Amazon launched in 2022 that allows Amazon merchants to sell their products directly from their own websites, while still offering Prime shipping benefits — required customers to login to their Amazon account from the merchant’s website, which was a key point of friction for some sellers. Now, Amazon can validate and sync Prime user accounts in the background so that the checkout experience remains completely branded to the merchant.
Amazon wrote:
“Confidential Product enables your DTC customers who are Prime members to receive fast, free Prime shipping directly on your website — without needing to sign into Amazon Prime. This pilot program works seamlessly with your existing checkout flow and all payment methods while maintaining your control over customer data and branding.”
I assume the account validation is based on e-mail address or mailing address, but the Business Insider article didn’t specify. If I were a merchant invited to participate in this trial, I’d be cautious about what customer information I was sending to Amazon in order to verify their Prime eligibility, and what Amazon is permitted to do with that information. Am I ultimately sending Amazon details about every customer that shops with me in order to validate the Prime members? I’d have concerns that would need to be addressed prior to participation.
