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Business Journals
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Journals
The last-mile entrepreneur: How a Bay Area business owner turned Amazon deliveries into success
In August 2020, a customer came into Ronald Dubon's mechanic shop and asked him to repair an Amazon delivery truck. After completing the job, the customer mentioned that he had many more trucks needing service if Dubon could handle them. 'My eyes went big,' Dubon remembers. 'I thought I was coming up on an Amazon contract to fix vehicles.' But soon, Dubon discovered a different opportunity. The customer explained that Amazon doesn't operate the ubiquitous vans that take packages from its warehouses and deliver them to customers' homes. Instead, it contracts with more than 4,400 independent logistics companies to handle last-mile delivery. Dubon, who owned a delivery company of his own, was intrigued. He completed an online application for Amazon's Delivery Service Partner program the next day. He moved quickly through Amazon's interview process and, by October, was taking delivery of a fleet of 20 vehicles to launch his business. 'My life changed in that moment,' he said. expand Inside Amazon's DSP program Turning his Inner City Logistics business into an Amazon DSP was relatively simple, Dubon said. Amazon negotiates with vendors that supply most of the equipment DSPs need to purchase for their businesses, such as Amazon-branded vans, uniforms and handheld devices. The company also offers access to various optional business services, such as insurance, accounting and payroll software. Amazon's commitment to its DSPs is growing, too. In September 2024, the company announced it plans to incrementally invest more than $2.1 billion in the DSP program. It plans to spend the money on safety programs, rate cards, training, value-added services, incentives and other areas to support the businesses that handle its last-mile deliveries. 'I was awarded contracts with other logistics companies in the past, but it was like, 'Do you want a contract? Do you have a truck? OK, bring the truck and start running loads the next day,' Dubon said. 'The vetting process with Amazon is just a different world. When I started seeing all of these things and the level of the structure, I knew I was onto something that was going to be the future.' Today, Inner City Logistics ranks among Amazon's top-performing DSPs. Dubon's team of more than 100 employees operates 38 Amazon routes across San Francisco, Milpitas, San Jose and Fremont, scaling to as many as 100 routes during peak periods. Discovering the recipe for business success Amazon's training, structure and support to its DSPs has benefitted Dubon's other entrepreneurial efforts, including L'Roco Grill, a Salvadoran restaurant in San Jose. Dubon's wife, Lady Ruiz, runs the restaurant and handles backend responsibilities for Inner City Logistics. 'I used to operate businesses with a fear that came from not knowing if what we were doing was right or wrong because we didn't have that guidance,' he said. 'We learned a lot about how to run a good business. It's been a big change.' Amazon's training also underscored the importance of intentionally building your company culture to serve two types of customers: external customers who purchase goods and services and internal customers who work for your business, Dubon said. 'That concept alone makes a huge difference on how you walk into your building and how you treat people,' he said. 'Not only the people who come in to spend money at your business but also your employees because, ultimately, they are your clients. You need to make them both happy.' Elevating entrepreneurship Dubon's passion for entrepreneurship and professional development extends beyond his businesses. He's helped one employee go on to open his own DSP business, and two more are on their way to doing the same. Dubon has become a champion for Road to Ownership, an accelerated training program Amazon offers to help high-performing DSP employees become DSP owners. The 16-week program includes classroom-style training and mentorship by a successful DSP owner. People who graduate from Road to Ownership receive a $30,000 grant to help them launch their businesses. 'I pride myself on developing the best people and taking them up to the next level,' Dubon said. 'We've done that in the restaurant business, too, my wife and I. This is what I love doing.' The first person Dubon mentored through the Road to Ownership program was Jose Mejia, who started working for Inner City Logistics as a helper supporting the company's drivers. He moved up through the company quickly, serving as a driver, then a trainer, dispatcher and operations manager. 'This is probably the guy with the best work ethic that I've ever met,' Dubon said. 'He is an extremely amazing guy, and I thought he deserved an opportunity for something even better.' Mejia has continued his professional growth. He received a Rising Star award from Amazon for having the best DSP launch in 2023. Today, he has close to 100 employees in the Sacramento region. It is a success story Dubon said he hopes to help repeat by supporting more entrepreneurs. 'I have a motto in my company,' Dubon said. 'I want you to come to my company as a driver, but if you leave, I want you to leave as a business owner.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Amazon facility coming to Davenport
Amazon is expanding in Davenport with a new facility. Growing customer demand led to a second facility in Davenport, a 114,000 square-foot last-mile delivery station near the current Amazon Robotics Fulfillment Center at 2022 Research Parkway. This type of facility typically creates over 100 direct and indirect job opportunities, including driving opportunities through the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) and Amazon Flex programs as the company serves thousands of customers in Scott County and beyond. Construction just started on the facility, which is expected to be completed in late 2025. Employees in Amazon's U.S. customer fulfillment and transportation earn an average of over $22 per hour.'The City is happy to see Amazon grow its footprint in Davenport's Eastern Iowa Industrial Center,' said Davenport Mayor Mike Matson. 'We're grateful Amazon chose to do business here, and we're proud of the Davenport community for supporting this expansion.' This new last-mile facility will be the final stage of Amazon's fulfillment process and ensure fast, everyday delivery to customers' doorsteps. The facility will bring even faster delivery for customers throughout the region, including neighboring rural communities. 'Opening our second Davenport site in three years and our sixth in the past two years across Iowa is a testament to expanding the great communities we serve and the new jobs we're bringing across the region,' said Jason Vangalis, Amazon economic development manager. 'Davenport's strategic Midwest location with direct access to major highways and talented workforce also played a key role in this area's expansion.' 'We are thrilled that Amazon has chosen to expand at their current campus in Davenport,' said Peter Tokar III, Quad Cities President & CEO. 'The expansion will bring new jobs as Amazon continues to serve the Quad Cities area and beyond.' Amazon's Robotics Fulfillment Center, also in Davenport, opened in October 2023 and employs about 2,000 people. The facility features the latest generation of Amazon robotics, including over 5,000 robots helping move products through the 2.3 million-square-foot building while fulfilling about 130,000 customer orders daily. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Epoch Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Amazon Announces $4 Billion Rural Delivery Network, Estimates 100,000 New Jobs
Amazon will invest $4 billion by 2026 to expand its network in rural America for delivering packages faster in densely populated areas, the company said in an April 30 'This investment will also grow our rural delivery network's footprint to over 200 delivery stations, and we estimate it will create over 100,000 new jobs and driving opportunities through a wide range of full-time, part-time, and flexible positions in our buildings and on the roads,' the company said. 'Once this expansion is complete, our network will be able to deliver over a billion more packages each year to customers living in over 13,000 zip codes spanning 1,200,000 square miles—an area the size of Alaska, California, and Texas combined.' The effort focuses on small towns in the United States. Amazon plans on expanding at a time when many logistics providers 'have backed away from investing in rural customers and communities.' Amazon estimates that by the end of next year, its rural delivery network will triple in size, with average delivery times being cut in half. For each new facility opened as part of expansion, an estimated 170 new jobs on average shall be created at the delivery station level, Amazon said, adding that other job opportunities would be extra, such as those created via the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) and Amazon Flex programs. Related Stories 4/29/2025 4/29/2025 DSP is a program in which small businesses set up delivery services to transport Amazon goods. Flex is aimed at individuals who want to make some extra money delivering Amazon packages using their own vehicles. The flex program has been caught up in legal conflicts involving driver contracts. In June last year, lawyers representing thousands of Amazon Flex drivers announced they 'As Amazon exerts considerable control over the Flex drivers in their deliveries and the deliveries are part of Amazon's usual business, the drivers qualify as Amazon employees, not independent contractors, and should be paid accordingly,' Joseph Sellers, partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and attorney for the drivers, said at the time. In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, an Amazon spokesperson said the Flex program enables individuals to make 'competitive pay' while setting their own schedules and being their own boss. 'We hear from most of the Amazon Flex delivery partners that they love the flexibility of the program, and we're proud of the work they do on behalf of customers every day,' the spokesperson said. In its April 30 statement, Amazon said it is the leading job creator in the United States, having created more than 500,000 jobs over the past five years. The company cited a UPS Delivery Cut, Tariff Rumor Amazon's decision to expand rural delivery comes as the United Parcel Service (UPS) recently said it was aiming to cut half of its Amazon business by the second half of the year. During a Jan. 30 earnings call, UPS CEO Carol Tome 'Our contract with Amazon came up this year, and so we said it's time to step back for a moment and reassess our relationship because if we take no action, it will likely result in diminishing returns,' she said. In an April 29 conference call with Wall Street analysts, Tome 'This volume is not a healthy fit for our network. The Amazon volume we plan to keep is profitable and is a healthy volume,' she said, adding that Amazon currently makes up 11.7 percent of UPS revenue. Meanwhile, Amazon recently The report had triggered comments from the White House, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying on April 29 that such a move would amount to a 'hostile and political act.' 'Why didn't Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?' she said. Amazon denied that it would be carrying out the plan, saying it never considered displaying tariff information on its website. 'The team that runs our ultra-low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen,' Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times. Katabella Roberts and Andrew Moran contributed to the report.
