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Amazon Is Letting Prime Customers Group Orders to Save Boxes

The service, called Amazon Day, will enable U.S. Prime subscribers to select a specific day when all of their orders will arrive.

Amazon Is Letting Prime Customers Group Orders to Save Boxes
A truck pulling an Amazon Prime branded cargo container waits beside the entrance gate at Amazon.com Inc.’s new fulfillment center in Kolbaskowo, Poland. (Photographer: Bartek Sadowski/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. announced a new program that will let Prime members group together delivery orders to reduce the number of boxes shipped -- helping the company cut costs and burnish its green cred.

The service, called Amazon Day, will enable U.S. Prime subscribers to select a specific day when all of their orders will arrive, the company said in a statement Thursday. Members will still be able to use Prime’s other options, such as free two-day shipping.

“We’ve been testing this program with a group of Prime members and Amazon Day has already reduced packaging by tens of thousands of boxes,” said Maria Renz, who oversees Amazon’s delivery experience. That number is expected to grow now that the program is open to the rest of the U.S., she said in the statement.

Shipping is one of Amazon’s fastest-growing expenses and consistently outpaces online sales growth, meaning the company must find cheaper ways to deliver packages or risk further price hikes. The Seattle-based company has also said it’s aiming to make 50 percent of all shipments net zero carbon by 2030.

To contact the reporter on this story: Krista Gmelich in New York at kgmelich1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Robin Ajello, Molly Schuetz

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