Tag: video

Amazon logistics

This video covers some, but not all, of the marvel that is Amazon package delivery. Recent innovations include having people on foot / bikes in dense cities to avoid vans getting stuck in traffic, and other things.

2021-03-09: I noticed a few recent improvements.

  • There are now tons of last km delivery people with karts and bicycles
  • They will actually bring the package to your door and ring, solving both the lobby storage and theft issues
  • They’ll take a picture of the delivery if you’re not around.
  • They have an up to the minute tracker on their site.

Can you imagine USPS doing any of these?


2021-11-24: Amazon is now running circles around everyone.

Knopfler says Amazon’s prices were “phenomenal,” $4000 to ship a container from China compared with the $12000 demanded by other freight forwarders. Amazon also simplifies the process since it oversees the shipment from China to its US warehouses. Other services have lots of intermediaries where cargo swaps hands, presenting opportunities for miscommunication and delays. “It’s a 1-stop-shop from Asia to Amazon. It reduces the gray areas where the shipping process might fail.”

2022-07-27: The first Rivian Amazon vans are shipping. The amount of customization is impressive. Logistics is all about little 2% savings here and there.

2022-12-14: Progress in warehouse automation.

The company’s workforce more than doubled during that period, to exceed 1.6m as of early this year. The vast majority of those employees were added in Amazon’s sprawling logistics operation, which delivers packages to e-commerce customers. Amazon has been struggling to manage the size and morale of that group of employees, some of whom have grown restless over the demands of their highly repetitive jobs. The company in October beat back an attempt to unionize a facility in New York state by a nascent labor group.
One of Amazon’s solutions to these issues is robots that could make the roles that many of these workers now occupy obsolete

Flying ambulances in NYC

Hatzolah Air, the air division of the volunteer emergency medical service organization pre-ordered 4 air ambulances from Urban Aeronautics. Renderings from press releases announcing the purchase show a futuristic-looking vehicle landing on crowded city streets to assist at the site of an accident.

“Its compact size will enable it to land in the middle of a busy city street, making it a perfect fit for medical evacuation missions by dramatically decreasing the time it takes to arrive on-scene, treat and transport sick or injured patients to appropriate medical facilities,”

while the flying car cosplay on display is a bit premature, there are prototypes, and they seem to at least be thinking about noise.

Fresh machinima

“Lang began as a joke, and in many ways, it still is – at its core, it is a parody of the ‘original series’ we all like to binge on Netflix or HBO. The idea was always that Herman Lang believes he is the star of one of these highbrow TV shows, and acts accordingly. Sadie King, the show’s true protagonist, keeps things grounded. In short, Lang is a comedy series about 2 private investigators, one that’s competent, and one named Lang.”

2021-08-13: The show is getting better every season, check out