At Warner Vans of Utah, we’re well aware of how useful and beneficial our custom and luxury sprinter vans are across several industries. From the space they provide to the comfort and driving quality offered by one of the world’s most well-known auto companies, sprinter vans are a great choice for many vehicle fleets and smaller companies alike.

As it turns out, we’re not the only ones who have noticed. Back in September, it was announced that Amazon would acquire 20,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans to use as part of a new delivery initiative, one aimed at helping small businesses with their deliveries while also helping Amazon shed their reliance on other delivery companies. Let’s look at some of the numbers involved here, plus how the initiative will benefit small business owners.

The Numbers

This overall program was announced back in June, when Amazon earmarked $300,000 in yearly profits that would go to entrepreneurs looking to start companies and hire as many as 100 drivers for fleets of up to 40 vans. The idea will be to spread these fleets throughout the country.

Early on, responses to this initiative have been fantastic. An Amazon representative recently said that they had received tens of thousands of applications in a short period of time, but will be forced to limit their acceptance to around 500 of these applications. The 20,000 vehicles they’ve ordered actually represents an increase from their original ask, which was not large enough to justify the response they’ve gotten.

Branding and Management

It’s important to note that Amazon themselves will not be owning or managing these 20,000 new vehicles. Rather, they will outsource this management to a fleet-vehicle company, which will lease the vans to various new clients. The Amazon Prime logo and other Amazon branding will be present on all these sprinter vans, though, increasing the legitimacy and brand appeal of these vehicles by associating them with one of the world’s most successful companies.

Supporting Small Business

A big part of this initiative for Amazon is to help it rely less on bigger delivery companies like UPS, FedEx and USPS. In turn, this kind of practice can help fund smaller businesses as well. These larger companies still have fleets ranging from 60,000 vehicles all the way up to nearly 120,000. By decreasing how much both Amazon and other companies have to rely on these services, and instead putting both the infrastructure and responsibility into the hands of more small businesses and their owners, Amazon is creating benefits in multiple areas here.

To learn more about how Amazon’s new initiative is helping raise the profile of sprinter vans, or to learn about any of our sprinter van parts or rental services, contact the pros at Warner Vans of Utah today.