Amazon has FULLY LAUNCHED its independent shipping service. But it's not in the US. Where then?

It's in the UK.

Readers will know that I wrote several months back, when Amazon shuttered its US shipping service pilot, I predicted it would not be going away. Amazon was retrenching to perhaps go after a more lucrative or more accessible market.

Now that's happened. Amazon will pick up any parcel from your location 7 days a week in the UK. Their messaging make sense. We have the highest standards. We're a retailer and knows what it means to serve customers.

Get your popcorn ready for this one. Amazon doesn't come to play.

Why the UK? Jon Derkits weighed in swiftly on that one: “Geography, population density, and income levels in the UK make it an attractive market to Amazon to launch and iterate on this service. It’s no coincidence that it was also in the UK that Amazon first started testing drone delivery.” Piggybacking on that, David McCrary added that he “used to have this conversation everyday when merchants were confused why shipping to the UK was cheaper than shipping to Canada. Yes, Canada is closer, but it is very low density.”

Chiming in from the UK, Dan Wilson writes (exclaims?): “7. Days. A. Week. That's the disruptive bit in the UK. You can drop off in store on a Saturday with Hermes, etc. but it won't get moving until Monday. Royal Mail/Post Office doesn't do Sundays. Early word on the wire is non-Amazon merchants like this a lot.”

Aaron Evans added he’d seen evidence that Amazon is already looking to expand the service to Germany. Jim Ayyad added that “All other couriers will need to step up their game post haste.” History tells us if they haven't already, they won't be in time.