Amazon India today announced delivery services of essential items to residents in containment zones in Mumbai, in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Following successful pilots over the last few weeks, the company has scaled up the initiative to deliver essentials in many containment zones in the city. This initiative will support residents in these zones who face restrictions in movement. Amazon will deliver these orders to a designated delivery point in the vicinity of the containment zone, from where volunteers will further deliver the packages to the customer’s doorstep.
“We want to help keep India safe and we firmly believe that Amazon has a unique role to play in providing a critical service for customers to get the goods they need for their families without leaving their homes. Our collaboration with BMC is intended to support those in the containment zones to access essential items conveniently and safely."
“We want to help keep India safe and we firmly believe that Amazon has a unique role to play in providing a critical service for customers to get the goods they need for their families without leaving their homes. Our collaboration with BMC is intended to support those in the containment zones to access essential items conveniently and safely. We are humbled with the feedback we have received from customers during the pilots, specially on the ease with which they could receive items that were essential for their daily needs, and we thank the BMC for the opportunity to serve the people of Mumbai”, said Prakash Rochlani, Director, Last Mile Operations, Amazon India.
The designated interim delivery points will operate in co-ordination with POC at the Society and designated BMC containment zone officer. The customers would need to add the essential items they need to their cart, and then select their delivery location based on the containment zone they reside in. They would be notified of the delivery status of their packages through SMS, email and app updates just like the usual Amazon orders update. These would then be handed over to the volunteers, who would pick up packages from the common delivery point and place them at the doorstep of customers. All of this is done while adhering to the social distancing norms and via a no-contact delivery model for the safety of customers, volunteers and the Amazon delivery associates.
We are pleased to know of Amazon's initiative and commitment to enable the people of Mumbai to stay home and stay safe.
“Citizens who reside in containment zones are restricted from stepping out of the containment zones in order to contain the spread of COVID-19. Various E-commerce companies have prioritized deliveries to containment areas at society gates. We are pleased to know of Amazon's initiative and commitment to enable the people of Mumbai to stay home and stay safe” said Ms Jayshree Bhoj, Addl. Commissioner from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Amazon India has also expanded the special delivery program for containment zones in other cities such as New Delhi and Hyderabad, and will continue to work with local authories and residents across the country to scale this program further.
Amazon has taken extreme measures to keep people safe, tripling down on deep cleaning, temperature checks, changing processes to ensure those in its buildings are keeping safe distances, to name just a few. All delivery associates are always advised to take necessary precautions like regularly washing their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, using sanitizers at a regular interval, cleaning vehicles regularly and are required to wear a mask covering their nose and mouth at all times among other safety measures.