SEATTLE — Children’s subscription box company KiwiCo’s decision to shift to Amazon Shipping as a logistics partner has led to quicker and more reliable last-mile delivery.
The company now uses the e-commerce giant’s third-party delivery service to send between 180,000 and 200,000 packages per month, VP of operations Rick Zumpano said at Amazon Accelerate 2025 earlier this month.
KiwiCo made the switch in May, seeking a shipping service that was cost effective and easy to integrate.
According to Zumpano, Amazon Shipping’s ground shipping cost on a per package basis was the most economical compared with other national parcel carriers. He also said that being able to integrate into Amazon’s infrastructure was a differentiating factor.
“It was that efficiency, that cost savings, that ability to plug into [their] network, the comfort level that we had knowing [Amazon] could reach all of those doorsteps, that was key for us,” he said.
During the onboarding process, KiwiCo worked with Amazon to understand the operation and what each company sought from the partnership, according to Zumpano. With most of KiwiCo’s shipments weighing under four pounds and measuring less than the size of a shoe box, the retailer’s “crates” were “very attractive freight from a parcel side.”
Given KiwiCo’s parcel specifications, Amazon employs “a drop and hook process” for shipments, per Zumpano.
“And every four hours, [they’re] bringing in a full trailer and [they’re] picking up the one we just spent the last four hours loading, and it's worked like clockwork for us since the first of May,” Zumpano said.
KiwiCo also is reaping benefits from Amazon Shipping's 24/7 operation, Zumpano said, noting that the company’s previous last-mile carrier didn’t operate on Sundays while offering Saturday deliveries that were “regional at best.”
The expanded scope of delivery days will allow KiwiCo to capture up to four additional sales days during the busy holiday shipping season, according to Zumpano.
“That's before any consideration we need to make to potentially subsidize expedited freight or whatever decisions we make,” he added.
With Amazon Shipping now handling nearly 100% of KiwiCo’s freight, the subscription company is completing deliveries a half day quicker while receiving fewer reports of damaged products.
“That's absolutely huge when you start to talk about those pieces — quicker transit time, reduced damage, let alone the pieces of cost, comfort and use of operations — all of those pieces together made the transition, made the decision a very easy one for us,” Zumpano said.
