According to Bloomberg, Amazon Flex drivers have been tasked with transferring merchandise from local malls to Amazon buyers. At least three cities in the United States are claimed to be participating in this experiment: Chandler, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Tysons Corner, Virginia.
Users of Amazon may never learn that the items they ordered were delivered from a local mall. According to Bloomberg, Amazon merely offers items that are available for same-day delivery, and when someone places an order, an Amazon Flex vehicle picks it up from a partner merchant.
Amazon becomes the intermediary in almost every part of the purchase experience as a result of this arrangement. The items are advertised on its internet marketplace, users purchase them, and drivers deliver them; the physical storefronts are effectively fulfillment centers.
But it's possible that this is a better outcome than many of those shops would have otherwise. Mall vacancies have been mounting for years, and the epidemic hasn't been kind to these old hubs of American business, as The New York Times reported in August 2021.
"This is just another way we are able to connect Amazon merchants with customers via easy delivery alternatives," a spokeswoman told Bloomberg. They also indicated that only a "handful" of the company's partners are taking part in the tests, but they wouldn't say much more.