While there was more conjecture than proof behind Amazon’s apparent decision to exclude a Boston neighborhood from its same-day delivery service, the issue appears to be off the table now.
NPR reported that Amazon has agreed to extend same-day delivery to Roxbury, a predominantly black neighborhood of Boston that was previously excluded from the coverage area that already included many other communities in the the vicinity of Roxbury. The move drew laudatory tweets from Boston’s mayor, and while some commentators wondered why Roxbury specifically was excluded from same-day delivery service when it first launched in Boston, Craig Berman, vice president of global communications, explained that Amazon chooses coverage based on the likelihood of Prime shoppers who would participate in the program.
“Demographics play no role in it,” Berman said. “Zero.”
“We are always looking to expand the benefits our Prime members receive and that’s exactly what we are doing,” Amazon spokesman Scott Stanzel said in a longer statement. “We are actively working with our local carrier to enable service to the Roxbury neighborhood in the coming weeks. Once completed, Prime members in every zip code in Boston, including the Roxbury neighborhood, will receive Prime Free Same-Day Delivery, in addition to existing Free Two-Day and One-Day shipping options.”
The change comes as a result of a Bloomberg report published on the process by which Amazon selects its same-day service coverage areas. Amazon originally defended the rationale for excluding Roxbury, a neighborhood so centrally located to many other Boston communities that same-day deliveries often passed through it on their routes. Though that was referred to as an “anomaly” before the change, the about face may prompt changes to service areas in the future as well.
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