> you can't (and shouldn't) force all delivery people to work outside normal working hours

Ever been to a restaurant or bar in the evening or on a weekend? Ever taken a bus/train/flight in the evening or on a weekend? Congratulations, you have "forced" people to provide services to you "outside normal working hours".

It's completely normal and absolutely acceptable for infrastructure to be provided at "odd" hours. Obviously, all those people must be paid extra for work outside "normal" hours. Personally, I would gladly pay more for a delivery I am more likely to actually receive.

>Obviously, all those people must be paid extra for work outside "normal" hours

Amazon isn't likely to pay employees anything extra for working outside of "normal" hours, though.

There are laws about that. I would guess those laws are the reason that other delivery firms don't offer evening delivery, but I don't know if Amazon might try and get away with it.

Yes I go to restaurants, and I pay a hefty extra for the service compared to the same products bought in a supermarket. Instead, when I buy online, I almost always get (and search for) free delivery.

> when I buy online, I almost always get (and search for) free delivery

Me too, but that's mainly because the more expensive options are worse, in my experience. For example, "free" delivery by mail into my actual mailbox vs. "premium" delivery with a parcel service forcing me to be at home an entire day on which they might come by. I would pay extra for a premium service if it were actually better.

(Agreed with your LOL at the downvoters.)

No, you don't. You only pay the servers, what about the kitchen staff?

LOL at the downvoters.

Agreed, why not let me choose though.

I think their comment meant that you'd be choosing not just for you, but you would also be making that choice for the employees that had to deliver your stuff. The employees would still need to cover a diverse area and thus they'd need nearly the same number of employees to cover after-hours delivery.

Though, maybe there is some sort of potential market there. Get your stuff shipped to a drop location and they will deliver it to you at your convenience.

or even better - let everyone involved choose.

by everyone I mean the employer (which is also the product/service provider), the employees and the customers.

if none of the employees will be willing to get $x for working at evening/night, then an increase in salary for those hours might solve the issue .

how much to increase will depend upon supply and demand.

if none of the customers want a night delivery then there's no need for that anyway, and the employer won't even bother trying to find a solution.

if only a small amount of customers want a night delivery - then the employer might setup a solution where you need to pay 1.5x of the regular price in order for it to be profitable enough for the employer and the employees.

if most customers want a night delivery - then the employer will need to make large adjustments in order to fulfill its customers' needs, or some other competitor will fill the gap.

With a higher "overtime" price? Would be ok by me.

But by buying from Amazon you force IT staff to wait on pager-duty, and warehouse staff to works nights, and lorry drivers and pilots to work in the wee small hours. And many more I've overlooked.

So why do the last-mile delivery drivers get a break?

Because they have unions to protect them.

You can absolutely force them. But you shouldn't.