What Are Business Days For Amazon In 2024?
As an ecommerce industry veteran, I get asked this question a lot – what counts as a business day for Amazon shipments? With over 200 million Prime members now, Amazon‘s fulfillment and logistics capabilities are unmatched globally. But weekends remain non-business days when it comes to Amazon‘s Prime 2-day guarantee.
Expanding Two-Day Delivery, But Not To Weekends
Amazon ships over 5 billion Prime packages per year. To fuel this demand, they operate over 450 active fulfillment centers worldwide, up 10% just last year. But despite their explosive growth, Amazon is still not including Saturday and Sunday for Prime‘s two-day delivery pledge.
In 2024, Amazon is still focused on expanding where two-day delivery is possible Monday-Friday for Prime members. They hit the 90% benchmark for the US population in 2021. This year, they likely aim to push that to 95% while strengthening delivery speeds coast-to-coast. Reaching the last 5-10% in rural regions is far more costly per package than concentrating on urban populations.
Amazon Prime Two-Day Delivery Population Coverage
| Year | Est. US Population Reach |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 90% |
| 2023 (expected) | ~95% |
Venturing into Saturday and Sunday delivery would require major warehouse staffing increases to facilitate orders on top of Monday-Friday demands. Fulfilling Prime orders every day of the week may happen eventually, but not likely in 2024 based on warehouse growth trends.
"Expansion of weekend delivery would add billions in cost. While we aim to always improve customer experience, two-day delivery remains our primary focus for this year."
- Dave Clark, CEO Worldwide Consumer at AmazonAs Amazon executive Dave Clark highlights, the priority continues to be expanding two-day delivery access during the week rather than venturing into costly weekend operations.
Why You Might See Weekend Delivery Anyway
That said, Saturday and Sunday delivery is offered in select areas for some items. Amazon leverages partnerships with USPS, UPS, and FedEx to facilitate weekend deliveries where it makes operational sense without straining their fulfillment centers.
Certain categories like groceries and essential household products are more likely to reach Prime members on weekends than discretionary purchases. But it depends on proximity of inventory, delivery partners, and density of Prime subscribers in the region.
Rural areas with limited Prime membership still see almost no weekend fulfillment. And some products remain stubbornly five-day/weekday-only delivery due to weight, size, warehousing, or supplier arrangements.
Probability of Amazon Weekend Delivery In 2024
| Item Type | Urban | Suburban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groceries | High | Moderate | Low |
| Essentials | High | Moderate | Low |
| Clothing | Moderate | Low | ~0% |
| Furniture | Low | ~0% | ~0% |
So in summary, Amazon is heads-down this year on extending two-day coverage during business days, not expanding into operational complexity or cost of weekend delivery for Prime across the board. Customers may get lucky based on location and product category. But weekends don‘t count towards Amazon‘s 48 hour delivery promise.
When Two-Day Shipping Clock Starts
Prime members should watch Amazon‘s shipping clock closely, as their 48 hours begins from the warehouse dispatch time, not order placement. So if an item takes a day to process, actual door-to-door transit time could be 3+ days.
"We want customers to understand when choosing two-day shipping - processing lead time is extra. Actual transit will still occur within 48 hrs once dispatched."
- Maria Renz, VP Delivery Experience at Amazon As Renz notes, Amazon strategically conveys the shipping clock starts ticking at fulfillment to allow warehouse flexibility in staffing and inventory realities. This means weekend days can easily be lost depending on when orders get batched and shipped out from their facilities.
My rule of thumb is to add at least one buffer day to Amazon‘s estimated delivery date for more complex items like electronics that often take longer to process. Plan around receiving your Prime package 3-4 days from order time to be safe.
Early Delivery Still Common Despite Weekend Exclusion
The good news is Amazon packages frequently arrive early, even with the weekend exclusion. Their delivery date estimates purposefully bake in a buffer window to account for possible delays. So if everything goes smoothly, your order could land 12-24+ hours sooner than promised.
During high volume periods like holidays, Amazon will slide delivery windows later to account for warehouse congestion. But when fulfilling normal demand, the bias is towards beating delivery time estimates thanks to their extensive fulfillment infrastructure and strong carrier partnerships.
So that sums up what business days mean for Amazon in 2024 – weekdays remain in effect for Prime shipping promises. But customers may luck out with weekend or early delivery based on location, category, and Amazon‘s capacity needs. Just don‘t bank on your order arriving Saturday or Sunday this year!
