Amazon is forbidding third-party sellers from using FedEx ground delivery for certain Prime delivery shipping this holiday season because it operates too slowly.
The company told sellers about the ban in a Sunday night message, obtained by Bloomberg. The notification came less than two weeks before Christmas, pushing some sellers to alternatives like the U.S. Parcel Service’s ground service.
“It’s insane for them to do this on such short notice,” Molson Hart, whose company Viahart sells toys on Amazon, told Bloomberg. “Unless we raise prices, we’re going to lose money on every order we are forced to route away from FedEx.”
FedEx said in a statement to The Hill that, “While this decision affects a very small number of shippers, it limits the options for those small businesses on some of the highest demand shipping days in history, and may compromise their ability to meet customer demands and manage their businesses.”
An Amazon spokesman tells The Hill that the temporary restriction only applies to seller-fulfilled Prime purchases, and that FedEx ground is still available for standard deliveries.
Experts told Bloomberg that FedEx is handing off some of its work to U.S. Postal Service.
More than half of Amazon’s vendors are from third parties. Delivery companies are overwhelmed this season in particular because there are six less holiday shopping days, according to Bloomberg.