[Photo source : Wikimedia Commons]

Amazon is now in the process of acquiring 20,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans as a way to foster their new homegrown delivery initiative which aims to fund start-up entrepreneurs with small businesses to deliver packages.

Amazon is moving ahead and welcoming small businesses as part of its initiative, this is as reported by Business Insider. It was a plan that was first announced in late June, accompanied by an annual profit of $300,000 that will help willing entrepreneurs amass about 100 drivers needed to fill 40 delivery vehicles.

The vans will of course be emblazoned by the Amazon blue Prime logo.

The business model is the company’s big step out of doing business with other known package-delivery brands like UPS, FedEx, and the US Postal Service, and into the good graces of budding businesses. So far, the initiative is gaining traction as “tens of thousands” of applications flooded the program when it was released.

From these applications, Amazon will pick out a starting 500, said a representative to the Wall Street Journal.

Although the 20,000 seems big, and amassing 100 drivers is entirely up to the entrepreneurs that Amazon will invest in, it still pales in comparison to the number of delivery vehicles UPS and FedEx have combined.

Nonetheless, Amazon still aims to push through with the program, since their status with other third-party logistics companies allows them the bravery to entrust their money on smaller businesses.

The recent ballooning shipping costs is also one other reason they have decided to source delivery somewhere else, which would make the move rather prude. However, it does make sense as a starting point since Amazon is also thinking of developing a delivery network that is its very own, and this is a good time as any to explore that option.