All of the last-mile deliveries conducted from Amazon’s DHX5 warehouse in Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood are not driven by Amazon employees, but by employees of third-party Delivery Service Partners like Veterans Logistics.
“Everybody jumps in and helps,” said Veterans Logistics owner Daniel Panzarella, especially during busy times like Amazon’s recent Prime Day.
Panzarella manages 180 full-time employees as a Delivery Service Partner to Amazon, providing qualified drivers and directly leasing Amazon-branded electric trucks from a third party as his service to the e-commerce giant.
Only the Packages
“The only thing we get from Amazon is the packages,” Panzarella said.
Veterans Logistics owner Daniel Panzarella, left, stands with employees Andrea Barajas and Mulaina Williams, right, at Amazon's DHX5 warehouse.Veterans Logistics employees and other Delivery Service Partners stage their vans in the tightly coordinated loading dock at the Amazon facility at 3523 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago.
Many Moms
Workers inside the warehouse have already organized and lined up packages for delivery that are strategically loaded front to back inside the vans, then driven on specific routes for delivery.
Panzarella said many of his drivers are moms, and many work four-day weeks.
Local Workers
“Local workers predominate,” he said, noting that nearly all of his drivers live within a couple miles of the DHX5 warehouse. A significant number take public transportation to get to work, he said.
“My team is tremendous,” Panzarella said.
Career Pipeline
Panzarella said he’s proud of the “net positive for employees” he’s able to offer, including benefits, 401K matching and “a good job” from which “you can take care of a family.”
This has led to a career pipeline for some, Panzarella said, including his human resources manager, who started as a driver. Initiatives like Amazon’s Next Mile education funding program also support driver career advancement.
My Own Business
“Almost all [Delivery Service Partner] managers started as drivers,” Panzarella said, including himself.
“I always wanted to have my own business,” Panzarella said, and left a corporate job in 2018 to start delivering packages for Amazon in the early days of the Delivery Service Partner program.
Seven-Day Weeks
He found out his wife was pregnant right after leaving his corporate job, he said. “Now I gotta make this work” he told himself.
At first, Panzarella worked seven days a week, directly handling all aspects of delivery operations. “You learn everything,” he said.
Road to Ownership
Since he started, the Delivery Service Partner program has evolved significantly, Panzarella said, including enhanced contractor qualification processes, quarterly check-ins and driver services like weather monitoring and safety equipment.
Amazon programs like Road to Ownership also puts drivers on a path to become Delivery Service Partner company owners themselves, Panzarella said.
“For my life, it’s had a tremendous positive impact,” he said.
Log In to comment on this item.
Subscribe
Report
My comments