Amazon offers employees help in starting package delivery firms

Amazon announced Monday that it will pay its employees to quit their jobs to start delivering the online retail giant’s packages.

Amazon said it would reimburse up to $10,000 in startup costs for employees who leave their jobs to start delivery firms as a way to deliver its abundance of packages faster, according to The Associated Press.

{mosads}The offer, which includes Amazon paying employees three months’ worth of their salary, is reportedly open to most part-time and full-time workers, including current warehouse workers.

The move comes as Amazon looks to cut delivery times for Prime members in half, from two days to one, the news service noted.

The new incentive for employees is part of a broader program launched last year that allows people to launch an independent Amazon delivery operation as the Seattle-based company looks to cut down its reliance on other delivery options such as UPS and the U.S. Postal Service, according to the AP.

Those who choose to take part in that program are able to lease blue Amazon vans from the company to be used for deliveries.

Since the program’s inception in June, more than 200 Amazon delivery businesses have started, John Felton, Amazon’s vice president of global delivery services, told the AP.