Amazon to invest over $440 million to increase third-party delivery program driver compensation.

According to Dolphin Research APP, Amazon (AMZN.US) announced on Tuesday that it will invest over $440 million in the next year to increase the wages of its contracted delivery drivers.

With this investment, Amazon expects the average hourly income of contract delivery drivers in the United States to reach $20.50 or more.

It is understood that Amazon aims to achieve faster and more efficient package delivery through its "Delivery Service Partners (DSP)" program, which utilizes external operators. The DSP program was launched in 2018 and has created approximately 279,000 delivery driver positions, helping Amazon deliver 20 million packages daily in 19 countries.

The company stated that many DSP partners already pay their drivers more than $20.50 per hour, and this investment will help them provide better wages and benefits to their drivers.

Beryl Tomay, Vice President of Last Mile Delivery and Technology at Amazon, stated that the money will be directly allocated to DSPs, who can "freely set their own wages and incentive mechanisms," but Amazon will set a minimum wage standard through contracts signed with these companies.