Today's Pickup: Elon And Jeff: The Best Of Enemies; India Advances National Logistics Policy

Good day,

Amazon.com Inc.'s AMZN Sept. 20 announcement that it had placed an order for 100,000 electric delivery vans from Michigan-based startup Rivian could be a shot at Tesla Inc TSLA Founder Elon Musk, writes Jeff Sonnenberg in Market Realist. To date, Rivian has raised $1.8 billion in private funding, a big deal for a company that hasn't deployed any vehicles that counts Tesla as a main rival, Sonnenberg said. The Musk-Bezos rivalry was heightened with the launch of their respective space ventures — Musk's SpaceX and Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Musk in an April 9 tweet called Bezos a copycat, Sonnenberg noted. The Amazon timetable is so ambitious that Tesla, given its backlog, might not have been able to fulfill the order even if it was given the chance, according to Sonnenberg. Amazon wants 10,000 vans by 2021 and the complete fleet by 2030.

Did you know?
Each year, 1.6 billion tons of food, valued at about $1.2 trillion, is lost or goes to waste, equal to one-third of the total amount of food produced globally, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Resources Institute. This accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the groups.

Quotable:
"When you're very numerical, you're very logical. I'm not very emotional and that's definitely one of my issues, especially in my relationships. People hate to hear statistics," Matt Pyatt, co-founder of freight broker Arrive Logistics, in an interview with Inc. Magazine.

In other news:

National logistics policy for India?

India's commerce ministry has sent a proposed national logistics policy, aimed at promoting seamless movement of goods and reducing high transaction costs, to the cabinet for approval, a senior official said Sept. 23. The cost of logistics in India is about 14% of GDP,  higher when compared to other countries. The goal is to reduce the ratio to 9% in the coming years. (News18)

Indonesian e-commerce firm Shipper raises $5 million, promises access to Amazon-level logistics

The company has raised $5 million in seed funding from Lightspeed Ventures, Floodgate Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partners and Y Combinator. It looks to capitalize on the archipelago's fast-growing but deeply fragmented e-commerce logistics segment. (TechCrunch)

Customized warehousing, logistics adds value to manufacturing

With advanced tech innovation, the logistics and manufacturing sectors have moved beyond the rudimentary transportation of trade goods in the supply chain. (Entrepreneur India)

Idiot's delight

An American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Minneapolis was forced to land in Denver last week after a passenger began smoking cigarettes, acting unruly toward passengers and yelling, "You're all screwed!" (CNN)

More sustainable European food storage

Lidl, Europe's largest food retailer, has introduced what it calls a new and efficient pallet pool contracting and management system: the e-Voucher. This system, provided by Paki Logistics, brings innovation to its logistics platforms, streamlining the processes at the docks and contributing to a more sustainable pallet management, the company said. (Fresh Plaza)

Final thoughts:

By the end of the week, we should reach the moment of truth on the direction of global postal rates for parcel and mail. Or will we? With the holidays approaching and inexpensive Chinese imports always in demand, the U.S., which said it's ready to exit the Universal Postal Union (UPU) by mid-October over long-standing price issues if the status quo doesn't change, may decide to kick the can beyond the holidays and not force the issue until later in 2020. Should the U.S., which handles about half the world's mail, leave the multilateral UPU in less than a month, it could throw the global postal system into chaos at the worst possible time. That's because the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) would not be able to do business with other posts that the U.S. doesn't have a bilateral agreement with.

Hammer down, everyone!

Image Sourced from Google