Amazon orders 20,000 vans for new delivery programme

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E-tail juggernaut Amazon has again shown off its war chest, placing an order for 20,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans. The Seattle Times reports the purchase is geared towards last-mile delivery, with the company set to offer training and discounts on van leasing to get drivers in the vehicles. And this isn’t all that has brought Amazon into the headlines: it recently received two patents, the first of which is for an airborne fulfilment centre – which looks like a zeppelin – and the second, granted last Tuesday, is for a rechargeable drone, the trick being that it does this in flight, using a wind turbine.