How Amazon ships to places that lack street address and reliable mail service, such as West Africa

The NYTimes has a fascinating article about a cottage industry in so-called "last-mile" service to such places. The customer doesn't have their items shipped to their personal address; rather, they have them shipped to a designated intermediary, informally called a G.P. (read the article for the explanation of the term). Here's how it works:

Amazon ships goods to Senegal and 128 other countries, where it assumes the risk and responsibility for deliveries, much as it does in the United States, according to the company.

But the shipping companies that Amazon uses cannot always provide doorstep delivery. The retail giant is making strides. In the Himalayas, for example, it has teamed up with small businesses to deliver directly to customers’ doors.

Still, many people in West Africa choose the underground network, simply because they prefer to use someone they know.

Marietou Seck’s house, like many in the Senegalese capital, has no street number. So Ms. Seck, 34, a sustainability consultant who orders things online for her two small children has cultivated a stable of G.P.s.

She has one to turn to in every region she orders toys from, like Canada, and France, where she shops online for educational French-language games.

At checkout, she types in the addresses the couriers provide in their home countries. When they land in Dakar, they call her cellphone and arrange to meet so that she can collect her purchases.

“You don’t give your stuff to any G.P.,” Ms. Seck said, adding that she asked for references and checked online reviews. “They will say, ‘O.K., she is good,’ or ‘She comes late’. If it’s a tardiness issue, that’s O.K. But a trust issue? I won’t use her.”

Alioune Sine’s sister has been delivering American goods to Senegalese clients for two decades. Mr. Sine, 44, a filmmaker who helps with his sister’s business, said that they had gotten busier with the rise of e-commerce and recruit friends and cousins to help transport more suitcases. [...]

Many Senegalese people do not have credit cards, so some couriers like Mr. Sine will buy products for their customers, and accept cash on delivery as repayment. Most of his sister’s clients are friends or distant family members.

“Everybody has to trust each other,” he said. “That is how we do business.”