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Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

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Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#11

Post by whatok »

blakesterz wrote: post #2

Wow, I guess I never really paid attention to the details behind all the Amazon headlines I see. "In April, Amazon announced it would reduce the amount it paid for drivers from $17.25 to $16.00 an hour, according to the letter...Weeks later, Amazon announced a series of raises for its drivers around the country as part of a public relations push following a union drive at an Amazon warehouse" "Currently, Amazon deliv…

Comparing packages to deliveries is apples to oranges. I don't disagree that these jobs are rough but 120 deliveries with an average of 3-4 packages per delivery paints a similar picture.

Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#12

Post by criddell »

> "We refused their demands and they followed through with their threat, terminating their contract with us, leaving their employees confused and looking for answers," she continued. "We’re doing everything we can to support the affected employees including connecting them with other Delivery Service Partners in the area who are hiring.”

I'd love for that PR person to drive the route one day and see if they can meet the quota. I can't help but to hear a lot of contempt in her statement.

Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#13

Post by chewmieser »

whoknowswhat11 wrote: post #10

HN really needs to look at these types of headlines - They are written without qualification. 0.001 of Amazon delivery companies shut down 2 out if 2000 delivery companies shut down. Are both probably more accurate.

It would just be nice to flag it as a misleading headline or something like that. This is from the guidelines:

  Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize.
We should use the original title but something like a misleading flair would be helpful.

Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#14

Post by zouhair »

rightbyte wrote: post #5
blakesterz wrote: post #2

Wow, I guess I never really paid attention to the details behind all the Amazon headlines I see. "In April, Amazon announced it would reduce the amount it paid for drivers from $17.25 to $16.00 an hour, according to the letter...Weeks later, Amazon announced a series of raises for its drivers around the country as part of a public relations push following a union drive at an Amazon warehouse" "Currently, Amazon deliv…

> 400 packages a day on 10-hour routes 40 packages per hour or 90s per package. No wonder the drivers pee in bottles and work unpaid overtime to keep their jobs.

And throw packages like they don't care, as they should.

Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#16

Post by claaams »

hourislate wrote: post #6

I've started to shop directly with some retailers instead of buying through AMZN (ex: Thorne) and I've also noticed that AMZN has become increasingly expensive for many items, sometimes double the price than can be found locally (ex: Allouse). Being a Prime member doesn't really offer me anything that I can't live without. Sometimes I can get next day delivery but usually the item takes longer than 2 days. Recently I…

I won't ever purchase anything from Amazon that is edible or goes on my body (cosmetics in particular) because of their counterfeit problem. I also try to buy from best buy or other competitors for electronics. Often the price difference might only be 1% or so.

I'm not sure the average person realizes how bad it's gotten and they have a lot of momentum.

Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#17

Post by nrmitchi »

whatok wrote: post #11
blakesterz wrote: post #2

Wow, I guess I never really paid attention to the details behind all the Amazon headlines I see. "In April, Amazon announced it would reduce the amount it paid for drivers from $17.25 to $16.00 an hour, according to the letter...Weeks later, Amazon announced a series of raises for its drivers around the country as part of a public relations push following a union drive at an Amazon warehouse" "Currently, Amazon deliv…

Comparing packages to deliveries is apples to oranges. I don't disagree that these jobs are rough but 120 deliveries with an average of 3-4 packages per delivery paints a similar picture.

> an average of 3-4 packages per delivery

Do you have any source for this? It seems like a really weird assumption to make, especially given that Amazon will already bundle multiple orders into the same package.

Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#18

Post by Workaccount2 »

redleggedfrog wrote: post #8

Vote with your dollars folks. I'm 5 years in to an Amazon boycott and hardly even notice really.

I just cancelled my prime this year after 15 years. I'm surprised this hasn't become a more visible trend. Amazon has no shortage of shitty practices, but it seems very few people actually care.

Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#19

Post by SQueeeeeL »

CobsterLock wrote: post #9
nonfamous wrote: post #3

> [contract delivery companies] have to adhere to a strict set of rules from Amazon around hiring, pay, delivery times and routes, and more. The only one of these that Amazon has any right to dictate is delivery times (and what they will pay for that delivery). The fact that Amazon has direct control over the contractor’s worker’s pay, and even the ability to fire those workers, is very shocking to me. Remember, this…

Are these the same drivers that wear Amazon vests, drive Amazon cars and can only deliver for Amazon? Seems like Amazon is doing some legal loophole with "3rd party" companies to get around actually employing these drivers and giving them the full time benefits they are entitled to by law I'm so tired of this dumb gig economy that isn't long term sustainable.

It's totally long term sustainable, lol. Did you forget the US literally had a game show host holding the highest political office like a year ago? It's essentially a failed state at this point.

Re: Two Portland delivery companies revolt against Amazon, shut down

#20

Post by dylan604 »

Robotbeat wrote: post #4
blakesterz wrote: post #2

Wow, I guess I never really paid attention to the details behind all the Amazon headlines I see. "In April, Amazon announced it would reduce the amount it paid for drivers from $17.25 to $16.00 an hour, according to the letter...Weeks later, Amazon announced a series of raises for its drivers around the country as part of a public relations push following a union drive at an Amazon warehouse" "Currently, Amazon deliv…

That’s on the order of 50¢ in wages per delivery. Drones & autonomous/semi-autonomous robots can’t compete against super low wage labor. That’s crazy cheap for a delivery driver! (Low wages hold back innovation and improvements in productivity.)

That's just the labor fees. The vans still need to be paid for and maintained, and they still run on fuel.
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