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Revolt of the Delivery Workers

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Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#171

Post by ThePadawan »

lizknope wrote: post #152
ThePadawan wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can then pick them up after work and the line is never more than 1 or 2 people. That's the part that really surprises me. In my experience picking up missed packages from the post office, they're completely empty 90% of the day, but after work, the line is out to the street! And given that my transaction (present a pick-up slip - wait for employee to find package in the back - sign for package) is mostly trivial,…

I was specifically talking about picking up packages at FedEx and UPS retail store locations not the USPS (United States Postal Service) The USPS usually has a line of 5-10 people and takes me 30 minutes but I go there about twice a year. FedEx and UPS are quick for me.

Oh wow, I totally missed that you were talking about forwarding packages across deliverers. That's wild, but makes sense!

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#172

Post by downrightmike »

downrightmike wrote: post #158
tazjin wrote: post #51

It's always strange to read these reports from American cities that sound like something out of war-torn countries. Delivery workers grouping together to defend themselves against hordes of bandits, in well-known places, with no police protection? What the ...? This sort of thing would be unthinkable in central Moscow and most other large European city centres (the only European city I've ever felt unsafe in is Bruss…

Not war-torn, more like lawless wastelands. Cops don't really stop crime, the get their ticket quota and then if they have to follow up on other crime, they may show up and take a report.

Just first hand experience, y'all don't like it, well, I don't like it either.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#173

Post by josephorjoe »

nerdponx wrote: post #121
tazjin wrote: post #51

It's always strange to read these reports from American cities that sound like something out of war-torn countries. Delivery workers grouping together to defend themselves against hordes of bandits, in well-known places, with no police protection? What the ...? This sort of thing would be unthinkable in central Moscow and most other large European city centres (the only European city I've ever felt unsafe in is Bruss…

The victims themselves here are more or less part of the downtrodden caste. Some of them might not be living in the USA with legal authorization. They probably don't feel like the city is interested in protecting them, and it seems like in some cases they are already familiar with "protecting themselves" in organized groups. So with a lack of political interest in their case, banding together makes perfect sense.

Robbery of delivery workers has long been a problem in the city complicated by the fact that many of them don't trust/don't feel safe going to the police.

My first time on jury duty in nyc the case was armed robbery of a delivery worker to steal his cell phone - this was pre smart phone era, so let's say the phone's value was Was a very depressing case tbh. One person at risk of death and another at risk of a long prison term for what was really petty theft (armed robbery makes the punishment much much worse than just petty theft would be).

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#174

Post by drdeadringer »

amelius wrote: post #101
clydethefrog wrote: post #4

Paraphrasing an observation I heard in a podcast some weeks ago: We were promised little robot butlers in the scifi we read as kids, but what we got was human servants that act like robots.

Step 1: Let humans work like robots. Step 2: Develop AI to automate the work using data generated in step 1. Step 3: Convince investors that your AI is close to finished. Use the money to actually build a working version. Step 4: Fire all the humans.

Reminds me of a joke:

There is a factory at the edge of town which employs one human and one dog. The human's job is to feed the dog. The dog's job is to keep the human away from the machines.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#175

Post by nerdponx »

josephorjoe wrote: post #173
nerdponx wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The victims themselves here are more or less part of the downtrodden caste. Some of them might not be living in the USA with legal authorization. They probably don't feel like the city is interested in protecting them, and it seems like in some cases they are already familiar with "protecting themselves" in organized groups. So with a lack of political interest in their case, banding together makes perfect sense.

Robbery of delivery workers has long been a problem in the city complicated by the fact that many of them don't trust/don't feel safe going to the police. My first time on jury duty in nyc the case was armed robbery of a delivery worker to steal his cell phone - this was pre smart phone era, so let's say the phone's value was Was a very depressing case tbh. One person at risk of death and another at risk of a long pr…

Indeed. Maybe the part that's most depressing to me is that the long prison sentence clearly isn't enough of a disincentive against robbing another working-class person. How fucked up and bleak would your world have to be in order to do such a thing?

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#176

Post by the_snooze »

jollybean wrote: post #108
chank wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem they're trying to solve is that since so many people receive packages these days those '5 large lockable mailboxes' aren't enough anymore and packages end up getting left out in the open. Also lots of places don't have those large lockable mailboxes at all. Then package theft happens. So not so much innovation in the mailbox space than just adding more "lockable mailboxes" for people to use as needed.

You're missing the point, which is that there are simple solutions to these problems, usually systematic in nature, and 'The Silicon Valley' hasn't helped one iota in helping in this area. They can have 10 lockers if needed. If they don't have in-wall boxes then put a physical container with a few doors. They can use the key scheme as described below. They can leave the package at the Grocery Store across the street,…

Silicon Valley is solving the problem of not having enough Silicon Valley middlemen in your everyday life.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#177

Post by aerosmile »

twic wrote: post #161
aerosmile wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoiler alert: the murder rate in Russia is 40% higher than in the US, and that's despite the very different gun laws [1][2]. Nothing ruins a good story like facts. That's also why you should always raise before you launch or enter a new market, etc. People are suckers for a story, and our brains are pre-wired to explain phenomena rather than to question them. Once you master that psychology (and manipulation) of peo…

Could you expand on what this has to do with tazjin's point, which is specifically about delivery workers being attacked by robbers, and the police doing nothing about it, in specific cities?

He started off with "It's always strange to read these reports from American cities..."

It's strange because it's exaggerated, and it's exaggerated because it has to be - otherwise nobody would care to read the article (and then nobody would pay for this poor reporter's salary who has to hit certain monthly pageview targets, etc).

If you read something in the news and it sounds really strange, don't take it at face value.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#178

Post by nerdponx »

tazjin wrote: post #128
nerdponx wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The victims themselves here are more or less part of the downtrodden caste. Some of them might not be living in the USA with legal authorization. They probably don't feel like the city is interested in protecting them, and it seems like in some cases they are already familiar with "protecting themselves" in organized groups. So with a lack of political interest in their case, banding together makes perfect sense.

There's no way it's this simple. Looking at a map of NYC, it seems that this must be a fairly major bridge (southernmost connection from the Bronx to Manhattan) for all kinds of traffic. I'd expect plenty of average people not involved in delivery gangs (??) to cross there, too, and have issues with the roving bandits. If this is a known crime hotspot, shouldn't police just be hanging out there?

Relatively few "regular" people walk across that bridge. It's mostly car traffic. And it connects two areas that have been historically "rough".

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#179

Post by the_snooze »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #40

> The company has been sued multiple times for worker misclassification, tip theft, and other infractions. It settled three times, avoiding a ruling that could torpedo its business model, and another case is currently in arbitration. We gotta find some way to stop companies from repeatedly settling the same claims to avoid a ruling against them. The system is set up so they can pay to sweep individual cases under the…

>avoiding a ruling that could torpedo its business model, and another case is currently in arbitration.

The real innovation is in skirting labor laws and shifting risks/costs to workers.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#180

Post by nerdponx »

jollybean wrote: post #132
rmah wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because Montreal is generally safer than NYC Crime in Montreal is actually quite a bit higher than in NYC. In 2019, with data from Statistics Canada (for Montreal) and the FBI (for NYC)... Montreal's violent crime rate (1140 per 100k people) is double that of NYC (571 per 100k people). The property crime rate in Montreal (2,222 per 100k people) is similarly higher than NYC (1,460 per 100k people). Sources: https://ww…

International comparisons for crimes with vague definitions are hard, and I don't think those numbers are effectively comparable. Have a look [1]. 'Murder' is a straight forward thing to define. Someone gets killed. But 'assault' is a very vague thing. According to that list 'Iceland' is a crime ridden country with overall crime 4x more than the US, even though murder in the US is more than 10x greater? More like rep…

Maybe things like "felony manslaughter" also complicate classification.
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