I've got a suspicion that Amazon has been trialling/building this in the UK since their purchase of Yodel, perhaps earlier. A number of times some bloke in a car has turned up and delivered me a package. No uniform, no branding. Just a phone running Amazon software. I can't say it's the greatest experience.
In the US they have been using Laser Ship. The delivery driver is usually some dude in their personal car with a Lazer Ship magnent on the side. Not sure if this is similar but they don't look like UPS, FedEx or DHL drivers.
So I imagine the question every self employed person with a car will be asking themselves right now is this: will I make more money driving for Uber or driving for Amazon?
Uber will surely let you deliver packages soon. They already do lunch.
Great idea on Amazon's part; they're already set up to handle the logistics for this kind of last-mile delivery stuff. Of course, one could argue that moves like this and pushing us towards the gig economy are a net negative for our future economy. They seem to be compensating fairly (for now?) at least.
My theory is these jobs need to last only long enough for society to get it's head out of it's ass and introduce a universal basic income policy
I agree. It's truly scary how willingly people welcome a system that commoditizes the workforce literally nothing more than a number per hour. I mean, the absolute only thing standing in the way of everybody who signs up to work for Amazon Flex is a self driving car, same with Uber. I understand that supply for these jobs is pretty elastic, but if the workforce doesn't protect themselves, people who become dependent on companies with payment schemes like this will quickly find themselves hurt. A basic income would offer so much economic and social protection for a workforce for tasks like this.
I've got a suspicion that Amazon has been trialling/building this in the UK since their purchase of Yodel, perhaps earlier. A number of times some bloke in a car has turned up and delivered me a package. No uniform, no branding. Just a phone running Amazon software. I can't say it's the greatest experience.
I was thinking the same thing. I recently had something from Amazon delivered by a woman (same as you mentioned, no uniform or any indication she was with Amazon at all) who turned up with 2 young children who got out of the car and were running around in the car park outside my flat while she came in to deliver a package. I was confused at the time but this would definitely make sense.
I've got a suspicion that Amazon has been trialling/building this in the UK since their purchase of Yodel, perhaps earlier. A number of times some bloke in a car has turned up and delivered me a package. No uniform, no branding. Just a phone running Amazon software. I can't say it's the greatest experience.
Great idea on Amazon's part; they're already set up to handle the logistics for this kind of last-mile delivery stuff. Of course, one could argue that moves like this and pushing us towards the gig economy are a net negative for our future economy. They seem to be compensating fairly (for now?) at least.
My theory is these jobs need to last only long enough for society to get it's head out of it's ass and introduce a universal basic income policy
My theory is these jobs need to last only long enough for self-driving cars to get commoditized.
So I imagine the question every self employed person with a car will be asking themselves right now is this: will I make more money driving for Uber or driving for Amazon?
Somebody needs to work out how you drop of packages for Amazon while driving passengers around for Uber. Actually - not completely crazy - how willing would you be as a passenger to take a few detours to get a saving on your taxi bill?
How was the experience bad? I never see my UPS delivery guy so I can't imagine it matters one way or the other to me how my packages "magically" show up on my front porch.
We've had packages delivered by an individual similar to survelx, and the guy clearly smokes in his car as the package stinks of smoke and it even penetrates the items inside on occasion (clothing). Issue here is that he's not bound by company policy of smoking in a company vehicle, so he's free to smoke away.
It'd be valuable for you to complain to Amazon when that happens. They probably can't get feedback on a service like this except through complaints like that.
How was the experience bad? I never see my UPS delivery guy so I can't imagine it matters one way or the other to me how my packages "magically" show up on my front porch.
We've had packages delivered by an individual similar to survelx, and the guy clearly smokes in his car as the package stinks of smoke and it even penetrates the items inside on occasion (clothing). Issue here is that he's not bound by company policy of smoking in a company vehicle, so he's free to smoke away.