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Amazon Flex

flex.amazon.com

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Re: Amazon Flex

#211

Post by devy »

shawnee_ wrote: post #118

Q: Where can I deliver with Amazon Flex? A: Amazon Flex is available now in Seattle. It will be available soon in New York, Baltimore, Miami, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Portland. Smart move by Amazon to refrain from making any Bay-area city one of its test markets. It's like Amazon is saying "we don't need to prove this will work in the bubble; let's base our test data set on realistic markets…

Bay area is Uber's home base. It is also where Uber will compete with a similar idea the first, I believe.

Re: Amazon Flex

#212

Post by mikeash »

enraged_camel wrote: post #208
mikeash wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'll probably get the idea if you start hitting them in the wallet. Any time the stuff you ordered smells of smoke, return it as having been damaged in transit (it's true!) and they should catch on pretty fast.

I don't think the package smelling like cigarette smoke qualifies as "damaged", sorry. I hang out at coffee shops a lot and often times my bag and clothes end up smelling like coffee. Does that mean they are "damaged"? No. Especially since it's temporary (even more so in the case of the Amazon package, which is disposed of right away).

If only the packaging smells, then I agree, it's not damaged.

But they also said that sometimes the contents get smelly. That definitely qualifies as damaged.

Coffee smells come out a lot easier than cigarette smells, and you choose to go to those coffee shops, whereas the person I'm replying to does not choose to expose his brand-new clothes to cigarette smoke.

If I buy brand new clothes and they smell of cigarette smoke out of the package, damned right that means they're "damaged."

Re: Amazon Flex

#213

Post by thrill »

jstalin wrote: post #154
shawnee_ wrote: post #118

Q: Where can I deliver with Amazon Flex? A: Amazon Flex is available now in Seattle. It will be available soon in New York, Baltimore, Miami, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Portland. Smart move by Amazon to refrain from making any Bay-area city one of its test markets. It's like Amazon is saying "we don't need to prove this will work in the bubble; let's base our test data set on realistic markets…

It's probably best to avoid California all together.

California's interpretation of employment law (ala Uber) makes it much less attractive to establish such a business.

Re: Amazon Flex

#214

Post by spyder »

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #186

I wonder how long it'll take for an online thievery marketplace will pop-up selling Amazon Flex delivery data. For example, if you know you delivered a $10k gold apple watch (hypothetically), I can bet you that a local thief would pay you at least $100 for you to tell him which house it was delivered to. In fact, my neighbour's home was broken into last year. Turns out (unbeknownst to us), he apparently had a safe in…

How does Amazon Flex make this a bigger risk? The packages are already delivered by somebody who could do the same already.

Re: Amazon Flex

#215

Post by sib »

eli wrote: post #22
jblok wrote: post #4

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.

Uber is testing exactly this:

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/28/uber-is-quietly-testing-a-m...

Re: Amazon Flex

#216

Post by robwilliams »

dragonwriter wrote: post #166
jonesetc wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I have never used Amazon now, and don't see myself using it even though it is available to me. I also have no idea how the whole operation works before it leaves the warehouse. Does your UPS package get delivered in an hour? Do you tip a pizza delivery driver? Personally I think it depends on how much work the person doing the delivery did before the delivery to help get it done fast. So for food delivery…

> Does your UPS package get delivered in an hour? If what you are paying for with Amazon Now is rapid delivery service, then why would you tip for the service you are paying for. UPS delivers in a time set by the level of service that is paid for. Presumably, Amazon Now does the same thing. > Do you tip a pizza delivery driver? I did before pizza parlors started adding an additional separate charge for delivery servi…

You don't tip your food delivery drivers? Are you in the US?

Re: Amazon Flex

#217

Post by patrickyan »

suvelx wrote: post #96
SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

E-commerce companies have 2 points of contact with the customer - the website and the courier. It makes no sense whatsoever to me why there's this ongoing race to the bottom on the courier side of things while companies spend more and more on the website side. I suppose at that point they already have your money, so what if this delivery experience is awful? Yodel are worse than useless, and I can't see this being mu…

What I don't understand, is why I can't pick my delivery slot for free. Everybody has jobs. Everybody finds it annoying to buy something on line. You never know when it's going to turn up. You have to take a day off, and hope your driver is competent at his job. Why can't you just say "I'll be at home on Thursday after 5pm. Call me on #555-333-9999 if you have any issues". Courier delivers the package after 5pm on Th…

You can use a service like Doorman in SF or Parcel in NYC. UPS also has MyChoice.

Re: Amazon Flex

#218

Post by tlrobinson »

shawnee_ wrote: post #118

Q: Where can I deliver with Amazon Flex? A: Amazon Flex is available now in Seattle. It will be available soon in New York, Baltimore, Miami, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Portland. Smart move by Amazon to refrain from making any Bay-area city one of its test markets. It's like Amazon is saying "we don't need to prove this will work in the bubble; let's base our test data set on realistic markets…

Or Amazon is worried about a bunch of contractors being reclassified as employees as has happened to various "on-demand economy" companies in California: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0OX1TE20150618

Re: Amazon Flex

#219

Post by xixixao »

suvelx wrote: post #96
SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

E-commerce companies have 2 points of contact with the customer - the website and the courier. It makes no sense whatsoever to me why there's this ongoing race to the bottom on the courier side of things while companies spend more and more on the website side. I suppose at that point they already have your money, so what if this delivery experience is awful? Yodel are worse than useless, and I can't see this being mu…

What I don't understand, is why I can't pick my delivery slot for free. Everybody has jobs. Everybody finds it annoying to buy something on line. You never know when it's going to turn up. You have to take a day off, and hope your driver is competent at his job. Why can't you just say "I'll be at home on Thursday after 5pm. Call me on #555-333-9999 if you have any issues". Courier delivers the package after 5pm on Th…

Yes yes yes. I don't want this for stuff I can transport myself, hack I can just go to a normal shop for that stuff, but when I need a piece of furniture or an appliance, I don't want to have to take a holiday to get it delivered. (and Yodel indeed sucks)

Re: Amazon Flex

#220

Post by tlrobinson »

jlgaddis wrote: post #160
herge wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, gentrification and the rights of workers in a sharing economy are still hot-button political issues in the Bay-area. Who's going to picket Amazon Flex in Indianapolis?

I don't know about the Bay Area, but there's a huge Amazon distribution facility just outside of Indianapolis so I'm guessing there are similar facilities in/near each of the cities they're launching in.

Considering the variety of items I can get delivered same day there must be a large distribution facility nearby. But maybe not near enough to support this (most same day deliveries come around 8pm for me)
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