Live data from Hacker News

Amazon Flex

flex.amazon.com

221–230 of 475 posts

Re: Amazon Flex

#221
post #102
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In America, generally speaking, if you're using a privately owned car for business, the companies pay a mileage rate, which is currently 57.5 cents per mile. That cost is expected to cover the cost of gas and maintenance on the vehicle. I don't know if Uber / Amazon actually DO this, but if so, that mileage fee would be on top of whatever their actual pay rate is.

can't you remove this cost from taxes?

Yes, if you are not reimbursed for the expenses by your employer. In other words, you can either (1) be reimbursed by your employer or (2) deduct the per-mile rate from your taxes, but not both.

Subject to certain conditions and limitations.

Re: Amazon Flex

#222
post #196

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…

I'm not sure what it says about the Bay Area, but there does seem to be a bit of a correlation with avoiding certain cities. For example Baltimore is interesting in that Washington, DC is not included but very close and almost part of the same metropolitan area.

They just built a massive distribution center in Baltimore, that's why it's available there before DC.

Re: Amazon Flex

#223
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what it says about the Bay Area, but there does seem to be a bit of a correlation with avoiding certain cities. For example Baltimore is interesting in that Washington, DC is not included but very close and almost part of the same metropolitan area.

I was a little disappointed about this too. It could be that their distribution center is close to BWI, and traffic between BWI and DC is epically bad during rush hour. Many of my packages seem to come through BWI over Dulles. DC is relatively open to the on-demand economy, being one of the first cities to fully legalize Uber.

Washington D.C. hasn't been too friendly to Uber and they probably want to avoid dealing with that political mess.

Re: Amazon Flex

#224

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…

I'm not surprised to see Houston excluded from this list due to size and low urban density, but I am disappointed.

Re: Amazon Flex

#225
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cashiers are getting extincted little by little, supermarkets all have self checkin, macdonalds rlies heavily on it, train systems in many countries have automated lines, bakers have long been replaced by industrial ovens and breads in EVERY supermarket and they are now low qualified workers helped by electronic ovens who unfreeze breads instead of workers. don't make any mistake as technology evolves it becomes chea…

> cashiers are getting extincted little by little, Cashiers are still alive and well in Japan, thank you for asking. > Supermarkets all have self checkin Not everywhere and even where there is i see way more people queuing for the cashier queue than going for self checking but maybe it's different the Californian world or wherever you are living. > ovens and breads in EVERY supermarket I'm obviously talking about loc…

well france has automated subways for years and they don't automate all only because of syndicates. i believe they will automate all when cost decrease

Re: Amazon Flex

#226
post #6

I wonder why the range of hourly rates? Start out at 18 and move up to 25 with experience?

Might actually be a per package/delivery rate that they estimate to be $18-25 per hour. I highly doubt Amazon would pay an hourly wage when some people might only do one delivery per hour. It's just marketing to attract people, just like how Uber advertises to drivers that the average Uber driver income is $90,000/year.

Re: Amazon Flex

#227

This is a big step for Amazon, and one that I can imagine them eventually offering as a service to other companies that need to provide real-time delivery. And, $18 to $25 an hour represents close to a livable wage, although less than it seems once you take into account depreciation of your personal automobile (which is why the future transit and bike options are particularly intriguing.) But, it also calls out the n…

Hopefully they pay for car mileage in addition to the $18-$25/hr... (should be 57.5 cents per mile for business miles, apparently)... because that alone could easily amount to $18/hr.

Re: Amazon Flex

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is textbook trickle down economics which we have had for several decades, and look where it got us. We have some of the worst income inequality in the world, if not the worst . http://fortune.com/2014/10/31/inequality-wealth-income-us/

Inequality is bullshit. Inequality even starts at birth, what are you going to do about that? the only remedy to inequality as a whole is a Communist Paradise, and God we know that people do not like the idea of everyone being as equally poor as everyone else. Inequality, again, does not matter as long as everyone gets richer, including the poorer ones. Which has been the case. Mass starvations have stopped around th…

There are a multitude of things you can do to reduce inequality at birth, from prenatal care to childcare. Statistics show that inequality certainly matters when correlated among other first world countries with social problems such as crime, teenage pregnancy, illiteracy, health, etc etc. If you're open to new ideas, I suggest you watch this TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson?language=en

Re: Amazon Flex

#229
post #132

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…

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 think that's the reason - Amazon is incredibly unpopular in Seattle and anything they do there is certain to generate massive amounts of vitriol, so they wouldn't lose anything on that front by going to SF instead.

Re: Amazon Flex

#230
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think we would all love to see this. Amazon do have their lockers. The problem with Amazon Lockers is that they're expensive. Even with prime it still costs extra on top (similar to one day shipping) to have it delivered to a locker. I've noticed Amazon require a signature a lot LESS often now which does reduce this problem (since it can be left), and I guess Amazon are picking up the cost of the 1-5% of stolen pac…

I assume you meant a signature.

Or a combination of Amazon and the logistics companies. Mind you it's very safe to drop things at my house. (Rural home with a long driveway.) But I've noticed a trend toward a signature requirement becoming very rare whether it's Amazon or others.

Post reply on HN