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Amazon Flex

flex.amazon.com

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Re: Amazon Flex

#231

Post by rtkwe »

thedogeye wrote: post #171

Amazon might be smart enough to deliver packages in the evenings when people are home, something FedEx and UPS just can't quite get their heads around.

I've gotten a few deliveries in the evening, mostly next day deliveries though where they probably didn't get the package at the local UPS hub until the afternoon.

To deliver in the evenings on a large scale they'd have to compress the work they do in the 8-9 hours of the normal working day (more in some cases where they do actually deliver in the evenings giving them almost 12 hours of delivery time) into the ~3 hours between 6-9 (starting at 6 because who actually gets home at 5 with commute times). All that goes to say if you want evening deliveries you're going to have to a lot pay more for deliveries just because it will require a lot more drivers (who will want better pay for working evening when they'd otherwise be home).

Re: Amazon Flex

#232

Post by clarkmoody »

TheRealWatson wrote: post #84
drglitch wrote: post #43

I guess i was part of trials in Northern New Jersey - a random guy showed up in a beaten up car (i noticed because it had pretty nasty oil smoke coming out of the tailpipes, almost cartoon-like). He was wearing an "amazon now" t-shirt, but then after having me sign a delivery slip, stuck around awkwardly expecting a tip. Not a good experience.

Can we agree already to not have to tip? I don't want Amazon to realize this money-saving practice at my expense. We don't tip UPS, we shouldn't tip these guys. Nobody tips me for pushing code to git.

Better yet, put the tip in the app, with a notification that pops up after delivery asking you:

* How would you rate the delivery experience? (multiple dimensions here)

* Do you want to tip your courier?

Re: Amazon Flex

#233

Post by dingaling »

dragonwriter wrote: post #156
suvelx wrote: 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…

> What I don't understand, is why I can't pick my delivery slot for free. Because picking a delivery slot imposes a constraint which creates a cost for the delivery provider. > 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. Most everybody has jobs, but most people I know don'…

> Which would eliminate the freedom of delivery companies to efficiently use delivery vehicles.

At present ( in the UK ) most courier delivery fleets stand idle in the evening after being out during the day missing deliveries to people who are in work. And having to call again the next day.

It perplexes me why they don't shift their delivery period six hours later to start at 15:00 and end at 21:00. That would cover both business and residential hours.

Re: Amazon Flex

#234

Post by DanBC »

dingaling wrote: post #233
dragonwriter wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I don't understand, is why I can't pick my delivery slot for free. Because picking a delivery slot imposes a constraint which creates a cost for the delivery provider. > 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. Most everybody has jobs, but most people I know don'…

> Which would eliminate the freedom of delivery companies to efficiently use delivery vehicles. At present ( in the UK ) most courier delivery fleets stand idle in the evening after being out during the day missing deliveries to people who are in work. And having to call again the next day. It perplexes me why they don't shift their delivery period six hours later to start at 15:00 and end at 21:00. That would cover…

That would coincide with rush hour?

Apart from that it's a good idea.

Re: Amazon Flex

#235

Post by LandoCalrissian »

School-Cotton wrote: post #229
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 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.

Why are they so unpopular there?

Re: Amazon Flex

#236

Post by ekianjo »

scrollaway wrote: post #185
ekianjo wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

You keep making wiiild claims based on "I don't see it happening (as much as you)". Don't you travel? > I'm obviously talking about local breadshops in cities. they are alive and well, once again, and not going bankrupt. Quality still matters. There's less . There's less of all these jobs you mention. You say in another post "but it won't go extinct" - well no, probably not, they'll still exist in some form. Horse ca…

> This is in effect all over the place. When I went to Berlin I didn't find a single subway train driver.

I'm not talking about subways, I am talking about normal intercity trains. NONE of them are automated. Anywhere. Check it out.

> "It won't happen" is talk from people who didn't want to accept an eventuality a decade ago. Today, it's happening - putting your hands over your eyes is very much unproductive.

I'm not saying this is not happening, what I am saying is that it's happening at a most slower pace than what all the hipsters on HN claim it's happening, and just like everything else, we are going towards fragmentation and not complete removal of most of these jobs. So the "singularity" dream of some people here that the human race will see all of its jobs done by robots in 20 years, and that we need to think right now about income without jobs (UBI and the like) is pure delirium. Society won't change so fast.

Re: Amazon Flex

#237

Post by morgante »

martingordon wrote: post #134

One of the reasons I hesitate to use Amazon Now is that big "suggested tip" field. I don't tip the UPS delivery person, why should I tip my Amazon Now delivery person? What's been the norm for you all?

Agreed. I honestly don't understand why Amazon made that choice.

It makes the delivery much more awkward and transactional. Probably one of the most brilliant things Uber did was eliminating tips.

Re: Amazon Flex

#238

Post by School-Cotton »

LandoCalrissian wrote: post #235
School-Cotton wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why are they so unpopular there?

Several reasons, but I think the main one is filling Seattle with lots of people (programmers) that don't really culturally fit in with the rest of the population. There's also a lot of resentment about rent prices etc., but unlike the Bay Area there is one company (Amazon) for all the anger to be directed at, because Microsoft is far away in the suburbs and everyone else participating in the tech boom is tiny by comparison.

Re: Amazon Flex

#239

Post by ekianjo »

TheBeardKing wrote: post #228
ekianjo wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> There are a multitude of things you can do to reduce inequality at birth

The most egalitarian folks actually dream of a society where it would be forbidden to have your own children (since it's actually VERY unfair to pass your genes down to the next generation... Smart people get smart kids, that's furthering the gap of inequalities) and let the sacrosanct government take care of human race reproduction and ensure it's genetically fair.

I'm not too excited by the idea.

Re: Amazon Flex

#240

Post by hellweaver666 »

popopje wrote: post #80
suvelx wrote: post #8

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.

Package delivery is never a good experience in the UK i have my packages delivered to a friendly shop nearby - to my house, it's a nightmare. The collect+ system also works reasonably well, i take that option if offered. (where it's delivered to a local cornershop or similar and you walk to pick it up) I really feel there should be a gap in the market for "last mile" delivery to be solved properly, but i suspect ther…

I'm a British expat living in Amsterdam. My company uses this service called MyPup - they give me a username and a code, I have all my stuff shipped to them and when it arrives they send me an SMS message letting me know it's arrived. Around an hour later I get another message letting me know it's been delivered to my office and the code to get into a temporary locker to retrieve my package.

They have someone at their office 24/7 to receive packages and another guy that does the "last mile". Once I urgently needed a package that arrived out of office hours on Friday - I sent them an email and they bought it to my house on Saturday. It's awesomely convenient!

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