Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#261

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 1:19 PM UTC

bpodgursky wrote: post #219

ghoward wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've learned how to drive school buses, and I absolutely agree with your opinion. My first day on the job was my last (well, I drove a bit the next day before refusing to drive in a situation I was not comfortable in); it was just way too stressful thinking about those kids and how any mistake I make could hurt them. Edit: clarified my actual quit story.

Luckily it's actually pretty hard to hurt kids in a school bus. They are built incredibly heavy and sturdy for exactly this reason -- if you collide with any car other than a loaded semi trailer, the bus will win. Busses even roll every so often and while the kids are banged up a bit, fatalities are incredibly rare.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#262

Post by eurasiantiger » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

denton-scratch wrote: post #257

hughrr wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in my late 40s. Most of the proponents are a lot younger. They haven’t seen the impact it has on them until they get older. That’s not bias. As for other points I’m an atheist with zero religious values at all. I have used it myself as well. And I’m in a country in a city where no one gives a crap. I’m about as unbiased as you can get. As for sins, I’m a pretty big fan of them as whole. The issue here is with th…

I'm in my mid-sixties (and I'm not a proponent - I would never propound the recreational use of any drug). Maybe I'm not old enough to observe the effects you are referring to. But frankly I think this is arse-over-tit: I think it's young people, with little experience, that are most likely to be harmed by pot. Young people are more likely than older people to experience schizo for the first time; such people are les…

> My understanding is that certain high-THC strains are much more likely to give rise to psychological problems than other strains

Ah, the good ol’ skunk scarecrow.

People have been making various grades of hashish for millennia, with THC content many times that of dry flower — you’d think someone would have noticed if it was more likely to produce psychological issues?

Yet, there is no high-THC hash scare — it’s almost if someone wanted you to avoid good quality cannabis and be content consuming whatever ditch weed global criminal organisations produce.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#263

Post by vidarh » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 1:27 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #259

vidarh wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But GP was talking about "any shortage", not just amazon's shortage. And followed it by arguing they could just raise wages, which makes it clear the "any" is within the context of at least talking about employers, and quite likely specifically talking about Amazon You're being obtuse. > Likewise, amazon would like more delivery drivers, but isn't desperate enough to actually raise wages and/or improve working cond…

>And followed it by arguing they could just raise wages >In other words, they've made a choice. Did you skip the rest of the comment about how millennials can pay more, but choose not to?

Yes, I skipped it because it had no relevance whatsoever to the point of the original comment you replied to, because, as I pointed out, it's clear from context that it talked about Amazon's shortage, not any general form of shortage.

My reply above made that clear, so again you're being obtuse.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#264

Post by matheusmoreira » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #216

pope_meat wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing we have so many volunteers for some of the worst jobs around. Happy volunteers, voluntarily working. You can see it on their faces, at 8:37pm pulling packages out of a van and running to a door, happy little contractors, happily volunteering.

Alright, let's flip the question: what doesn't constitute an "extension of prison labor"? If you think everything is an "extension of prison labor" that's not really an interesting statement. Is being a prehistoric hunter-gatherer also an "extension of prison labor"? It seems to check your boxes. Risking your life to hunt for woolly mammoths definitely seems more risky than delivering packages at 8:37pm, so I doubt t…

Well, today's society isn't that far off from slavery. The main difference is the lash has been replaced by economic punishments. People have the gall to call work voluntary when you literally starve if you opt out. Most workers will not see much improvement in their quality of life despite working hard for long hours.

We'll be free once our basic necessities are taken care of unconditionally. That means food, housing... Everything needed for a life with dignity. Until then, we are slaves to the current economic system whether we want to or not. We are not in a position where we can say "no, I don't want to do this anymore" without serious consequences.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#265

Post by ghoward » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 2:29 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #233

gavinhoward wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are all great questions. There is almost never an "overage" because there is a driver assigned per route, but they also have a bunch of sub drivers who get paid to show up, wait, and maybe take a route whose driver didn't show up, but if not, they go home after getting paid for an hour of waiting. That's the gist, but it's a bit more complicated than that; in the school district where I live, bus drivers who we…

Staggering school bus service isn’t that uncommon, I don’t think there are many school districts where their bus drivers only need to drive one route rather than 2 or 3. Not only can the drivers be employed for most of the day, but the bus itself gets more use.

I think you are correct, but I didn't want to claim that since I only have experience in one school district, and the experience was very short.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#266

Post by chownie » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 3:50 PM UTC

programmarchy wrote: post #218

For warehouse workers, this would not be a problem. Although I imagine that could impact Amazon's bottom line. For delivery drivers, it's a terrible idea. Driving large vehicles around people's neighborhoods while high is dangerous. It's a negative externality Amazon is recklessly putting onto the public. Cue mental gymnastics of potheads claiming they actually drive better while stoned.

You can drive sober every single time and still come out positive on a drug test or weed, they can't screen for active intoxication only evidence of metabolites.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#267

Post by mikewarot » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 3:56 PM UTC

bpodgursky wrote: post #176

mikewarot wrote: post #168

>One solution is to raise their wages. But that can happen only if Amazon agrees to pay its delivery partners more for their services, which the company can be slow to do. It's not a labor shortage, it's just a correction in the price of labor

> Amazon delivery contractors are often outbid by school bus companies. Drivers who work for those can make more than $20 an hour and be home for dinner. Amazon contract drivers typically earn $17 an hour and often work late into the night to keep up with demand. I mean, sure, Amazon can raise their wages to compete, and then we run out of... school bus drivers? I'm not sure that's any better. At a point, you either…

Sadly, at the rate Delta is spreading, it's likely we're not going to need school bus drivers for a while.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#268

Post by sershe » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 3:58 PM UTC

drdeadringer wrote: post #236

ffggvv wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they may or may not have been appropriate 18 months ago, far before the vaccine was even a thought.. but they definitely lasted too long and artificially raised the price of labor..

Go on about what the price of labor should be. For you.

You make it sound like some sort of a gotcha. The maximum employees agree to pay for the work one is capable and willing to do, what's the problem with that?

It applies within tech too. E.g. I had a referral from a former coworker for a job they think I would be great at, and I'm pretty sure I could make quite a bit more money. But, in private conversations they told me they work 995, so that is a consideration. I don't want to work 995, so I didn't even bother applying; should the govt give me some money to compensate for my (relative) laziness?

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#269

Post by ineedasername » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 3:59 PM UTC

junon wrote: post #253

ineedasername wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I know people that have mixed drugs like that. Usually some type of euphoric. So it is correct, though I don't know if it's particularly common.

Weed doesn't cause people to do that. So why does it matter?

It doesn't matter. Look further up the discussion thread and you'll see that was my original point: Some people may mix weed with other drugs but that's irrelevant for the linked story.

Re: Amazon’s answer to delivery driver shortage: Pot smokers

#270

Post by filoeleven » Sat, Sep 04, 2021, 4:04 PM UTC

chmod600 wrote: post #221

jack_riminton wrote: post #5

Some of the comments are assuming that all those who smoke pot are irresponsible or unable to do a job if they do smoke pot (this includes people who may only smoke at weekends/parties btw)

This is an interesting subject. Most people would be pretty worried about a drunk 747 pilot, and want laws and policies to prevent that from happening. A high delivery driver -- better, but a lot of people still don't like that idea. But tired commuters on the road at 6:30am is acceptable. Could be better informed by numbers here. But hard to say because there aren't reliable tests for "high right now", and maybe not…

Impairment testing was talked about 10-15 years ago. It never really caught on.

https://www.industryweek.com/the-economy/public-policy/artic...