This will be amazing for the 3rd world, if it works, as postal services are notoriously ineffective and there's now way to overlay a trust model on them.
Amazon Flex
301–310 of 475 posts
Re: Amazon Flex
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
The trend nowadays seems to be for everyone to ask for tips. I guess I kinda understand as it costs them nothing to do so and they definitely don't lose anything (and only serve to gain) by asking / soliciting for tips.
That only explains why they would solicit tips, not why they solicit tips more nowadays.
Re: Amazon Flex
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
To get efficiency, delivery companies have highly optimized routes to deliver as many packages in as little time and distance traveled. UPS even has algorithms to reduce the number of left turns. It's probably cheaper for delivery companies to make multiple delivery attempts than it is for them to allow recipients to specify their own delivery times. Of course, there shouldn't be any logistical impediments preventing…
DPD in the UK do this now. The morning of your delivery you get a text message giving you the hour your parcel will be delivered, and a link to rearrange delivery or to track the driver's current location. To my mind, their system far outstrips the other couriers.
Yeah. I had a delivery from them the other day. I could see a map showing exactly where the driver was at any time. Granted, it didn't auto-update, but whenever I reloaded the page it gave me an updated location, and told me where I was in the queue.
Re: Amazon Flex
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, since you decided to discuss it anyway... :) Basic income is wealth redistribution function. There is a massive income inequality problem in the US (a trivial google search will reveal, if you aren't aware of already), and a basic income would rebalance taxes as well as replace some other social programs in order to pay for it. See this reddit post for more info about income inequality and taxes . https://www.r…
> Wealth redistribution Well you spelled it, you need a communist like system to do that (i.e. take money through taxes, redistribute it through massive inefficiencies, and make sure politicians get their hefty share when the money flows). Inequality is a false problem. It's a problem if people get poorer, but all indicators for the past 50 years show that everyone is getting richer, while rich ones are getting riche…
> redistribute it through massive inefficiencies
Actually, if a state does any welfare, it probably has this problem already. Basic income offers significant reductions in those inefficiencies by simplifying the process of selecting eligible people (and retiring the required bureaucracy).
> and make sure politicians get their hefty share when the money flows
That you have under every system, from despotism to socialism to capitalist democracy.
> Inequality is a false problem. It's a problem if people get poorer, but all indicators for the past 50 years show that everyone is getting richer, while rich ones are getting richer faster (which is obvious why, when you have more capital you are much more likely to increase it faster). As long as even the modest classes are getting richer every generation, everyone's life is improving.
Inequality will be a false problem when the bottom level of society won't be starving to death or due to lack of basic health care. Again, basic income proposes turning inequality into a non-problem by securing a decent, humane minimum level for everyone.
Re: Amazon Flex
#305I'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.
Recently all my orders from amazon have come via Amazon Logistics and all I can say is they SUCK. Ive started using lockers cause I cant be bothered with the hassle of them failing to get into my flat block and then not contacting me at all. Ive complained to amazon several times and they just dont care.
Re: Amazon Flex
#306Earlier 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.
FWIW, as a life-long Seattleite, I disagree with this. There's definitely an Amazon backlash (particularly in the hipper neighborhoods) but it's not incredibly unpopular , most people like and use the service AND many like what they've done for the local economy.
I don't think most of the people who hate Amazon are life-long Seattleites. You're right that it's concentrated in places like Capitol Hill. But I don't think I've talked to anyone who like how Amazon has changed Seattle; at best they don't care.
Just my experience though, living there for two years -- I admit I haven't experienced every neighborhood or social group and might have a skewed viewpoint.
Re: Amazon Flex
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
UK Prime customer getting terrible service from Amazon delivery - I think you're right, I complained the other day that Amazon are the only delivery people who demand I come down to the building entrance to collect my package instead of delivering it to my door. Prime is an important part of Amazon's strategy, if they're not going to actually deliver packages properly then they're screwing themselves over. I'll see h…
> WTH am I getting d/ved for? No idea, so I upvoted you. Now don't downvote me people just because I'm commenting about it. I didn't start it so it's not fair.
Also upvoted, Im experiencing the same issues as him. Never had a problem when it was DHL/InterLink/DPD/etc (sure they weren't good, but they were much better than Amazon!).
Re: Amazon Flex
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know how it is in America, I live in the Netherlands, but I haven't interacted with a cashier in a supermarket for a very long time. Every supermarket has self-checkout, and still some cashiers for people who don't want it, of course. But a lot less cashiers than a few years ago. You grab a scanner at the entrance, scan all your purchages and then you put the scanner away and pay at a terminal. The terminal p…
That sounds like a nice system. In the US we don't have scanners you pick up at the entrance - it's more like you do the part the cashiers used to do. You pull up to a scanner, scan everything in your cart, bag everything, then put it back in your cart and pay at the machine. A scale underneath the bagging area keeps tabs on everything you can to make sure you're not cheating the system. (Still, I've heard stories of…
Giant and other grocery stores have handheld scanners, but it's not the greatest user interface. There is definitely room for disruption there.
Re: Amazon Flex
#309Bring this shit to Toronto and I'll do it on the weekends for extra dosh, no problem.
Re: Amazon Flex
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
They'll be deprecated as soon as self driving cars become viable. The same goes for most jobs like this, technology will catch up eventually and make them obsolote.
I'm still waiting to see cashiers disappear in supermarkets. Or bakers, since bread and cake production could be completely automatized by now. Strangely they are not going away. I wonder why... People who predict extinction of jobs are usually wrong.
> I'm still waiting to see cashiers disappear in supermarkets. Or bakers, since bread and cake production could be completely automatized by now. Strangely they are not going away. I wonder why...
You must be (un)lucky to have avoided the wave of self-service checkout points :). As for bakers, I don't remember when was the last time I saw a bakery that acutally baked anything - the ones I see all have bread and cakes delivered several times a day by whoever owns the franchise.
Also, automation is not a binary proposition - if your central bakery uses big dough machines and industrial baking ovens, it already counts as half-automated, as it employs much less personnel per unit of output as bakeries used to few decades ago :).