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Amazon Flex

flex.amazon.com

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Re: Amazon Flex

#351

Post by digikata »

thieving_magpie wrote: post #315
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.

Man I couldn't care less who hands me my package if it arrives intact and on time. I'm not looking for a "delivery experience".

Isn't the probability of something going wrong higher if the delivery infrastructure isn't staffed with full time people? I would guess that mishandling, loss, misdelivery, theft would all be more likely under the flex model.

Re: Amazon Flex

#352

Post by bweitzman »

caskance wrote: post #285
djur wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pizza delivery driver doesn't get any of that delivery charge. Not tipping the driver because of the delivery charge is essentially punishing the driver for the owner's desire to take their tips.

The owner taking their tips is punishing the driver. It's not my responsibility to insulate the driver from that. I am paying a surcharge for delivery. That's reasonable. If the driver doesn't get the cut of that he feels he deserves, he can work somewhere else.

This is the problem with tipping culture. It's misleading to advertise a delivery charge and then still expect to customers to tip, and when the driver and the customer are in disagreement or even just unaware of the other's position, it leads to people looking (and maybe feeling) like assholes on both sides.

Re: Amazon Flex

#353

Post by bweitzman »

dragonwriter wrote: post #290
djur wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pizza delivery driver doesn't get any of that delivery charge. Not tipping the driver because of the delivery charge is essentially punishing the driver for the owner's desire to take their tips.

> The pizza delivery driver doesn't get any of that delivery charge. When I worked delivery, back in the mid-Triassic period (or early 1990s, whatever), I got $1/delivery (which was better than mileage reimbursement would have been) even though we didn't charge for delivery , and similar practices seemed to be common at other places providing similar services. If the now dominant practice of adding service charges fo…

It's illegal for restaurants to pay below minimum wage. If a server's wages including tips do not add up to the regular minimum wage, the restaurant is supposed to pay out the difference.

How often that actually happens, I have no idea.

Re: Amazon Flex

#354

Post by TranquilMarmot »

digikata wrote: post #351
thieving_magpie wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man I couldn't care less who hands me my package if it arrives intact and on time. I'm not looking for a "delivery experience".

Isn't the probability of something going wrong higher if the delivery infrastructure isn't staffed with full time people? I would guess that mishandling, loss, misdelivery, theft would all be more likely under the flex model.

But it would also be a lot easier to track what happened to that package and pinpoint a specific individual for the loss/theft/misdelivery, since Amazon has the driver's personal info, GPS location, and list of packages that they are delivering.

Re: Amazon Flex

#355

Post by forgotAgain »

dankohn1 wrote: post #165

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…

Also have to factor in the risk of using your car for commercial purposes and/or adding the cost for commercial insurance.

Re: Amazon Flex

#356

Post by murbard2 »

digikata wrote: post #351
thieving_magpie wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man I couldn't care less who hands me my package if it arrives intact and on time. I'm not looking for a "delivery experience".

Isn't the probability of something going wrong higher if the delivery infrastructure isn't staffed with full time people? I would guess that mishandling, loss, misdelivery, theft would all be more likely under the flex model.

Amazon will most likely cover such problems, no questions asked. They will be defrauded more, for sure, but they gain a possibly gigantic network of distributors.

Re: Amazon Flex

#357

Post by monksy »

saulrh wrote: post #28
hmmdiggy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've had packages delivered by an individual similar to survelx, and the guy clearly smokes in his car as the package stinks of smoke and it even penetrates the items inside on occasion (clothing). Issue here is that he's not bound by company policy of smoking in a company vehicle, so he's free to smoke away.

It'd be valuable for you to complain to Amazon when that happens. They probably can't get feedback on a service like this except through complaints like that.

As the user Someone said..

Amazon won't do anything about it. [I feel] If my last experience with Amazon CS is any indication they'll read a script, and just refund your money. (Not reship.. I've had that issue as well) Also, if you're a prime member and have spent quite a bit of money on Amazon.. They still won't care.

I plan on cancelling my prime membership and seeking out alternatives.

Re: Amazon Flex

#358

Post by tzier »

iridium127 wrote: post #227
dankohn1 wrote: post #165

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.

$0.575/mi isn't a good indicator of actual cost. It's a method the IRS created to reduce the complexity of tracking all car expenses separately (good for both taxpayer and IRS). In most cases it's very generous. For example:

* ~$0.30 is for gas, but if you're driving a fuel efficient Prius then your actual per mile cost is lower ($3.00/gal / 50mpg = $0.06/mi; though offset by battery replacement cost, don't know how much that costs or how often) * If your car is over 5 years old, you wouldn't be able to claim depreciation on it. But the standard mileage rate includes depreciation, so you're getting to deduct additional cost if your car is >5 years and you use the standard mileage rate.

That's not to say wear and tear isn't a significant cost...just that your actual cost is usually much lower than the standard mileage rate.

Re: Amazon Flex

#359

Post by murbard2 »

noxToken wrote: post #264
dingaling wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I wonder how this would work in more rural places in the US. Before I graduated high school, I lived in rural-ish area where the nearest commercial couriers were 50+ minutes from my house to the north and about 90+ minutes to the south. Wal-Mart was literally my only choice for consumer goods, so I spent a good chunk of change online. I always had the same driver for a certain courier. I asked him how often he had to…

Someone who lives in this rural place will find it quite profitable to become the town's Amazon delivery person. Drive to pick up packages in the morning, come back and deliver during the day, then go home.

Re: Amazon Flex

#360

Post by tzier »

speby wrote: post #327
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…

This is a massive lack of imagination. I highly doubt the only motivation from Amazon's perspective is strictly about cost-cutting. On its surface, yes, it would be easy to assume this could result in some odd or lesser version of having a major courier deliver your package. On the other hand, by having Amazon control the to-the-door experience, that gives them incredible granular controls over how things are done, w…

> On the other hand, by having Amazon control the to-the-door experience, that gives them incredible granular controls over how things are done, when, by whom, and how they do it, including how they are supposed to treat you at the door (if you're there), what to say, etc. etc.

You can't exert control (e.g. uniforms, greetings, etc.) over independent contractors, so Amazon would not be able to do any of this under their current model.

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