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Amazon Flex

flex.amazon.com

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Re: Amazon Flex

#41

Post by ekianjo »

officemonkey wrote: post #26
deanCommie wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory is these jobs need to last only long enough for society to get it's head out of it's ass and introduce a universal basic income policy

My theory is these jobs need to last only long enough for self-driving cars to get commoditized.

Oh yeah, and who is going to confirm that the delivery is done, or walk in apartment buildings to deliver to the right door ? A robot ?

Going to the last mile actually means going to the last centimetre as well. The car is not everything.

Re: Amazon Flex

#42

Post by cdubzzz »

eli wrote: post #19

Sounds a lot like LaserShip which Amazon already uses sometimes here on the east coast. Minimally trained people delivering last mile packages using their own vehicle. Results are.... mixed.

Interesting. I had no idea LaserShip was using that model. I have only ever seen branded trucks and assumed they were a UPS type of service.

Ditto on the mixed results. Although they once delivered a package to us at like 9PM on a Sunday. Unfortunately it was nothing exciting, hah.

Re: Amazon Flex

#43

Post by drglitch »

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.

Re: Amazon Flex

#44

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

amazing_jose wrote: post #37
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No uniform? The least Amazon could do is send their drivers a hat and a sticker, or something.

NOPE! That could imply that they are employees and we all know that's impossible ;)

Oh right, I forgot that they're skirting employment law.

Re: Amazon Flex

#45

Post by k__ »

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.

Delivery service quality has gone down for years now, here in Germany

A few times a delivery guy stole my packages (>1000€) and most of the time it gets simply placed in the hallway without further notice...

Insurance covers this, but it's aggravating non the less :\

Re: Amazon Flex

#46

Post by BrentOzar »

If they're launching now in major cities, I'm guessing drone deliveries aren't coming anytime soon. (Or this is insurance against the drone plan not working.)

Re: Amazon Flex

#47

Post by ekianjo »

netcraft wrote: post #6

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

it could be depending on how many units you can deliver per hour on average ?

Re: Amazon Flex

#48

Post by hmmdiggy »

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.

Complained several times but still occurs. I'm stuck in that guy's catchment area so always a high chance it's the same bloke.

Re: Amazon Flex

#49

Post by sc30317 »

jblok wrote: post #4

So I imagine the question every self employed person with a car will be asking themselves right now is this: will I make more money driving for Uber or driving for Amazon?

I think that is part of the equation - some drivers may not be interested in having the liability of having passengers in their car?

Re: Amazon Flex

#50

Post by wyldfire »

arethuza wrote: post #7
jblok wrote: post #4

So I imagine the question every self employed person with a car will be asking themselves right now is this: will I make more money driving for Uber or driving for Amazon?

Somebody needs to work out how you drop of packages for Amazon while driving passengers around for Uber. Actually - not completely crazy - how willing would you be as a passenger to take a few detours to get a saving on your taxi bill?

Hmm. Sounds like an opportunity for a new business? Fluber will spawn itself as a broker to both services -- you just go where the app tells you and pick up your cargo (packages or people) and shuttle them to where the app tells you to go.
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