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Amazon Flex

flex.amazon.com

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Re: Amazon Flex

#461

Post by ajslater »

3pt14159 wrote: post #53

I'm surprised they aren't launching with cyclists too. Maybe they don't know the size of the backpack / basket that the delivery person has? I kinda just bike around Toronto for fun / exercise (up to 100kms in a day) and if I didn't have to alter my bike I could consider doing it. Plus it is faster in many parts of the city to bike than to take car or transit.

At Sidecar we're doing white label 40 minute delivery for a wide variety of merchants with a mix of cars, bikers and walkers.

https://www.side.cr/under-the-hood-a-look-at-sidecars-on-dem...

Re: Amazon Flex

#462

Post by prawn »

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.

A great thing about Uber is the lack of expectation of tip, compared to taxi drivers who can be surly if you don't tip 25%.

Re: Amazon Flex

#463

Post by cdcarter »

caskance wrote: post #282
cesarbs wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be a cultural fit for Seattle? Seems like such a diverse place.

It's what racists say to pretend they're not racist.

Well, in this case, one of the big concerns is new Amazon hires pushing families of color out of the central neighborhoods they've historically resided in. The CD is a very traditionally PoC neighborhood (there was recently a GREAT docu about Yesler Terrace housing projects), but it's also very conveniently located for a lot of new tech workers. Rents are skyrocketing.

Re: Amazon Flex

#464

Post by SCAQTony »

JoblessWonder wrote: post #311
SCAQTony wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon has five fulfillment centers in California: Moreno Valley, Riverside, Redlands, Tracy and Patterson. Here are their fulfillment centers nationally: http://www.amazonfulfillmentcareers.com/amazon-fulfillment/l...

I think he meant for this service only. The debate between "independent contractor" vs "employee" has been pretty fierce in the state legislature.

Ooops, I forgot about that. Though per that link they are definitely heavily invested in here. In the long run they don't have a choice or Macy's will beat them. (Each store here is now a fulfillment center.)

Re: Amazon Flex

#465

Post by grayclhn »

suvelx wrote: post #96
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…

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…

I'm kind of amazed at the negative reactions this comment got. I'd bet the reason is, "the companies think it would cost more," but god yes it would be more convenient.

Re: Amazon Flex

#466

Post by grayclhn »

knodi123 wrote: post #345
jonesetc wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I have never used Amazon now, and don't see myself using it even though it is available to me. I also have no idea how the whole operation works before it leaves the warehouse. Does your UPS package get delivered in an hour? Do you tip a pizza delivery driver? Personally I think it depends on how much work the person doing the delivery did before the delivery to help get it done fast. So for food delivery…

> Personally I think it depends on how much work the person doing the delivery did before the delivery to help get it done fast In this case, the driver is just driving from a facility to my door. But the twist here is, I do not expect nor even WANT the driver to put in "extra" effort to drive that route faster. Just follow the speed limit, and pick a reasonable route. That's all. I want you to drive exactly like a r…

Then tip more if you think the driver drove especially safely. :)

Re: Amazon Flex

#467

Post by manigandham »

Steko wrote: post #413
manigandham wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? What are you basing this on? Why would part-time people be any less responsible? They have less to deal with, more time to deliver, use their own car, choose their schedule, and set the radius and familiarity of their route. I'd expect them to make better deliveries and more accurately. Uber/Lyft have shown this model works fine.

Because problems inevitably occur and with full time staff it's more likely the delivery person has seen the problem 1000 times and knows exactly how to handle it optimally. In addition to knowing the ins and outs of your office or apartment, perhaps even recognizing you by name. > I'd expect them to make better deliveries and more accurately. I wouldn't. I'd expect the additional supply would get you faster, cheaper…

What is the tradeoff with uber/lyft? I still get where I'm going but it's often cheaper, more comfortable and just as fast (or faster) than previous options.

I don't see how accuracy is going to be a problem. These people aren't driving across the country with hundreds of items and it would be very much in their interest to make sure the right thing is delivered to the right person.

I think the "experienced professional" of a shipping carrier driver is vastly overrated here. Just what, exactly, do they do that can't be done by another part-time person?

Re: Amazon Flex

#468

Post by soci »

chenster wrote: post #203

Once Amazon is in this space, it means game over for other similar services.

In Barcelona (Europe) we have at least two startups in this space:

glovoapp.com and www.stuart.fr

Stuart has not released yet but are hiring quite agressively[1].

I don't think Amazon entering this space means they are dead but quite the opposity. If FLEX enters the European market will make the concierge delivery space grow. And this can only be good for competition.

[1]http://www.jobsbcn.com/?q=stuart

Re: Amazon Flex

#469

Post by TeMPOraL »

ekianjo wrote: post #455
TeMPOraL wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen that reversed trend, and it's the reason I go to bakeries - the bread in bakery shops is fresher and better even though they don't bake it on-site , but get it delivered from somewhere (I assume a big industrial bakery providing for the entire city) two-three times a day! The supermarket baked-on-site bread is much worse, and looks like a desperate attempt by supermarkets to keep people buying bread there.

> The supermarket baked-on-site bread is much worse, and looks like a desperate attempt by supermarkets to keep people buying bread there. Oh, I totally agree with you. I was just mentioning that they were reintroducing workers in a process that used to be fully automated.

Are they? Two local markets near me that bake bread on-site use the already employed staff. Putting dough into oven and setting a timer isn't much work, so usually the person behind the meat counter does that.

Re: Amazon Flex

#470

Post by TeMPOraL »

ekianjo wrote: post #446
TeMPOraL wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> yet bakers do not disappear. What's not valid about this example? They transform. "Bakeries" become just a pick-up point, where you buy bread that was baked in scale (probably in industrial ovens) and delivered to the store. Bakery employees nowadays have less to do with baking than McDonald's employees with frying fries (they still do something to them).

Well probably you don't live in Europe (or have not lived there either).

In fact I do. I write from Poland.
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