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Amazon Flex

flex.amazon.com

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Re: Amazon Flex

#81

Post by ekianjo »

LesZedCB wrote: post #56
ekianjo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and introduce a universal basic income policy here we go again with this... What's wrong with such jobs ? AS mentioned by Amazon you don't need to work 9 to 5, you can just work for extra if you need. Even if you HAD basic income this kind of part-time job could make sense to make a bit more money that the nothing you would get to survive on your own.

Nothing is inherently wrong with the job per se, it's that the general acceptance of a commoditized workforce is dangerous in that it circumvents many other protections offered by regular jobs (not that those are that much better) in disguise because it has a relatively high hourly rate. Your effective hourly rate after paying for health insurance plus other company provided benefits is likely much closer to normal r…

> basic income

this is not the place for discussing this here, but the inherent problem with this basic income idea is that there's no way to provide such money in developed countries which are already indebted to the bone. Unless you decide to seize savings and declare the country a communist dictatorship or something.

Re: Amazon Flex

#82

Post by uptown »

ekianjo wrote: post #41
officemonkey wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If we're capable of solving the challenges of self-driving cars, finding a way to implement large curb-side or driveway-side mailboxes with cameras and RFID trackers, or a "fetchbot" that retrieves a box from the car and rolls it into the house, seems like a trivial hurdle to overcome.

Re: Amazon Flex

#84

Post by TheRealWatson »

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.

Re: Amazon Flex

#85

Post by zo7 »

vkjv wrote: post #10
notjustanymike wrote: post #2

Coming soon to Baltimore! Good luck with that fellas!

I have lived in Baltimore my entire life and this comment is an enigma. I assume this is some type of jab at crime, but IMHO, Baltimore is perfect for this kind of operation. To name a few reasons: * Urban environment. Lots of deliveries in a short period of time. * Amazon DH is conveniently located near I-95 for easy access to the city as well as I-695 and surrounding suburbia. * Traffic actually isn't that bad comp…

Yeah I don't get what the comment was getting at either. People robbing drivers, I guess? (Although I've never heard of such things happening)

I agree with your points though - something like this would be perfect for the city!

Re: Amazon Flex

#86

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

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.

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 much better.

Re: Amazon Flex

#87

Post by deanCommie »

tokenizerrr wrote: post #71
ekianjo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and introduce a universal basic income policy here we go again with this... What's wrong with such jobs ? AS mentioned by Amazon you don't need to work 9 to 5, you can just work for extra if you need. Even if you HAD basic income this kind of part-time job could make sense to make a bit more money that the nothing you would get to survive on your own.

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 don't know why you're getting downvoted, that's precisely the problem with most jobs like this.

Re: Amazon Flex

#89

Post by ekianjo »

tokenizerrr wrote: post #71
ekianjo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and introduce a universal basic income policy here we go again with this... What's wrong with such jobs ? AS mentioned by Amazon you don't need to work 9 to 5, you can just work for extra if you need. Even if you HAD basic income this kind of part-time job could make sense to make a bit more money that the nothing you would get to survive on your own.

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.

Re: Amazon Flex

#90

Post by elsurudo »

vkjv wrote: post #10
notjustanymike wrote: post #2

Coming soon to Baltimore! Good luck with that fellas!

I have lived in Baltimore my entire life and this comment is an enigma. I assume this is some type of jab at crime, but IMHO, Baltimore is perfect for this kind of operation. To name a few reasons: * Urban environment. Lots of deliveries in a short period of time. * Amazon DH is conveniently located near I-95 for easy access to the city as well as I-695 and surrounding suburbia. * Traffic actually isn't that bad comp…

He's probably been watching a bit too much of The Wire.
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