Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Revolt of the Delivery Workers

curbed.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 223 posts

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#81

Post by jameshart »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #44
zelos wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good idea, although this: "He reported both to the police, but the cases went nowhere, an experience common enough that many workers have concluded calling 911 is a waste of time." Is so frustrating. The theft of thousands of dollars worth of equipment with the threat of violence in a known location and the police aren't interested?

Police exist to protect capital, not labor. The system is working as intended.

A three thousand dollar electric bike that enables someone to carry out a valuable service is the very definition of ‘capital’.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#82

Post by CryptoPunk »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #44
zelos wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good idea, although this: "He reported both to the police, but the cases went nowhere, an experience common enough that many workers have concluded calling 911 is a waste of time." Is so frustrating. The theft of thousands of dollars worth of equipment with the threat of violence in a known location and the police aren't interested?

Police exist to protect capital, not labor. The system is working as intended.

The crime described in the article hurts capital too. Many companies have to leave markets due to the costs imposed by the described criminality. This bifurcation betweem labor and capital is an invention of socialists/unions, to draw attention away from the exploitation that they demand.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#83

Post by lizknope »

ThePadawan wrote: post #66
rightbyte wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, there have appeared automated boxes for recipients to pick up packages. You mean a mail box?

(I cannot tell if you're being sarcastic or genuine). Yes, except (before COVID) if you were at work, and the mail carrier tried to deliver a package to your house unsuccessfully, they would take it with them again. Or they would leave it outside the house, where it could be stolen. Then, starting the next day, you could go to the nearest pickup site (and depending on the carrier, this either means the post office, w…

I live in a pretty safe suburb in the United States so I'm fine with packages left at my front door. In 20 years I have never had a package stolen.

For high value packages that require a signature I have them redirected to a UPS or FedEx store 1-2 miles from my house. This can be done by making a UPS or FedEx account which allows you to redirect packages. I can then pick them up after work and the line is never more than 1 or 2 people.

Amazon has recently introduced "Key by Amazon" which allows them to open your garage door and put the packages inside your garage.

https://www.amazon.com/primeinsider/tips/in-garage-qa.html

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#84

Post by jollybean »

humanistbot wrote: post #80
rightbyte wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, there have appeared automated boxes for recipients to pick up packages. You mean a mail box?

It looks like you're trying to make a clever joke in the style of mocking SV types for reinventing products that have existed for generations, except you're wrong. The parent means the Amazon delivery locker kiosks they're putting in all kinds of retail stores, where you enter a code to unlock the locker with your package. It is secure from theft, has variable sizes, works 24/7 with no waiting for a clerk, and can fi…

So a mailbox with a lock then?

We should have had that in 1980. 5 'large mailboxes' for the apartment building, the postman sets the code, locks it, and leaves writes the code on a piece of paper and leaves it in your slot.

This is not 'Silicon Valley' innovation.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#85

Post by refurb »

bradleyjg wrote: post #60
tazjin wrote: post #51

It's always strange to read these reports from American cities that sound like something out of war-torn countries. Delivery workers grouping together to defend themselves against hordes of bandits, in well-known places, with no police protection? What the ...? This sort of thing would be unthinkable in central Moscow and most other large European city centres (the only European city I've ever felt unsafe in is Bruss…

For a while there, NYC was very safe. Then de Blasio got elected. Hopefully, Eric Adams can turn around the disaster Bill is leaving him.

SF was always rough but has definitely gotten a bit more lawless.

I wonder if we’re seeing history repeat itself? Cities grew in the 50’s, then saw people leave in the 60-70’s, then return in the 90’s.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#86

Post by blamazon »

Gaessaki wrote: post #65
karlkloss wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget folding locks. They're too easy to break. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs8uyPsDaw0 I think that bike theft should be handled the way that horse theft was handled in the wild west.

Yeah, I’ve been following LPL’s videos and it seems like securing a bike with a lock from even a moderately determined attacker seems to be a hopeless task.

All you have to do is make the bike slightly less attractive for theft than the next one, which is not too hard if you often park next to other bikes.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#87

Post by refurb »

eru wrote: post #31
pjc50 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes? Especially if it's a bike. Police are incredibly bad at handling low-level property crime.

Not in all jurisdictions. My adopted home of Singapore seems to handle this really well. There's always stories of people leaving there wallets and phones to reserve tables at the food court. Without any issue.

Having spent time in Singapore, plenty of crime never makes the news. Talk to some of the folks who do their National Service with the SPF.

But yes, it’s definitely a low crime jurisdiction but I don’t think enforcement has that much to do with it.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#88

Post by crispyambulance »

bradleyjg wrote: post #60
tazjin wrote: post #51

It's always strange to read these reports from American cities that sound like something out of war-torn countries. Delivery workers grouping together to defend themselves against hordes of bandits, in well-known places, with no police protection? What the ...? This sort of thing would be unthinkable in central Moscow and most other large European city centres (the only European city I've ever felt unsafe in is Bruss…

For a while there, NYC was very safe. Then de Blasio got elected. Hopefully, Eric Adams can turn around the disaster Bill is leaving him.

"Safety" in a city is an outcome of a very large number of interconnected factors. It is not under the control of any one mayor or police commissioner. More importantly, perception plays a large role in how people judge the safety a city or a neighborhood.

"Safe" is also very hard to define. Safe for who? Safe in what sense? It's a giant grey area and no one has ever been able to "solve" the crime problem. Getting tough on crime doesn't work, nor does endless social programs, nor does sweeping it under the rug.

Hopefully Adams will take a pragmatic approach and do what he can without making it worse. I wish him well.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#89

Post by bradleyjg »

refurb wrote: post #85
bradleyjg wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a while there, NYC was very safe. Then de Blasio got elected. Hopefully, Eric Adams can turn around the disaster Bill is leaving him.

SF was always rough but has definitely gotten a bit more lawless. I wonder if we’re seeing history repeat itself? Cities grew in the 50’s, then saw people leave in the 60-70’s, then return in the 90’s.

The usual explanations for the prior crime wave were exogenous—crack cocaine and leaded gasoline are the two I’ve seen most frequently.

On the other hand, this latest round seems to be the result of poor policy choices.

Re: Revolt of the Delivery Workers

#90

Post by yardie »

noja wrote: post #64
Gaessaki wrote: post #43

We’ve recently started deploying expensive e-cargo bikes for our food delivery coop[1] to try to whittle down our carbon footprint and increase efficiency in urban areas. We have a similar problem of trying to protect our delivery assets (though not nearly as bad as the plight of the gig workers in the article given that our workers can count on the coop and also because Montreal is generally safer than NYC). Our thr…

Make your bikes uglier.

Unfortunately, this is the honest answer. The best bikelocks in the world can be cut with a $100 cordless angle grinder and $20 carbide blade. I watched the CCTV footage of the thief walk up with a Dewalt multitool and hack through my $50 U-lock in 30 seconds.

The same technology that can propel a Tesla to 100km/h in under 5 secs is also the same technology in new cordless powertools. And the theives steal those too!

Your only real defense is for them to have something better to steal. Make your bike uglier!

Post reply on HN