Reviews Stories Working for a Dsp That Delivers for Amazon
I felt like Santa Claus earlier this calendar month — the Amazon.com version, at to the lowest degree.
I've spent the past few weekends trying my hand as a driver for Amazon Flex, the company'southward Uber-esque platform that lets everyday people similar you and me deliver packages with our own cars.
The program, which debuted in 2015 and is now active in 50 cities, helps Amazon complete the "final mile" for customer orders — the final stretch of a delivery that is short in distance, yet often the most expensive function of the e-commerce supply chain. It'south becoming increasingly of import as Amazon's shipping costs could airship to $seven billion this holiday quarter while the tech giant meets growing client expectations — in particular from its Prime number members, who pay $99 per yr to receive costless two-24-hour interval shipping on millions of items, amidst other benefits.
Amazon Flex covers not only Amazon.com orders, only also items from Prime Now, the company'due south two-hour commitment service; AmazonFresh, its grocery delivery service; and Amazon Restaurants.
My experience thus far has been fascinating and actually sort of fun during the holidays, when many are relying on Amazon for their souvenir shopping. It's not a glamorous high-paying job by any ways — yous're a contractor, not an employee, using your own car and paying for your ain gas without any direct benefits from Amazon. But it'due south also relatively simple, thanks to Amazon'southward impressive applied science and demand for more than people to evangelize packages.
The slick Amazon Flex app powers everything, from scanning your packages at a pickup center, to figuring out what routes to take, to ultimately confirming that an club has been delivered — which includes taking photos of packages left at a doorstep.
I've done two shifts for Amazon.com orders and made $118.50 total, not counting gas expenses and overall vesture and tear on my car. They were quite different — one evening I only had to deliver three packages and made $60, while a week subsequently I spent nigh three hours on a Sat afternoon stopping at more than 35 different houses within a half-mile of each other. (Note: I'm donating my earnings to GeekWire'south Geeks Give Back entrada to back up the Washington Country Opportunity Scholarship)
It's funny watching customer reactions when a guy in a beanie, hoodie, and sweatpants — not a uniformed UPS or USPS driver, for case — shows upward on their doorstep, package in paw.
"Are they doing private deliveries now?" asked one overnice elderly adult female as she did a double-take.
(Side annotation: Amazon says "yous are free to choose your attire while delivering for Amazon Flex.")
To become a Flex driver for Amazon.com deliveries, you need to come across some basic requirements; a smartphone and a iv-door vehicle for starters. Amazon as well runs a background cheque and asks you lot to watch a series of instructional videos that are ever attainable on the app. Other than that, it'southward pretty piece of cake to join the programme.
Once activated on Flex, you find work by checking on available "blocks" that Amazon offers, which frequently change and vary on fourth dimension, pay, and pickup location.
First 24-hour interval on the job
For my outset effort, I chose a $60 3-hr shift from 6 p.m. to 9 p.one thousand. on a Sunday evening, starting from the pickup center in Seattle'due south Georgetown neighborhood. The app pushed a notification one hour prior, providing me directions to the center.
I rolled upwardly and waited in a long line of cars besides working the same shift. I had a nervous excitement, kind of like arriving on the commencement twenty-four hour period of a job. After driving into the warehouse and parking, I found an Amazon rep who had a QR code I scanned with the app that checked me in. He noted that there weren't a ton of packages to be delivered on this item night.
The evening shift seemed to consist partly of packages that couldn't be delivered past other drivers during the day. I was only given three orders, all of which were to customers in the Bellevue area, eastward of Seattle.
I scanned each bundle with the app and put them in my car. Ane was extremely heavy and large; I wondered how I was going to actually get this to someone's doorstep by myself.
When I was set up to leave, the app automatically directed me to the first cease, as decided by Amazon's algorithms. You tin can also choose your ain road and order of commitment, but I followed what Amazon provided. The maps software is based on Here, originally adult by Nokia. Amazon may be avoiding Google Maps or Apple tree Maps because it wants to keep its commitment information close to the belong.
After arriving at the first house, the app automatically knew where I was and prompted me to scan the package. It noted that at that place was "no recipient needed," meaning I did not take to manus the package to a person. I rang the doorbell — Amazon recommends this for deliveries before eight p.m. — and handed off the box to my start customer. Amazon asked me where I left the package — the recipient; a receptionist; forepart door; back door; secure mailroom; etc. — and I checked off the appropriate box.
Next upwardly was an apartment, which proved to be much more complicated. The recipient did provide an access lawmaking, but it was difficult finding the specific complex, especially in the night. I spent an actress x minutes trying to locate the actual flat.
Finally, I arrived at the door and knocked. No ane responded. This was another "no recipient needed," but when I selected the "forepart door," the app asked me to take a photo of where I left the package. This was one of several times during my Amazon Flex piece of work when I thought about the increasing number of package thefts and what companies are doing to prevent them.
The app does provide a fashion to call the customer or Amazon support, which is helpful. If you're unable to deliver a packet, yous drive back to the pickup center when your shift is complete and driblet it off.
On the way to my third delivery, I had some time left in my block, so I stopped for a quick seize with teeth at Burgermaster — a classic joint effectually Seattle, and a favorite of Nib Gates.
Speaking of Gates, my third and final parcel was addressed to a dwelling house in his Medina neighborhood. It wasn't for the Microsoft co-founder, but the home seemed like a mansion at the end of a windy road. The packet itself was massive, and I barely could lift it up the stairs to the doorstep. It seemed a little unreasonable for Amazon to expect a Flex driver to deliver this box, particularly to this specific dwelling, without whatsoever assist from a trolley or cart.
The customer greeted me at the door and had a lot of questions: why was I driving a regular car? Does Amazon deliver on Lord's day?
My job was done after 71 minutes and twenty miles of driving, with a burger intermission in betwixt — not bad for $threescore. Amazon asked a few survey questions at the stop of the shift every bit a style for me to provide feedback.
My next Flex feel was much, much different.
41 packages, 3 hours, $58.50
I nabbed a 3-hour shift on a Saturday afternoon, ready to start at a facility in North Seattle. This 1 was much different — not a big warehouse, just a pocket-sized defended Amazon Flex role with a parking lot.
I parked, walked into the office, and checked in by scanning a QR code. Shortly afterwards that, a friendly attendant lifted a bluish cover off of this:
41 packages? For me? In my car? Wowza.
The attendant told me that xv packages per hour was the average workload, so I prepared myself for a full iii-hr shift.
I had watched some how-to Amazon Flex videos on YouTube uploaded by other couriers and learned that some people strategically organized packages in their vehicle depending on accost and drop-off society, to speed up the delivery process.
Later scanning each package with my smartphone, I wasn't quite sure how to position each box in my auto to optimize for efficiency. I wish Amazon fabricated this process more than systemic, considering I concluded up spending a lot of time searching for the right bundle during my drive.
This shift took much longer than my first — two hours and 25 minutes — but I drove less than 10 miles. Some quick observations from this particular shift:
- All 41 packages were within a i-mile radius. At some points there were deliveries for iii consecutive houses — information technology was some other reminder of how dominant Amazon has get.
- I saw several Ring doorbells, which seem like a good mode to forbid package theft or at to the lowest degree take a way to run into what's going on your doorstep.
- When I had an issue, the app seemed to have an answer. For example, sometimes my GPS wouldn't find that I was at a particular address and the app wouldn't allow me to go along with a delivery. However there was an option in the app — "I'm at the address but my GPS isn't working" — that let you go along, which was clutch.
- I felt a niggling nervous leaving my car running while I made a delivery — I had 41-plus packages in the dorsum of my car that were clearly visible.
- I as well wondered if people thought I was a porch pirate, given my attire and how I was walking effectually carrying Amazon boxes. This commodity notes Amazon drivers being confused for thieves.
- Sometimes it was tough finding a prophylactic identify to park, especially on busy streets.
- The work was somewhat labor intensive — getting in and out of your machine each time, carrying heavy packages, etc.
- I forgot to scan 1 bundle at the outset, so I had to bring information technology back to the Amazon Flex pickup facility when my shift was over.
Analysis
Amazon Flex, similar other gig economy services such as Uber or Postmates, provides people with an like shooting fish in a barrel manner to make some cash. Signing upwards is simple; the work isn't too demanding; and y'all get paid within a few days.
Amazon says y'all can make up to $18-to-$25 per hour. Later subtracting costs of gas; parking/tolls; smartphone data usage; and wear and tear of your auto, the pay seems to exist a little more than minimum wage. The job can also get stressful when you deal with flat buildings, app errors, or other problems.
But beingness able to pick from enough of shifts and brand a quick buck is pretty nice, peculiarly if you're trying to pay a nib or supplement your primary income. To that point, information technology would exist difficult to justify doing Amazon Flex for a full-time gig.
"Amazon Flex provides a flexible opportunity for Delivery Partners looking to turn free time into supplemental or part-fourth dimension income," Amazon'south FAQ folio reads. "The available delivery blocks may fluctuate week to calendar week and are not guaranteed."
My feel so far has been pretty smooth, merely a quick look on Glassdoor and Indeed reveals some complaints. Other Flex drivers are also suing Amazon, claiming that they should exist treated as employees, non contractors.
This Gizmodo story also described Amazon Flex as "a network of supposedly self-employed, utterly expendable couriers enrolled in an app-based program which some believe may violate labor laws." It noted that "government agencies and customers alike are nearly oblivious to the program'due south beingness."
Does Amazon Flex make sense economically for the company? Amazon paid me $sixty to deliver iii packages — not and then sustainable — simply it also paid me $58.50 to deliver 41 packages, which comes out to about $1.fifty per order.
It's unclear how that stacks up to a paying a company like UPS, or a tertiary-party delivery provider like OnTrac. One thing is certain: Amazon'due south drones, if they ever arrive, would be much more than toll-effective.
So why did Amazon launch Amazon Flex? Put simply, the visitor needs help. Long ago, Amazon relied on USPS and UPS to get its packages delivered. Fast forward to today, though, and the visitor is non only selling more than products on its site, but also guaranteeing speedy delivery to customers, in particular its valuable Prime members.
Amazon Flex is just 1 office of the company'southward expansive logistics network. As it continues to make more first- and 3rd-party products available on its site, many of which are eligible for 2-day shipping, Amazon is looking at new means to manage and deliver the inventory.
The tech behemothic still relies on USPS and UPS, just it too now uses its own trailer trucks and jumbo jets to deliver packages.
For 3rd political party sellers, Amazon is reportedly testing a service called "Seller Flex" in the U.S. that consists of the company picking up packages sold on its site directly from the third-political party warehouses. It'southward an expansion of Fulfillment by Amazon.
"Handling more deliveries itself would give Amazon greater flexibility and control over the last mile to shoppers' doorsteps, allow information technology save coin through book discounts, and assist avoid congestion in its ain warehouses by keeping merchandise in the outside sellers' ain facilities," Bloomberg reported in October.
The company besides recently expanded its Lockers concept with a Amazon Hub, a new commitment locker for apartment lobbies that accepts packages from any sender, shipped via any carrier. It's the latest motility by Amazon to expand its physical retail and commitment infrastructure, ranging from its Whole Foods acquisition to its rollout of the Treasure Truck into new markets across the land.
As Amazon invests more into its commitment infrastructure, the visitor'southward traditional retail rivals, including Walmart, All-time Purchase and Target, are also spending big on their own due east-commerce and aircraft initiatives in an effort to continue up with the eastward-commerce juggernaut.
Amazon has an advantage over those competitors, in that information technology tin can leverage growing profits from its Amazon Web Services deject calculating division to allow its e-commerce operations to run on razor-thin profits margins, and even at a loss.
Amazon's rising shipping costs and related initiatives to manage delivery logistics also demonstrate the larger shift toward online shopping. For the first time this year, shoppers surveyed by Deloitte say they are planning to spend a bulk of their holiday budgets online — 51 percent — compared with 42 percent in shop, and vii percentage through catalogs and direct mail. Adobe reported that a record $6.59 billion was spent online in the U.Due south. on Cyber Monday, an increase of 16.8 percent year-over-year — the largest online shopping day in history.
And then all that being said, would I recommend driving for Amazon Flex? I found the chore to be straight-forwards and relatively stress free. A few 3-hour shifts here and there provide overnice little boost to your wallet. It's nice knowing what work you'll be doing, at what fourth dimension, and how much you'll exist paid upfront, versus driving around for a platform similar Uber where information technology's a chip more spontaneous.
Amazon Flex isn't the right fit if you're looking for full-time work, but if you have some free time and don't mind driving your ain car for the task and using your ain smartphone, information technology's worth a look.
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Source: https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-delivery-driver-like-work-tech-giants-citizen-package-brigade/
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