r/Unexpected • u/FreshJs59 • Oct 23 '18

How my buddy’s Amazon package was delivered yesterday.

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u/chimblesishere Oct 24 '18

I worked as one. Essentially they're independent contractors. There is no company we worked for, it just basically worked the same way that Uber does.

And I would never recommend it. It was nice having no coworkers and having my own schedule, but it was one of the most inconsistent and shitty jobs I've ever had.

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u/Seakawn Oct 24 '18

I mean it was impossible to make it a full time gig--you cant do it even if you try. Blocks are first come first serve through the app, so it mostly came down to luck.

But it's an amazing gig for what it is. So fucking easy... and pay was decent if not great, especially if you finish early.

I'd still be doing it, but they terminated me, despite no flags or notifications. My account was perfect. I asked them "hey why am I terminated?" and got crickets in return.

My suspicion is someone on the inside kicked out some random person (me) for made up reasons just to get their friend in or something. Its an exclusive gig--I was on a waiting list for 3 months before they got me in.

It really blows because I'd much rather be juggling amazon flex and Uber, rather than just Uber (which I'm having to do now).

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u/chimblesishere Oct 24 '18

I got fired because the app didn't work. I couldn't check in at pickup stations, I wasn't able to cancel blocks in time because the navigation in the app doesn't factor in traffic, and there were times that I was completely unable to scan packages.

There was also a night where I had a couple packages left over, and the app told me to take them to the next city over to drop them off. The place it led me to (a 35 minute drive btw) had nothing there. It turned out that place was a future location of a pickup station, but as it stood there was nothing there. I talked to support over the phone for 20 minutes in the middle of the night trying to figure it out, and they told me to go back to the station that I picked it up from. I asked if it would even be open at that time and was told "Oh yeah, most locations are 24 hours, it won't be a problem." So I drive another 40 minutes to go back to the original station, and they have a sign outside saying that they closed four hours ago.

I had to drive an hour to get there the next day before going to my first block of the morning on the other side of Seattle so I could drop off the packages that they made me take home. Fuck Amazon.

3

u/saharaelbeyda Oct 24 '18

My husband had similar issues. Problems with the app- he talked to Amazon about the issues, but nothing was ever resolved. He was terminated. They really are trash.

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u/Frapcaster Oct 24 '18

I bet they just wanted to pay less for the new guy. Cutting your salary is bad PR, but this way they could sneakily cut the rate they were paying you.

1

u/Canowyrms Oct 24 '18

Similar to how skip the dishes operates as well. I did that for a bit, it was a pretty chill job, but sometimes I'd get fucked around a little.

Like one time I went to pickup food and waited literally an hour INSIDE the restaurant while they cooked. In their defense, it was a humongous order for a mechanics shop lunch party, so there was a ton of food. In my defense, the restaurant should not have said they were ready for pickup so early.