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Next time you’re wondering why your parcel hasn’t arrived on time, have a think about the delivery driver who may have brought your parcel.
‘This is just no way to live’: What it’s like delivering parcels for Amazon
Amazon Flex Delivery Driver Perspective
sween64 on 29/08/2021 - 10:07
Last edited 29/08/2021 - 10:40 by 1 other user
Last edited 29/08/2021 - 10:40 by 1 other user
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I find this article so frustrating, 95% of my blocks are pretty easy, I get to listen to my music, I’m happy with the extra cash, it works into my limitations (single mum, illness etc) so I can pick and chose when I work.
Amazon have been amazing, I had a bad fall doing a delivery and ended up in hospital. Amazon checked up on my several times, made sure to arrange a collection of my parcels and even though I am contractor paid me a form of compensation which they were in no way shape or form obliged to.
On hot days they have icy poles etc at the station for the drivers and when my car was damaged at the depot they promptly covered the cost of the damage to my car.
I am not sure why Alex is having such issues with his deliveries or if he is over exaggerating for the media, but I’ve never had a shift take the allotted time, usually half the time.
Yes there is some room for improvement within the way the program is run but I think it’s great.
I am not sure why Alex is having such issues with his deliveries or if he is over exaggerating for the media, but I’ve never had a shift take the allotted time, usually half the time.
I've no doubt that it's at least a slight exaggeration.
However, I think it is due to a mismatch of expectations. You want a job that is flexible so it suits you. The dude seems to want a job that is stable. The two literally contradict each other, you can't have a job that is both stable and flexible.
E.g. I have a full time job that is stable. I know it is ongoing and very unlikely I'll randomly get fired, but I have to book my leave weeks in advance, I basically have no flexibility as to how busy I am and how much I have to do…etc. On the other hand, if I were driving Uber, then I can easily choose to take a day off and watch the footy if I didn't feel like working.
Yep, sounds like it's a crap job. So what do you want? Amazon should provide better conditions, super, higher pay, car allowance etc. Sounds great however those things don't magic their way out of thin air. They cost. Where does that cost come from?
Either the goods have to increase in price (thereby persevering the margin for Amazon), the goods have to be acquired cheaper (probably already as cheap as they will go for someone's time to produce them, or would you like these people to work for free so you can have a better pay rate?) or the final answer which you will all pick, Amazon should foot the bill.
They are a private company with expectations on the returns they want to make for each item sold, they don't have to sell items they won't make an acceptable level of profit on.
So where does this leave us. Either Amazon just sells the more profitable items, decreasing the amount of deliveries being required and therefore decreasing the jobs on offer. Or the cost of delivery goes up to accommodate the benefits, less people buy the goods therefore less jobs again. Or the cost of delivery increases to the point where it is not economical for Amazon to offer Flex jobs anymore therefore all these jobs disappear and Auspost gets more work. Auspost might hire 1/10th of the people Flex employs to make up for the increased work load.
These jobs didn't exist a few years ago and we got by without them. What were you doing before Flex? Just do that again, you already have experience in it. If no one wants to do it then conditions will improve or Amazon will find another way to get their packages delivered.
The math also shows that amazon is paying minimum wage at the very least plus the casual rate. Maybe even extra if you budget less for car costs or have the jobs completed in less time (as several posters here suggest).
So shouldn’t the argument be about increasing minimum wage and not boycotting Amazon because they’re not paying well above minimum wage?
There are a lot of small businesses that really can't afford a bump to minimum wage. It's not just the big companies that pay minimum wage, it's the coffee shop down the street that is barely getting by that also pays it and they can't take anymore hits.
Also Australia has a very generous minimum wage. Very few countries you can get a job with zero skills and experience and still make $20 an hour! Yes the cost of living is higher as well but it's by no means poverty wages.
I agree. I was simply pointing this out as there are many people in the thread that think that paying a $20/hr minimum wage is apparently exploiting an employee.
$20/hr minimum wage is apparently exploiting an employee.
That's a full time/part time pay rate. This rate also includes sick pay, holiday pay, and super. Minimum wage casual is that plus 25% loading. That also requires no cost to the worker, eg they don't have to use their own car/fuel/insurance etc. The reason these are "contract" positions, is to get around this minimum wage "problem".
The problem is treating these like a full time job, which is now how it should be done.
I do Amazon deliveries on Saturdays (Higher rates) and on my RDO as some easy money. I put the radio on, wind down the windows and get to it. Not bad for a couple of hundred bucks extra a month during lockdown, when I can't do anything else anyway.
You hear that Bezos?
Australians are unhappy with your third world wages and demand change!
Either pay more or leave Australia altogether, you will be hurting!
Amazon pays so low because they micromanage via technology.
So their staff can be extremely low quality and still get the job done. These people likely could not graduate from primary school if tested.
They cannot get work anywhere else and quite frankly it is charitable for them to be active and supported by what is effectively robots in this way. Far better than sitting in a council flat fully on government support for both them and us.
I find your comment rather offensive and narrow minded.
I have attended university, started ran a successful business for over a decade and due to unexpected health issues I can longer do full time, don’t worry I wish I could.
I’ve found Amazon to be a great source of extra cash on days where I can work, it is no where near as bad as the article makes out, usual pay works out around $40+ per hour given blocks usually only take a couple of hours.
So, no we are not uneducated but sometimes life throws curveballs and personally I’m thankful that Amazon Flex is available.
Aussie post brings my amazon orders.
Having a job / gig / whatever earns you $, is a privilege not a right …
You choose to work or not to - simple really
Bloke from the article doesnt look like the sharpest tool in the shed, has got some balls going public as well.
Looks like a whinger to be honest, anyone thats successful in life put in the hard yards early, to make sure that later on in life, they were setup and didnt have to worry about working for minimum wage.
The people on minimum wage call these hard working people lucky. Their not lucky, your just lazy and want to blame someone else for your failures, in this case: amazon.
would happily do this job because it suits me to a T.
Want more money.. Upskill.. immigrated to Australia when I was very young, mum couldn't speak English and worked for people of the same ethnic and they underpaid the (profanity) out of her.. started at $3/hr after a few months $4/hr.. 8-12hrs/day 5-6days/week. She worked hard, didn't complain, and studied English at the same time.
After a couple of years, she was able to speak English well enough to move to a job that paid $10-12/hr, worked hard, continued to upskill herself and fastforward several years she makes $38/hr. Not a millionaire, not the highest paying job, but it's a far cry from where she started. All blood sweat and tears. Mind you all this while raising me as a single parent.
So forgive me if I don't have too much sympathy for people like Alex.. And based on some of the responses from actual Flex Drivers here in the comments, it just seems like he might be bad at his job.
I seriously don't understand this. When I was young and unskilled (~25 years ago), I delivered pizzas in my own car for $7/hr, plus one dollar per delivery. I loved that job. Adjusted for inflation, $25/hr (all up) sounds about right. Why would anyone expect to get more than this? Nobody in their right mind would consider pizza delivery a "proper job" for a middle-aged man looking to support himself. Why is Amazon delivery any different?
Why do people consider Amazon Flex Delivery to be a full time be all and end all job?
It’s meant to be a source of supplement income yet you get these people expecting it to be a career or something then complain about the wage rates.
The transition to a full blown whinging society is nearly complete.
Looking at this way: big cooperates use gig economy as a way to circumvent regulations (safety, health, and labor agreement). When you sign up for something, how often do you look at pages of terms and conditions, but trusting some sort of industries/gov agencies oversee them to make sure it "fair". For gig economy, workers are on their own. They are enticed by the "flexibility" of the work but do not foresee the hidden cost of the agreement. The burden of these hidden costs are eventually shared by tax payers (for cooperate profits).
No problem if gig economy is for short stints but if people relies it for their livelihood, there must be regulations to cover as if they are full time employee.
These will be the same people complaining if companies like amazon Uber etc didn’t exist. Only ‘flex’ jobs left (these are not full time jobs) are pizza deliveries..
Yeah it's sad.
I happen to have just watched this video, I believe it's the same as the article linked, in video format https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U1EbfX3ZwoSame story was on Triple J’s hack too.
These drivers are employees! They should be paid a minimum wage + super and given a vehicle or payed additionally per km for their own vehicle.
Time to stop using Amazon. It's un-Australia for corporations here to be so greedy. We can all play our part not to fund Bezos's next ego trip / space mission.
This is only for same day deliveries from what i can see….
The kicker is Amazon required all drivers on Flex to waive their right to be involved in any class actions when they sign up to the platform. How is this even legal?
Sometimes I feel bad because I reckon Amazon Prime is too cheap lol… for $60 you get a lot…
Do you guys order 3 pencil and have it delivered under prime?
Oh no you have to work hard for money woe is me.
You telling me I shouldn't buy the $1.55 Fishermans Friends delivered.
I lost 1 parcel last week and 1 still to be tracked down.
Both times I received sms confirmation of the delivery in 10 minutes and I waited at the balcony overlooking the building front door. Waited for 2 hours and 1 hour respectively only to check on tracking to find that it's been delivered or missed the delivery. No delivery car or person in sight.
It's such a waste of time, energy and money. I will get it delivered to a collection point in future if possible. Had been using the AusPost parcelpoints lately and it's been great.
Why would I pity the Amazon delivery drivers when they don't pity me with my delivery?