The U.K. Gig Economy

[Saul Goodman]

I finished earlier than expected yesterday so Amazon’s algorithm works out extra drops for the next day so they can pull back any perceived un-worked time - the bunch of fucking twats as it doesn’t work both ways

If you know this is how it works, why didn't you just drive/work slower yesterday?

 

[hash tag]

What would you do?
I want want it over and done with and get home as soon as.

 

[Marty1]

If you know this is how it works, why didn't you just drive/work slower yesterday?

Some days just go that way (rare for me) - plus - the algorithm is very sophisticated and is difficult to game.

I can go into detail later.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Some days just go that way (rare for me) - plus - the algorithm is very sophisticated and is difficult to game.

I can go into detail later.

I'm genuinely interested. If I worked directly or indirectly for Amazon, I'd be doing my utmost to screw them at every opportunity, or at least trying to make sure they couldn't screw me.

 

[Marty1]

I'm genuinely interested. If I worked directly or indirectly for Amazon, I'd be doing my utmost to screw them at every opportunity, or at least trying to make sure they couldn't screw me.

The algorithm puts a drivers work day performance under the microscope - most routes are in a variety of area types - terraced housing, private estates, commercial, apartments, city, rural, semi-rural etc etc and knows how quick an average drivers can complete certain areas so it knows how easy or hard an area can be. But if you happen to be familiar with a certain area that is usually harder for most drivers but you do it quicker than the average - the algorithm picks that up too.

So - if you fly through say 3/4 of your route then cruise through the final quarter - the algorithm understands what you’re doing to a certain extent - it will identify the area you are cruising in and allocate you a route the next day that is closer to the first 3/4 of your previous days route to justify giving you that level of route.

Some drivers have flown thru a route in 5 hours then left one drop left to do but not swiped to finish the drop until hours later thinking they can trick the algorithm but - no, it knows that too.

If you’re a new driver you get small 65% routes at first which then increase to 80% then full routes. The minimum amount of drops per hour Amazon require in a built up urban area is 15. If you just stuck at doing 15 per hour Amazon would slightly increase the route and drivers would speed up a little to get finished the same time of day - and this continues until you kind of level off. But there’s also the following to also understand:

I only know a few drivers who beat the algorithm - one guy in particular from my old firm of drivers - he could complete any (urban) route in 5 - 6hrs. Amazon’s algorithm can’t add more drops to him as the capacity of his van doesn’t allow it as he’s already maxed the algorithm out. So this guy - in Amazon’s eyes is getting paid for 9hrs but he’s only doing 5hrs work - that’s how they see it or should I say thats how Amazon code their algorithm to see it as. The reality is that this guy is delivering a staggering amount of parcels in half the time average/normal drivers would. So are Amazon losing out (in their eyes) to this laws of physics defying guy? Probably not - I don’t know if this is exactly true but it wouldn’t surprise me - but one of the managers said that those surplus hours are added onto other drivers routes the next day - evenly dispersed on say - 20/25 separate routes.

 

[Supine]

I’ve got an appointment for a possible new job on Monday.

Nothing may come of it but still promising

With all your experience you should be able to knock out 100+ interviews a day

 

[Marty1]

With all your experience you should be able to knock out 100+ interviews a day

Yeah, only this prospective job is driving 7.5t vans - quite a bit bigger that what I’m driving now. Makes me a bit apprehensive tbh.

 

[hash tag]

7.5 tonners are fine, Just remember where the steering wheels are in relation to where you are sitting and you'll be fine. Just turn a fraction later....

 

[hash tag]

BTW. It's been years since I drove a 7.5 tonner. No training, nothing. I was handed the keys and told remember where you sit in relation to the wheels!
(this was in central Lonodn for a charity).
Good luck for tomorrow

 

[Marty1]

BTW. It's been years since I drove a 7.5 tonner. No training, nothing. I was handed the keys and told remember where you sit in relation to the wheels!
(this was in central Lonodn for a charity).
Good luck for tomorrow

Not sure I’ll take this job (if I’m offered it).

It’s delivering sofas, garden furniture etc, particularly white goods such as washing machines which require removing customers old machine and installing new one (no hardship other than the physical weight of them but you have a drivers mate to assist in the heavy lifting). They also mentioned that they deliver quite a lot of American style fridge freezers. I know at the moment this job is easier than it can be due to the pandemic as you just drop these very heavy items off outside customers homes as they are not allowed to enter inside - but eventually this will stop and the job will entail installing and setting up taking items inside.

They also mentioned the possibility of a ‘platinum service’ which they don’t do yet from their particular depot - but sounded like they would introduce eventually which consisted of delivering flat pack furniture to customers, then assemble it and removing all packaging materials - the last thing I attempted to assemble was a garden bench. I lost my temper and stamped on it cracking the wood so it ended up being thrown away.

You start work at 6am and finish ‘when the job is done’, covering around 200 miles per day.

Where it’s situated would add approx 5 hrs commute to my week and added fuel costs.

As for the pay - it’s not great, slightly lower than what I earn now though you do get holiday pay as an advantage.

So - yeah, not particularly up for this job tbh. An ex Amazon colleague works there and loves it and got me the interview which was good of him but I just don’t share his enthusiasm.

 

[cupid_stunt]

assemble it and removing all packaging materials - the last thing I attempted to assemble was a garden bench. I lost my temper and stamped on it cracking the wood so it ended up being thrown away.

Congratulations on your graduation from the Cupid Stunt School of DIY.

 

[hash tag]

You finish when you finish.....estimated time to construct flat pack wardrobe 1 hour 10. Estimated time it would take me...3hours.
There may be a little flaw in that.

 

[Marty1]

Fucking clutch has gone now

 

[hash tag]

Looks like storm clouds are brewing

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I ordered some more shit on Amazon yesterday, and after my last string debacle, tried to be efficient and group things into as few deliveries as possible. None of it is urgent after all.

It doesn't bloody let you though. Even after I finished I got more emails saying they'd split the delivery up.

We thought you'd like to know that we've dispatched this portion of your order separately to give you a quicker service, at no additional cost to you. The remainder of your order will follow as soon as those items become available.

The algorithm has spoken - you must obey, humans.

This is only for things being delivered via Amazon Logistics - other couriers won't have the integration with the stock system to do this, it isn't their job.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Fucking clutch has gone now

View attachment 213472

How old is your van, it looks fairly new?

And, what make & model, so I can avoid them in the future?

 

[cupid_stunt]

I ordered some more shit on Amazon yesterday, and after my last string debacle, tried to be efficient and group things into as few deliveries as possible. None of it is urgent after all.

It doesn't bloody let you though. Even after I finished I got more emails saying they'd split the delivery up.

The algorithm has spoken - you must obey, humans.

This is only for things being delivered via Amazon Logistics - other couriers won't have the integration with the stock system to do this, it isn't their job.

That normally happens when different items are dispatched from different warehouses, a single Amazon warehouse doesn't hold the complete offering on their site.

 

[Marty1]

How old is your van, it looks fairly new?

And, what make & model, so I can avoid them in the future?

2017 Ford Transit Custom Limited - was only a year old when I got it, lovely to drive when it works but I’ve had a lot of grief with it but like the recovery guy said - the amount of stop-starting I do with the job causes a lot of wear and tear.

Another lad from our company has a Renault Trafic which broke down a couple of months ago - blown turbo - luckily he’d taken out an extended warranty otherwise he’d have had a fortune to pay out.

This current pandemic is causing absolute mayhem with dealer repairs - mine won’t accept van until 27th so in meantime I’ve got a courtesy van being dropped off tomorrow morning courtesy of Ford through the warranty that’s still left on it (expires next month).

 

[maomao]

I ordered some more shit on Amazon yesterday, and after my last string debacle, tried to be efficient and group things into as few deliveries as possible. None of it is urgent after all.

It doesn't bloody let you though. Even after I finished I got more emails saying they'd split the delivery up.

I thought this was because the items were in different warehouses.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

That normally happens when different items are dispatched from different warehouses, a single Amazon warehouse doesn't hold the complete offering on their site.

I thought this was because the items were in different warehouses.

It could well be, but I'm not informed of that when making the order, and there's no "actually can you please just send it to me all at once" response I can make.

 

[Marty1]

It could well be, but I'm not informed of that when making the order, and there's no "actually can you please just send it to me all at once" response I can make.

Amazon are hoping you’ll be super amaze on how quick they are shipping your part order out to you - they don’t cater for the environmentally considerate - consider yourself an anomaly to their system.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Amazon are hoping you’ll be super amaze on how quick they are shipping your part order out to you - they don’t cater for the environmentally considerate - consider yourself an anomaly to their system.

There's a huge angry essay that I have on this topic but it kind of boils down to:

1. if you can't be smart, be predictable within the limits of your smartness;
2. you are about 1% as smart as you think you are.

Amazon wins on the bits where it doesn't try to be smart in terms of predicting what people want, just physical reality - logistics basically, it has a brutally efficient end-to-end logistics system, which mostly only benefits Amazon but reduces average delivery times. It is toilet when it comes to predicting what people want, no matter how many hugely smart folk they have in their dev teams. When those two things interact the "thinking we are smart" always wins out for corporate decisions, and loses in reality.

But this is standard. They all think they are smart. Advertising has been getting "smarter and smarter" for years now and oh look, internet advertising has been hugely tanking for about the same length of time.

 

[Marty1]

We’ve been told that our extra £2 per hour hazard pay has been extended again till the end of this month - but then it’s will almost definitely stop and go back to standard rate (you can bet that our routes will still remain heavy).

Meanwhile:

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was trending on Twitter as users debated the possibility of him becoming a trillionaire

The world’s richest man will be even richer in a few years — the first trillionaire — and a global pandemic may only be speeding up that process.

www.marketwatch.com

Jeff Bezos might become the world's first trillionaire, and no one can handle it

The memes have not stopped.

www.dailydot.com

 

[hash tag]

There's a huge angry essay that I have on this topic but it kind of boils down to:

1. if you can't be smart, be predictable within the limits of your smartness;
2. you are about 1% as smart as you think you are.

Amazon wins on the bits where it doesn't try to be smart in terms of predicting what people want, just physical reality - logistics basically, it has a brutally efficient end-to-end logistics system, which mostly only benefits Amazon but reduces average delivery times. It is toilet when it comes to predicting what people want, no matter how many hugely smart folk they have in their dev teams. When those two things interact the "thinking we are smart" always wins out for corporate decisions, and loses in reality.

But this is standard. They all think they are smart. Advertising has been getting "smarter and smarter" for years now and oh look, internet advertising has been hugely tanking for about the same length of time.

They are smart, millions of people spend billions with them eveyday and helping that nice Mr Bezos

 

[MickiQ]

I ordered some more shit on Amazon yesterday, and after my last string debacle, tried to be efficient and group things into as few deliveries as possible. None of it is urgent after all.

It doesn't bloody let you though. Even after I finished I got more emails saying they'd split the delivery up.

The algorithm has spoken - you must obey, humans.

This is only for things being delivered via Amazon Logistics - other couriers won't have the integration with the stock system to do this, it isn't their job.

I get those emails as well it pisses me off, the machine is not only overruling me, it's demanding I'm grateful for it.

 

[hash tag]

I guess if you use Amazon you except their "rules" as it were. Their marketing, their manipulation etc.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I guess if you use Amazon you except their "rules" as it were. Their marketing, their manipulation etc.

I don't see why.

 

[Marty1]

I guess if you use Amazon you except their "rules" as it were. Their marketing, their manipulation etc.

Speaking of marketing and manipulation:

Amazon won't commit to Jeff Bezos testimony over misuse of seller data

Amazon has hinted that it might not send Jeff Bezos to testify before Congress despite politicians' requests.

www.engadget.com

 

[hash tag]

I don't see why.

Do me a favour. When you have told Amazon what your terms are, let me know what they say.

 

[Marty1]

So - I’m supposed to be taking delivery of a courtesy van this morning at 10am - when it got to 10.15 and no show so thought I’d check up.

Turns out they’ve got me down as picking up a small caddy van from their local depot So now they’re scrambling a larger van (as I requested yesterday) to deliver ‘within the hour’.

Ive rang work to tell them the situation but there’s been too many fuck ups to ensure I can get to work in a timely fashion today.

This is what happens when there’s too many moving parts in the chain - Ford recovery who pass it to - AA who then pass it to van hire company = shit.