by Tyler Durden
Sat, 09/05/2020 - 19:20
Amazon.com has suddenly changed
the way its contracted drivers for Whole Foods receive delivery jobs from the
company, after Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that rogue operators
had found a way to game the system by placing smartphones in
trees in order to appear closer to pickup locations,
according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg on Tuesday revealed that drivers were putting smartphones in trees outside Whole Foods and
Amazon delivery stations in the Chicago area to get a jump on rivals. Drivers
in Las Vegas and the Washington, D.C., area also reported spotting mysterious
phones outside Whole Foods locations. -Bloomberg
Now, several drivers in cities around the US have reported receiving more routes despite
being several miles from Amazon-owned Whole Foods, for example. The drivers say
that over the last several weeks, routes have been scarce - however one Chicago-area
Whole Foods says that the cell phones have since disappeared from the
trees.
A Tennessee driver who lives next to Whole Foods and receives
routes every morning says he's no longer receiving
them.
Amazon declined to tell Bloomberg what
they'd done, but the company pledged in an August email to
investigate the situation, according to a person familiar with
the company's route assignment platform - who added that changing a few lines
of code would be all that's required to foil the scheme.
As Bloomberg reported, the rogue drivers had found a way to game
Amazon Flex, an Uber-like app used to win orders and deliver them in their own
vehicles. The extreme measures reflect stiffening
competition for work in a pandemic-ravaged economy. Flex drivers earn as little as $15 per
delivery, plus potentially a tip from the customer.
Someone
placed several devices in a tree located close to the station where deliveries
originate. Drivers in on the plot synced their own phones with the ones
in the tree and waited nearby for an order pickup. The reason for the odd placement,
according to experts and people with direct knowledge of Amazon’s operations, was to take advantage of the handsets’
proximity to the station, combined with software that
constantly monitors Amazon’s dispatch network, to get a jump on competing
drivers. The phenomenon prompted other drivers to complain to Amazon that its
delivery dispatch system was being gamed. -Bloomberg
The Whole Foods drivers aren't hourly, rather, they are gig
workers who are paid by the job, so gaining an advantage through the smartphone
app was a first step towards making more money than their competitors.
One person familiar with the system said that Amazon could solve
the problem by creating a dead cellphone zone immediately around whole foods,
so that drivers within a few miles of the store are offered routes, while those
lingering in the parking lot don't. The obvious flaw, however, is that customers
wouldn't take too kindly to dropped calls while shopping - and that giving work
to those positioned further away increases delivery times for drivers who are not gaming the system, but
legitimately near the location.
In June, the company discouraged 'flex' drivers from hanging out
in Whole Foods parking lots to wait for routes.
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