Although Amazon is one of the richest companies in the world, the corporation continues to pay its employees meager wages. That’s why Amazon Flex drivers are forced to fight each other for the jobs they were hired to do. Because these workers get paid more, the more work they accomplish, some workers have hung smartphones in trees so they can be notified first when a new order is available for Whole Foods delivery.
Since Amazon is working with contractors with the Amazon Flex app, these workers are not treated with the same respect employees of the corporation would receive. Instead, these workers need to complete deliveries to get paid more money. That’s why they are eager to beat the other contracts and get to the delivery first.
Drivers hope that by hanging their valuable smartphones from the trees, they will be the first to have the orders sync to their devices. Even if they’re not physically close to the store, the hope is that they will trick Amazon Flex into assigning them to the delivery job.
An image of the scheme shows that several drivers have figured out the trick. Several devices are shown hanging from the branches of a tree in the Whole Foods parking lot as the Amazon Flex contract drivers fight each other to get to the front of the pecking order.
These schemes are a way for people to take advantage of the Amazon Flex app. Sometimes these people will pay another person, like someone who is an immigrant or does not have a valid driver’s license while still holding onto part of the fee.
Although drivers know that Amazon and Whole Foods are aware that their contractors are fighting each other to get ahead in the pecking order, the driver said that Amazon “does nothing” to stop the trend.
Daily Mail contacted Amazon for comment, but Jeff Bezos’s company did not reply. Not only does this look bad for business, but it also supports the notion that Amazon mistreats those who work for it.
Since the American economy has collapsed since the coronavirus pandemic began, many people have turned to jobs like Amazon Flex to get money. They are eager for an income, no matter how much disrespect they receive from Amazon.
Amazon even advertises the job under the false pretense that you can “be your own boss,” since it is a contract position. Drivers do make between $18 and $25 per hour, which is not a bad wage.
Chetan Sharma, a wireless industry insider, told Bloomberg that these contractors are “perpetrators” who are gaming the system.
“They’re gaming the system in a way that makes it harder for Amazon to figure it out,” Sharma said. “They’re just a step ahead of Amazon’s algorithm and its developers.”
While it does not come as a shock that those who are paid by Amazon must resort to bizarre tactics like hanging their phones in trees to get more money, it is a sign that the times are tough on average Americans who need money to feed their families during the pandemic.
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