A strange phenomenon has emerged near Amazon.com’s delivery stations in the Chicago suburbs: smartphones dangling from trees.
Contract delivery drivers are putting them there to get ahead of rivals seeking orders, according to people familiar with the matter.
Someone places multiple devices on a tree located near the station where the deliveries originate. Drivers who enter this strategy sync their phones with those in the tree and wait nearby for an order pickup.
The reason for this odd location, according to experts and people with direct knowledge of Amazon’s operations, is to take advantage of the phones’ proximity to the station, combined with software that constantly monitors Amazon’s dispatch network, to a small advantage. compared to its competitors.
That drivers resort to such extreme methods is emblematic of fierce competition for work in a pandemic-ravaged US economy suffering from high unemployment figures. In the same way that milliseconds can mean millions to hedge funds, a smartphone hanging from a tree can be the key to getting a $ 15 delivery route before someone else.
Drivers have been posting photos and videos in social media chat rooms to try to figure out what technology is being used to receive orders faster than those lacking the edge. Some have complained to Amazon that unscrupulous drivers have found a way to tamper with the company’s delivery dispatch system.
In an internal email seen by Bloomberg, Amazon said it would investigate the matter but could not release the result of its inquiry to delivery drivers. The company, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Bloomberg reviewed photos and videos of smartphones in trees outside Whole Foods and Amazon delivery stations. They show drivers walking up to phones and syncing them with their own devices, then sitting or standing nearby waiting for an alert about a route.
An Uber-like app called Amazon Flex allows drivers to make deliveries in their own cars. For many who have other jobs, it is a way to earn extra money in their spare time. But with rising unemployment and falling unemployment payments, competition for that job has stiffened and more people rely on it as their main source of income.
On top of the pressure, fewer people are using ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, so more drivers have to deliver online shopping orders to make money.
Unlike hourly employees, who are paid even when work is low, contract employees are only paid per job. Therefore, securing a route through the smartphone application is the key first step in making money.
Most Flex routes last two to four hours and can be scheduled in advance. That system can also be fooled. Drivers download apps on their smartphones that constantly monitor the Amazon Flex site and automatically take whatever route is available, as CNBC reported in February. Bloomberg reported similar app usage by Instacart shoppers earlier this month.
Phones in the trees appear to serve as master devices that route routes to multiple nearby drivers, according to drivers who have observed the process. They believe that an unidentified person or entity acts as an intermediary between Amazon and drivers and charges drivers to secure more routes, which is against Amazon’s policies.
People are likely to hang multiple phones in trees to distribute work to multiple Amazon Flex accounts and prevent Amazon from detecting them, said Chetan Sharma, a wireless industry consultant. If all routes were fed through one device, it would be easy for Amazon to spot, he said.
“They are messing with the system in a way that makes it difficult for Amazon to figure it out,” Sharma said. “They are one step ahead of the Amazon algorithm and its developers.”
One of the reasons Flex contractors do this is to get around the requirements to be a driver, such as having a valid license or being authorized to work in the US, according to a person familiar with the matter. In such cases, someone who meets the requirements downloads the Flex app and is offered a route that makes $ 18 an hour. You accept the route and then pay someone else $ 10 an hour to do so, said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter.
A Flex driver who has been monitoring activity said the company must take steps to make sure all drivers are treated fairly.
“Amazon knows,” said the driver, “but it doesn’t do anything.”
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