How Not To Deliver Amazon Packages!

[CeePee1952]

Had a couple of interesting Amazon deliveries this week  Luckily we have CCTV at the front of the house so it captured the "culprits" in the act! I have spoken with Amazon customer services this morning and they have promised to take action against the drivers concerned.  They also have the links to the You Tube videos for evidence.

 

 

Chris

[Gracie]

Rude and bloody disrespectful of peoples property, I'm glad you reported them.

I wonder how they would feel if it was a purchase they made only to have it thrown in the garden. My parents taught me to always treat people how you wish to be treated yourself, they clearly haven't been taught that

Grace x

[CeePee1952]

What also annoyed me was that in the first video, the Amazon tracking service stated that the package was handed directly to me (er -  don't think so) and that it was delivered at 1933 hrs when in fact it was delivered at 1720 hrs approx - and in the 2nd video it was stated that it was put through the letterbox!!

Chris

[Regulo]

Not condoning that behaviour in any way, but what do you expect of a courier with 200 deliveries a day? It's a wonder there aren't more road accidents, judging by some of the hell for leather driving of these couriers in a mad rush to the next drop. 

[Troyboy]

That is disgraceful. Amazon should be having a serious word. I'd sack them if I was a manager. Their whole business model is built around safe and secure delivery. If any had gone missing and they have evidenced it that it was handed to you I wonder where you would stand. Obviously the cctv would dismiss their falsehood. 

[Bikertov]

23 minutes ago, Troyboy said:

That is disgraceful. Amazon should be having a serious word. I'd sack them if I was a manager. Their whole business model is built around safe and secure delivery. If any had gone missing and they have evidenced it that it was handed to you I wonder where you would stand. Obviously the cctv would dismiss their falsehood. 

Unfortunately we don't all have CCTV to protect our integrity !

[Troyboy]

That's exactly my point. 

[CambridgeCabby]

Gone are the days when your local postie would hand you your mail and parcels with a smile and a chat , the faceless corporate giants place such work loads on their workforce “at the face” which leads to such behaviour as witnessed in your videos ; yes the delivery drivers featured should deliver in the manner which they are instructed officially but in practice they are given insufficient time in their schedules to do so .

Their managers will no doubt speak to them about their behaviour in your cases but the real fault lies with those much higher up .

[Hylander]

This often happens to us and time and again I report it and back come the promises it will never happen again.  Most of the drivers are good but you do get the odd lazy sod.

 

 

[CeePee1952]

2 hours ago, Regulo said:

Not condoning that behaviour in any way, but what do you expect of a courier with 200 deliveries a day? 

I understand the pressure that some of these courier drivers are under (I have a nephew who works for DHL and his workload is horrendous) but apart from just chucking the packages onto our driveway, the fact that they have blatantly lied about how the packages were received by me is just downright unacceptable.

Chris

[Bikertov]

1 hour ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Gone are the days when your local postie would hand you your mail and parcels with a smile and a chat , the faceless corporate giants place such work loads on their workforce “at the face” which leads to such behaviour as witnessed in your videos ; yes the delivery drivers featured should deliver in the manner which they are instructed officially but in practice they are given insufficient time in their schedules to do so .

Their managers will no doubt speak to them about their behaviour in your cases but the real fault lies with those much higher up .

Unfortunately the (developed) world has moved on from cheap labour, so the cost of the people ultimately providing these services has risen in real terms.

What this means is that the only way to keep a people-based service cheap is to improve "productivity", by either the people doing more "work" in the same time, or machines doing more of what people used to do.

You can't have something for nothing. The old-time postie stopping for a 5 minute chat is lovely - but ultimately it is unproductive and costs money that "someone" has to pay. And that "someone" is us, the End User.

Increasing minimum wages for the same work done is all very well, but don't think there is no real cost to it, and guess what - we all pay for it in the end !

[Turnoar]

Not sure if Amazon has a competitor in the shape of Aliexpress now, anyone given them a throw of the dice yet?

[grendel]

I once had a parcel marked customer didn't answer, while I was at home using their tracking app, about 2 hours after he left my area, and when he was 15 miles away.

[Bikertov]

38 minutes ago, Turnoar said:

Not sure if Amazon has a competitor in the shape of Aliexpress now, anyone given them a throw of the dice yet?

Not really, in my opinion.

Aliexpress is all from China, whereas Amazon has many more UK and other based suppliers. Also, Amazon prices are fully tax paid and items are subject to UK standards and consumer law, whereas Aliexpress the price you initially see now gets VAT added to it, products are international/grey market items and you have no real comeback.

I have used Aliexpress a reasonable amount, but only for small and low value items that would not bother me too much if they don't work. I have no faith in them to buy a larger high value item.

Having said that, I have had problems with items from Aliexpress, and they have given me a refund on them without a big argument. But you then have to re-order if you want it again, rather than deal with the individual supplier for a replacement.

[TheQ]

More than once I've stood at the gate to see a driver get out of the cab with a sorry you weren't in card in hand, but no parcel.

[Hylander]

A few days back we had delivery from Amazon for Fathers Day.  The girl came up the drive and despite the fact that it should have been age verified as a good Malt,  she just left it in full view for everyone to see.  A child could have picked thar up.  So irresponsible.   We are getting the sender to report.

 

[William92]

On 20/06/2024 at 12:40, Regulo said:

Not condoning that behaviour in any way, but what do you expect of a courier with 200 deliveries a day? It's a wonder there aren't more road accidents, judging by some of the hell for leather driving of these couriers in a mad rush to the next drop. 

I used to work as a delivery driver in the theatre/events industry, and have previously worked in an Amazon warehouse.

It disturbs me to think that Amazon (to be fair - other companies as well) sets targets in the way that it does, for both drivers and warehouse. Warehouses are controlled environments, the people inside it are briefed on where is safe, how the forklifts will behave, etc - and even then, people cut corners to satisfy the scoreboard (they literally printed out, every shift, a list of names showing who was where in relation to meeting their target %).

The public roads aren't controlled environments in the slightest. They are absolutely not the place to be rushing, and yet these targets naturally incentivise rushing. They incentivise it constantly and if the worst happens, it's your fault for rushing - but people play the odds constantly, they find ways to game the system to get the highest score. The company will let go of the low scorers, or they won't pay fairly for a full day's work (pay per parcel, rather than per hour, etc). The routes are determined by an algorithm that doesn't understand the reality of the job, it can't account for safe parking (or lack of, etc...

Very glad I was driving for theatre/events. I'd drive 3 hours to the West End in London, exchange broken equipment for working equipment at the stage door of a few theatres, then drive 3 hours back... no rush really at all - as long as you get back or communicate that you'll get back too late for the van to be loaded for the next day, etc... the Amazon (etc) delivery drivers were one of the major factors for me wanting to pack that job in though... I love driving and listening to music all day, but the external risks of that life were just awful.

Annoyingly, if all the drivers agreed to not cut corners, to do the job properly, then the targets would naturally decrease to a safe(r) level. But then some smart alec will cut a corner, and the contest will begin again...

[floydraser]

When I did my transport management CPC way back in the late eighties we were told that pay structures which incentivised speeding were not allowed. But then businesses will will turn a blind eye when it suits.

So many delivery drivers doing this suggests they must be getting away with it and it must be worth the risk. Maybe they just get a ticking off, lose a bit of bonus and get told where the cameras are!

On the positve side, these people aren't making a fortune but at least they've got off their backsides and found work. Just a shame they are then so demotivated.

[Mouldy]

22 hours ago, William92 said:

I used to work as a delivery driver in the theatre/events industry, and have previously worked in an Amazon warehouse.

It disturbs me to think that Amazon (to be fair - other companies as well) sets targets in the way that it does, for both drivers and warehouse. Warehouses are controlled environments, the people inside it are briefed on where is safe, how the forklifts will behave, etc - and even then, people cut corners to satisfy the scoreboard (they literally printed out, every shift, a list of names showing who was where in relation to meeting their target %).

The public roads aren't controlled environments in the slightest. They are absolutely not the place to be rushing, and yet these targets naturally incentivise rushing. They incentivise it constantly and if the worst happens, it's your fault for rushing - but people play the odds constantly, they find ways to game the system to get the highest score. The company will let go of the low scorers, or they won't pay fairly for a full day's work (pay per parcel, rather than per hour, etc). The routes are determined by an algorithm that doesn't understand the reality of the job, it can't account for safe parking (or lack of, etc...

Very glad I was driving for theatre/events. I'd drive 3 hours to the West End in London, exchange broken equipment for working equipment at the stage door of a few theatres, then drive 3 hours back... no rush really at all - as long as you get back or communicate that you'll get back too late for the van to be loaded for the next day, etc... the Amazon (etc) delivery drivers were one of the major factors for me wanting to pack that job in though... I love driving and listening to music all day, but the external risks of that life were just awful.

Annoyingly, if all the drivers agreed to not cut corners, to do the job properly, then the targets would naturally decrease to a safe(r) level. But then some smart alec will cut a corner, and the contest will begin again...

Absolutely correct!  I passed my HGV in 1978. when I was 21 and drove for a few years, before moving into supervisory and management roles.  In the ‘old’ days, most large transport operations were own account, where the company ran their own haulage.  The change to third party logistics was popularised in the late eighties, where haulage companies tendered for contracts to run warehouses and haulage operations on behalf of their customers.  Obviously, to get more business, low tenders meant low wages for both warehouse operatives and drivers.

I spent the last twenty years of my life working in a 3PL environment.  The last company was the worst I’d ever worked for.  Our planners, based in Wigan (over 140 miles away) planned the routes for our vehicles, allowing as little as 20 minutes to unload 52 pallets of product into a supermarket RDC.  Anyone who knows anything about transport will realise that often it takes 20 minutes to get into an RDC, never mind unloading and getting paperwork returned.

I clashed with my manager (a 28 year old female whose driving experience was limited to a car and her PC) many times.  I was told that we could only plan short tip times to be able to plan the daily workload, even though it wasn’t achievable.  Please don’t think that I had any objections to being managed by a woman, but with over forty years experience in the industry, I had a lot of practical experience and wasn’t governed by spreadsheets.

Clearly, third party logistics means less haulage headaches for manufacturers but it’s obvious that it impacts wages and targets for the operatives trying to achieve the targets set by the pricing within the contract and still generate a profit for the logistics company.

 

[oldgregg]

On 20/06/2024 at 13:31, Troyboy said:

Their whole business model is built around safe and secure delivery. 

Amazon couldn't give a flying expletive as long as you're spending money with them. I personally use them as little as I possibly can.

The drivers don't care, the vans are an absolute disgrace and covered with serious dents despite being pretty new.

There are plenty of legitimate businesses out there which are UK owned and which pay tax rather than having holding companies in another region which charge the UK operation a license fee that just happens to be the same as any profit.

Amazon a massive company but if we all stopped using them then they will eventually go away.

[floydraser]

22 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Absolutely correct!  I passed my HGV in 1978. when I was 21 and drove for a few years, before moving into supervisory and management roles.  In the ‘old’ days, most large transport operations were own account, where the company ran their own haulage.  The change to third party logistics was popularised in the late eighties, where haulage companies tendered for contracts to run warehouses and haulage operations on behalf of their customers.  Obviously, to get more business, low tenders meant low wages for both warehouse operatives and drivers.

I spent the last twenty years of my life working in a 3PL environment.  The last company was the worst I’d ever worked for.  Our planners, based in Wigan (over 140 miles away) planned the routes for our vehicles, allowing as little as 20 minutes to unload 52 pallets of product into a supermarket RDC.  Anyone who knows anything about transport will realise that often it takes 20 minutes to get into an RDC, never mind unloading and getting paperwork returned.

I clashed with my manager (a 28 year old female whose driving experience was limited to a car and her PC) many times.  I was told that we could only plan short tip times to be able to plan the daily workload, even though it wasn’t achievable.  Please don’t think that I had any objections to being managed by a woman, but with over forty years experience in the industry, I had a lot of practical experience and wasn’t governed by spreadsheets.

Clearly, third party logistics means less haulage headaches for manufacturers but it’s obvious that it impacts wages and targets for the operatives trying to achieve the targets set by the pricing within the contract and still generate a profit for the logistics company.

 

No, it's not just women, it's youngsters. An experienced driver would want a driver's wages plus a bit for using their experience in an office whereas an ambitious youngster would do it a lot cheaper. Some of them know about lorries only because they've been shown pictures of them.