Amazon Hails Uber to Make Deliveries in Boston
The e-commerce giant is expanding its Amazon Flex service to Boston, according to an online job posting. The revolutionary service allows people to sign up for shifts to deliver packages using their own cars. Amazon did not respond to several requests for comment.
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Drivers for Flex sign up for 2-, 4- or 8-hour shifts, get a load of packages and a list of addresses and spend their shift dropping off the items other area residents have ordered from Amazon.com.
Drivers can earn between $18 and $25 per hour, according to the job posting, and are required to be more than 21 years old and pass a background check.
All you need is your car, an iPhone or Android smartphone, and some free time,” the posting says. Flex has been active for more than a year but was initially limited to Amazon’s same-day delivery program. Earlier this year, the company expanded the service to all deliveries, a move analysts say could cut costs and make it easier to add more deliveries at peak times of year, such as the holidays.
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It makes total sense. They are so reliant on third-party providers to be able to able to deliver their packages,” said Ani Collum, a retail consultant with Retail Concepts. “They can better manage the flow and aren’t at the mercy of big organizations like UPS or FedEx.”
UPS ranks No. 1 and FedEx No. 2 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
The service differs slightly from Uber and Lyft in that drivers are paid hourly and sign up for dedicated shifts instead of being able to turn the app on and off at will. Flex is targeting the “gig economy” and people hoping to make a little money on the side. They’re totally capitalizing on the dynamic Uber has created with this kind of workforce,” Collum said.
Still, Amazon is facing some resistance to Flex. The company has been sued in Washington District Court over its use of the independent contractor drivers.
Amazon does not reimburse for gas or insurance and does not pay overtime, according to the suit. When you take those costs into account, a lot of them aren’t getting minimum wage,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, the Boston-based attorney who filed the suit. “Amazon assigns them more packages than they can physically deliver in their allotted amount of time.”
The suit claims the drivers should be treated and paid as full employees. Liss-Riordan has filed similar independent contractor suits against a host of companies, including Uber and Lyft.
