{"id":124508,"date":"2021-07-01T22:24:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T05:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/amazon-is-reportedly-using-algorithms-to-fire-flex-delivery-drivers"},"modified":"2021-07-01T22:24:10","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T05:24:10","slug":"amazon-is-reportedly-using-algorithms-to-fire-flex-delivery-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/amazon-is-reportedly-using-algorithms-to-fire-flex-delivery-drivers","title":{"rendered":"Amazon is reportedly using algorithms to fire Flex delivery drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Whenever there\u2019s an issue, there\u2019s no support. It\u2019s you against the machine, so you don\u2019t even try.<\/p>\n

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Amazon\u2019s contract Flex delivery drivers already have to deal with various indignities<\/a>, and you can now add the fact that they can be hired \u2014 and fired \u2014 by algorithms, according to a Bloomberg<\/em><\/a> report.<\/p>\n

To ensure same-day and other deliveries arrive on time, Amazon uses millions of subcontracted drivers for its Flex delivery program, started in 2015. Drivers sign up via a smartphone app via which they can choose shifts, coordinate deliveries and report problems. The reliance on technology doesn\u2019t end there, though, as they\u2019re also monitored for performance and fired by algorithms with little human intervention.<\/p>\n

However, the system can often fire workers seemingly without good cause, according to the report. One worker said her rating (ranging from Fantastic, Great, Fair, or At Risk) fell after she was forced to halt deliveries due to a nail in her tire. She succeeded in boosting it to Great over the next several weeks, but her account was eventually terminated for violating Amazon\u2019s terms of service. She contested the firing, but the company wouldn\u2019t reinstate her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever there\u2019s an issue, there\u2019s no support. It\u2019s you against the machine, so you don\u2019t even try. Amazon\u2019s contract Flex delivery drivers already have to deal with various indignities, and you can now add the fact that they can be hired \u2014 and fired \u2014 by algorithms, according to a Bloomberg report. To ensure same-day [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,1512],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information-science","category-mobile-phones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}