What an unfortunate Christmas ornament... should I be baking cookies for Amazon's contract drivers instead of Santa?
“That drivers resort to such extreme methods (of hanging phones in trees) is emblematic of the ferocious competition for work in a pandemic-ravaged U.S. economy suffering from double-digit unemployment” (Bloomberg.com)
“Even in the best of times, gig work offered few protections. But the virus crisis has increased the stakes of operating without a safety net. Most on-demand companies offset thin profit margins by offloading the risk onto workers, who are classified as independent contractors and have to provide their own vehicle and gas. There is a lack of basic employee protections. Take-home pay is volatile, and there is no minimum wage or overtime” (washingtonpost.com)
“The phones in trees seem to serve as master devices that dispatch routes to multiple nearby drivers in on the plot, according to drivers who have observed the process. They believe an unidentified person or entity is acting as an intermediary between Amazon and the drivers and charging drivers to secure more routes, which is against Amazon’s policies. (...) A Flex driver who has been monitoring the activity said the company needs to take steps to make sure all drivers are treated fairly. “Amazon knows about it,” the driver said, “but does nothing” (Bloomberg.com)