Amazon Flex is the delivery service of the gig economy: people use their cars to bring Amazon packages to their destination. A bit like Uber improvises us as taxi drivers, Flex turns us into messengers for a few hours. The program, not yet active in Italy, hires and fires users with an algorithm, without any human intervention.
Amazon manages Flex delivery boys with artificial intelligence
Born in the United States in 2015 and slowly spread to the rest of the world, Flex provides interaction only via the smartphone. The gig economy deliverymen can choose the hours to work, receive the coordinates for deliveries, report problems - all with the Android phone. But recently it has been discovered that the contribution of the smartphone is not limited to assigning tasks. The app monitors the performance of workers, assign tasks and it fires people without any (or very little) human intervention.
Unfortunately, the report on this mechanism does not tell of an inhuman system but therefore error-free. One of the workers interviewed saw his app rating drop (from Fantastic to Great, to Honest to At Risk) because her car tire had a puncture, delaying some deliveries. After recovering to Excellent in the following weeks, the algorithm fired her for violating the Terms of Service. Which she objected, without success.
ALSO READ: Amazon will use cameras and AI to track couriersSimilar stories have happened to many other users. The rating goes down if the person is not at home, if the Amazon Lockers are not opened. It is impossible to explain the situation to a superior. To contest a dismissal you have to pay 200 dollars: a tax for your work to be judged by another human being.
Amazon reports that these cases are just anecdotes, while the program is a hit with 4 million bellboys. “We have invested heavily in technology and resources to ensure drivers visibility in the work and the ability to continue working. And we are investigating the appeals of the messengers, ”explained the spokesperson Kate Kudrna Bloomberg.
But as one of the licensed Flex deliverymen reports: "It's you against the machines".
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