# Just one week...



## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Tuesday, October 4th 2016 - 00:01 central

Hello all,

I'd like to try something and see if anything positive will come from it.

My experiment (or self-challenge, I guess) will be to not post anything
negative about Amazon for an entire week. 7 full days and nites.

This means I'll either have to post lies and things that aren't true, or
simply not say anything about Amazon for a period of 7 days.

The clock starts this Wednesday, October 5th - after we all get paid.
(Technically, it may have to be Thursday, since the bank transfer happens overnight)
Naturally, all bets are off if we see any shenanigans with playing with the money,
like we saw last month, right before a banking holiday, just like this upcoming Monday.

I consider it a privilege to communicate with others about these things.

Anyway, the purpose of this experiment/exercise is, for me at least, to see if by
not expounding on the naked truth about the things Amazon does to aggravate
even those of us with the utmost patience of Gandhi, perhaps I can determine
if it's doing any good or just causing me to experience an enhanced level
of existential angst and more or less driving me crazy.

The only way I can measure it is to compare with and without.

So, I will beg the indulgence of you all and ask that you please bear in mind
as I'm attempting to perform this scientific research, with hopes that my findings
may one day potentially benefit others, please remember that I still dislike Amazon
very much and in so many ways, no matter what I might say in a given moment.

Whereas I may lack lucidity for that given moment, I shall always be prepared
to give the reason for my utter disgust for Amazon. Even on a Sunday. 

Alright, I'll need to square myself away in order to do this.
Please don't make a lot of noise....I have to concentrate. shhhhhhh.

(will post progress here....unless I totally forget)


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Day zero:

Okay, I have yet to even begin the experiment and already I'm beginning to find this difficult.
Pay period runs thru tonite so let's start the engines and squeeze in those extra Amazon Flex blocks .
(big fake smile for everyone.)


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## Vmiyoshi (Jul 3, 2016)

Whats up man, I was at DDA1 yesterday, and I witnessed what you were talking about a couple of months ago.
I was behind this chap (pretty nice guys btw), and he called one of the female warehouse workers by name, she wasn't a supervisor or anything just a normal worker. When she approached his vehicle, he told her that he left the whole warehouse a bunch of ice cream in the freezer in the break room.
The funny thing is he told her directly, in front of a couple of other warehouse workers and two supervisors. When all this happened I thought about you...lol

On you "experiment" I'm with you a hundred percent. I don't know if I fully understand it, however I personally hate complainers.
And I found myself a few months back being one of them when it came to Amazon. So in the Warehouse I started to shut my mouth, scan my packages and go, and not worry so much about the location I was going, or the amount I was delivering. I will say lately as of about a week, I had been having alot of issues with the rack being wrong, lot of packages which shouldn't belong in my route. I started to scan all my packages on the rack, swipe to finish, then look at the Map. The supervisors have been very good with not even challenging it, they are just like "bring the problem packages to the front and your ready to go,"which is cool!


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

Vmiyoshi said:


> he told her that he left the whole warehouse a bunch of ice cream in the freezer in the break room.


How'd he even get in there?!?!


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## Vmiyoshi (Jul 3, 2016)

Just got through the door, I walk in there all the time to use the restroom...


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

flexology said:


> How'd he even get in there?!?!


At our warehouse it says "driver entrance"


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Vmiyoshi said:


> Whats up man, I was at DDA1 yesterday, and I witnessed what you were talking about a couple of months ago.
> I was behind this chap (pretty nice guys btw), and he called one of the female warehouse workers by name, she wasn't a supervisor or anything just a normal worker. When she approached his vehicle, he told her that he left the whole warehouse a bunch of ice cream in the freezer in the break room.
> The funny thing is he told her directly, in front of a couple of other warehouse workers and two supervisors. When all this happened I thought about you...lol


That's pretty far out, man! Easy score though, 'cause everybody likes ice cream !

He must one of those past-gen Uber drivers that used to offer up the water and mints to pax.


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

Here's something nice about Amazon if you're a customer: they have finally banned reviews done in exchange for free goods. That was throwing me way off whenever I would try to research a product. Hopefully they can delete all of those old reviews and start over with some legitimately fair and unbiased ones.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Here's something nice about Amazon if you own any of the stock:

Amazon.com, Inc.
NASDAQ: AMZN - Oct 4, 7:58 PM EDT
834.03USD 2.71 (0.32%)


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

flexology said:


> Here's something nice about Amazon if you're a customer: they have finally banned reviews done in exchange for free goods. That was throwing me way off whenever I would try to research a product. Hopefully they can delete all of those old reviews and start over with some legitimately fair and unbiased ones.


About time! I had to look for items that said "verified purchase." Ugh those long reviews with "I was given a discount on this product"


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## jester121 (Sep 6, 2016)

UTX1 said:


> He must one of those past-gen Uber drivers that used to offer up the water and mints to pax.


More likely an ex-mechanic, who knows that grease helps things run smoother.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

jester121 said:


> More likely an ex-mechanic, who knows that grease helps things run smoother.


I've personally worked on this 'engine'. There are hundreds of moving parts.
Oil one and and two others start squeaking. I do like ice cream though.
Everybody likes ice cream.

Best approach for some has proven to go something like this:
First find out who 'visiting' and who's staying. No one stays too long.
Next, if they're staying, learn where they excel and where they need help.
Then, provide that help. Hard to turn down good help at exactly the right time.

Could argue that even beats ice cream and that's not an easy thing


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Okay, this is day one...

The date is Wednesday, October 5th, 2016 and said day has just come to a close.

The experiment is underway and I'm actively monitoring my normally obnoxious self.
I've reviewed anything I've posted about Amazon today and can report the following:
(i did say I'd try to post how things go...)

*) Nothing really negative posted. Perhaps a couple of stark opinions as usual, but nothing
that could be construed as materially adverse (I know there's no MAC clause, but go with it....)

*) I don't feel better yet. I know it's still early on. Keeping things bottled up is unnatural.

*) Refraining from communicating without reservations about an organization that is this well-known
takes some of the funny out of it. Since almost everyone has some opinion about this company,
posting openly about the things we like and dislike and so on makes for a much more robust discussion.

However, I have pledged to keep it all to myself for a week, in search of something positive.
I will try to track anything that might be worthy of note, but I'll try not to say anything "bad"
about Amazon this week. Not on purpose. Even at the expense of the truth. I'm measuring something....
There may be humor, or there might not be. Worst case position will be neutral in character.


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

Here's something nice about Amazon if you're a customer or if you're a driver: AmazonFresh (formerly Amazon Fresh) is now just $15 more per month for Prime members instead of a $299 per year flat fee. 

This should make AmazonFresh more popular and it wouldn't surprise me if they are planning to expand more markets soon. The way they do it - a 1-hr window for attended and 3-hr window for unattended - is, to me, the most sane way to deliver perishable items.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

flexology said:


> Here's something nice about Amazon if you're a customer or if you're a driver: AmazonFresh (formerly Amazon Fresh) is now just $15 more per month for Prime members instead of a $299 per year flat fee.
> 
> This should make AmazonFresh more popular and it wouldn't surprise me if they are planning to expand more markets soon. The way they do it - a 1-hr window for attended and 3-hr window for unattended - is, to me, the most sane way to deliver perishable items.


Doubt the perishables will be unattended, although the milkmen across rural America
used to deliver dairy in unattended fashion 7 days a week...many years ago...far, far away.
5 or 6 o'clock in the morning, they weren't knocking on the door. Just drop n' go.
Surely, they'll figure out a working solution to make it happen.

AmazonFresh is (will be) serious business. Capture a piece of the NATIONAL grocery marketshare,
or at least in cities large enough to support and sustain the operation, it's major $$ in annual revenue.

The extra $15/mo per Prime customer helps boost the bottom line too. Big money. Big money !


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

The unattended items are left in the insulated bags, like here:










(Source: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/06/amazonfresh-drops-to-14-99-per-month-for-prime-members/ )


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

When I was doing Prime Now ( been about almost a year past)
we had those bags with the folders containing the dry ice inside.
At that point in time, we didn't leave the bags with the customer.
We'd bring them back at the next 2 hour block.

Q: Are they rotating these things now to drop off new ones and pick up the old ones ?
Just leave them with customer until next delivery ?

edit: read the article (thanks )
Looks like they just leave the stuff at the door now. Wow, didn't know that.
This could be a game changer for homeless folks everywhere.
No more dumpster food. Green bags for everyone !


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Wow. This is the nicest thing Amazon could do to help stamp out hunger.
Just leave green insulated bags of fresh food on doorsteps across America.
Motivated hungry people will easily spot these picnic baskets from 300 yards away.


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## Uber48208 (May 4, 2016)

I'm new. The training videos explicitly remind me to never leave bags with customer for customer's safety and to return bags and dry ice to warehouse (presumably with next shift)... Maybe "Fresh" operates different... but that's a video I had to watch this week and then answer a "Quiz" question after watching it as part of the on-board'ing session 

LOL Yogi & BooBoo UTX1


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Uber48208 said:


> I'm new. The training videos explicitly remind me to never leave bags with customer for customer's safety and to return bags and dry ice to warehouse (presumably with next shift)... Maybe "Fresh" operates different... but that's a video I had to watch this week and then answer a "Quiz" question after watching it as part of the on-board'ing session
> 
> LOL Yogi & BooBoo UTX1


See, that how I remember it. I didn't leave any dry ice behind, nor any of the bags.
The 'Fresh' program may allow the process to change completely going forward.
If that's the case, then it just goes to show that there's always something new going on....

it's why I spend time over here on these boards, there's a chance to find out something new everyday !


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## UberPasco (Oct 18, 2015)

Uber48208 said:


> I'm new. The training videos explicitly remind me to never leave bags with customer for customer's safety and to return bags and dry ice to warehouse (presumably with next shift)... Maybe "Fresh" operates different... but that's a video I had to watch this week and then answer a "Quiz" question after watching it as part of the on-board'ing session
> 
> LOL Yogi & BooBoo UTX1


That is correct. Fresh is completely different. Make sure you don't leave bags w/customer and return them to the warehouse (eventually, lol).


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

Prime Now drivers leave bags with customers all the time. I know this because when I make attended deliveries sometimes the customer has given me insulated bags left from the last delivery driver to stop by.

Same with AmazonFresh - the milkman analogy holds up. Here's a blog post I found with all the details:

http://www.foodlibrarian.com/2014/01/amazon-fresh-review-home-delivered.html


> You get these large Amazon Fresh green bags with your order. The next time you order, you leave the bags out for the driver to pick up.
> 
> When you order refrigerated items, they place them in a collapsible Styrofoam container with four frozen water bottles. This is ingenious! Amazon has a note saying the water is fresh and fine to drink later.


So you're pretty much *always* delivering bottled water  And the default tip is only $4! Well, I'm sure the customers love AmazonFresh


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

May be too early to tell, but I think I have some good news.
I'm at about the half-way point of the apportioned week of playing nice.

Haven't had any moments of anxiety while out on block routes.
This is a positive. There are times where a moment of tension kinda
grips me while I'm out there cruising and dropping. Could be anything.
Would be interesting to know if there's any connection.

Only noticed that something seemed different and that's the only thing
I can put my thumb on right now. I suspect it's all internal physiology.

So now I have a hypothesis to play around with. This is an experiment, after all....
Theory is that less bichin', pissing and moaning will lead to a greater degree of serenity.
Hopefully there's something more than that, but it's a start. This would be a good thing, if true.

Even though in any other ordinary given circumstance this might seem rather obvious,
this is about Amazon and things that are Amazon. So conditions are far from ordinary.
Therefore, further study is required.

Have another hypothesis...will have to wait....have a block to run in about an hour.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

May have jumped the gun....
My blood pressure is up 10 points.

Last checked a few days ago, before the experiment.
Usually a steady 120/80 or so most days rain or shine.
Some days even a bit lower if all switches are set to relax mode.
Read in the 130's today and i've ruled out a few obvious causes....
One cause I can not yet rule out is the experiment itself.

It's another point I would want to revisit when the week is complete.
I think this self-imposed "pseudo-silence" is making me agitated. How do monks do it ?
I'm saying really, how in the world do monks stay silent for years when you
just know there's things going on in the monastery that get on their last nerve ?

Had a relatively easy flex route this evening.  Great job Amazon ! 
Alright, it's time for a drink (real one) and good dirty movie .

<---let him just do whatever...
I don't think he knows what he's saying anyway.


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

UTX1 said:


> When I was doing Prime Now ( been about almost a year past)
> we had those bags with the folders containing the dry ice inside.
> At that point in time, we didn't leave the bags with the customer.
> We'd bring them back at the next 2 hour block.


That gave me an idea. When customers want to get an unattended delivery but it contains perishables, Amazon Prime Now could just let them keep the bag and return it next time, like with Fresh. This could be very useful in places that don't have Fresh yet.

But those bags seem expensive. To cover the cost, this special service could be a perk of the 1-Hour delivery service. I'd say $7.99 at least covers the cost. I'm sure they can think of the best way to do this.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

flexology said:


> That gave me an idea. When customers want to get an unattended delivery but it contains perishables, Amazon Prime Now could just let them keep the bag and return it next time, like with Fresh. This could be very useful in places that don't have Fresh yet.
> 
> But those bags seem expensive. To cover the cost, this special service could be a perk of the 1-Hour delivery service. I'd say $7.99 at least covers the cost. I'm sure they can think of the best way to do this.


I recall Uber deducting from many drivers something like $17 or $19 for
an insulated bag when UberEats got underway. The Amazon bags with
the little handles are not quite as substantial, but they must cost something.
Even if it's only five bucks or something, a million times five bucks, you know?

Wonder if there is a data program running that keeps count of the insulated bags?


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

UTX1 said:


> I recall Uber deducting from many drivers something like $17 or $19 for
> an insulated bag when UberEats got underway. The Amazon bags with
> the little handles are not quite as substantial, but they must cost something.
> Even if it's only five bucks or something, a million times five bucks, you know?
> ...


Yeah...well I figure as long as the customer gives them back it could work. The blue ones that actually say "One Hour Delivery" on the side would be ideal.


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## jester121 (Sep 6, 2016)

UTX1, you survived the week, congratulations.

Now knock that crap off and get back to your curmudgeonly self.


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

Here's something nice about Amazon if you're a Logistics driver or AmazonFresh customer:


> Amazon.com Inc. is planning to build convenience stores and develop curbside pickup locations for food shoppers in its latest move to expand into groceries, The Wall Street Journal reported.
> 
> Amazon's stores will sell perishable goods including milk and meats, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources. Customers in the stores can also order other items with longer shelf lives for same-day delivery, the Journal said. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant will also build drive-in locations for consumers in a rush where online grocery orders will be brought to the car. *Only subscribers to Amazon's Fresh service will have access to these stores*, known as Project Como.


(Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...onvenience-stores-wall-street-journal-reports )

I personally hope these stores will also have Amazon lockers, which are in regular convenience stores already (and which Logistics drivers seem to love).

Since AmazonFresh already includes curated items including ready-to-cook meals from local specialty shops, delis, etc. it could maybe include an "automat" with fare a few notches up from the usual microwaved-type fast food often associated with that genre of restaurant. Or, for that matter, it could offer delivered items from local restaurants like Hotwheels, but safely left unattended in the lockers to be picked up later.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Wednesday, Oct 12th 2016

The week is over. First of all, whatsup with the freaky fried chicken lovers.
Looks like at least half of those polled want to get greasy in the sheets
with a fried chicken ****. This is mildly encouraging. Finger lickin' good !
(p.s. there's still time to vote)

Well now, I promised to "keep it to myself" this past week, even though I now
realize this ultimately will lead to more harm than good. My initial research suggested
that internalizing these most obvious deficiencies in this particular given environment
would only amplify any existing conditions including stress, anxiety and even depression.

What I didn't expect (and here's the kicker) was that the machine that is AMAZON
*seems to have actually responded*. Quick time-out to lay out some ground work here:

The Amazon machine possesses a sort of "vibe", if you will. As an E-commerce giant, (understatement)
this entity not only permeates the online retail landscape at every twist and turn, it has also become
integrated with our consumption-based society in other ways that one might not expect.
It's almost like a living thing...I know, sounds crazy...fine.

Since so many people are connected to Amazon some which-a-way, we're connected to "it"
and seemingly, it is connected to us ! So I'm analyzing data that would suggest it responded to me.

Here's an example: have you ever had someone locked in a basement for an extended period ?
You bring them food and water and try to make them more comfortable in their captivity and
after a while, they start to act more cooperative and some even give up trying to escape.

Okay, that may be a poor example.....Lemme try again:

If you have paranormal activity in your house, let's say apparitions, psychic turbulence,
things like that and it's really starting to mess things up, you want to find a way to balance
everything out so it doesn't wind up tearing your house up. So, you try to find ways to
accommodate these creatures in an effort to pacify them, if only for a little while.
Sometimes it works, even though it's often only a temporary solution. As we all know,
"Give a ghost an inch and she'll try to take a yard." Still, it remains for most of us
quite an experimental science to interact with things that aren't there. Now enter Amazon....

For the week just ended (and I understand people were debating on the big thread when a week begins,
but I can solve that one later, although that has something to do with Front half and Back half at Amazon)
...I digress

I compared the data that I already had collected on route cycles, volume cycles,
the ups and downs and so forth. Add to that a running list of recurring "problems",
for lack of a better term that would either present themselves at a regular interval, or
after a given set of conditions aligned (app update, for example). Then, as objectively
as I was able to, I looked at what happened between me and the "machine" for the
last few days.

Observation 1: The machine appeared reluctant to "consume" me as a resource.
This means it brought me food and water while I was locked in the basement.

Observation 2: It allowed me watch while it "consumed".

In other words, I had more than one occasion this past week to stand-by and watch
what the machine did to several fellow driver partners, who became grist for the mill.
All this while I had made a pact, or a covenant of sorts to not rage against the machine.
It responded. The idea was to compare with and without. There was some sort of reaction.

It all made me feel a bit uneasy, as I detailed earlier in the past few days.
However, those are "feelings" and that's not what I was after. I really wanted to see
if you pet the dragon (or the alien...or the monster, whatever) would it behave itself ?

A creature that carries on in a fashion that's at odds with its true nature will
inevitably revert back to it's true nature at some point. I'm waiting on this.....

There are some less "esoteric" details in OB3
Observation 3: Routes ran smooth relative to recent, pkg counts were a bit lower (this is good),
most of the re-attempt deliveries were successful too, the app didn't crash a bunch even after the update,
latest weekly progress report shows zero concessions, so nobody reported a package missing,
no difficulty claiming blocks at the 10pm grab (blocks plural). These were my personal experiences.

All of this is contrary to the standard operating procedure at the warehouse I deliver from.
Things most often do not run this well, or at least as well as things appeared to for the last few days.
The "coincidence" that this was the week that everything was all synchronized and in harmony
is overshadowed by the other observation, namely that there were some rather low-points
in the trend line too and this, almost to the point that my attention was being directed
towards these given conditions. Otherwise, it's unlikely I would have even noticed.
It wanted me to see what it can do and it told me to watch.

Conclusion: Amazon wants me to be it's girlfriend and do me in the butt.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Rather long post, I know... Here's the music that's was supposed to go with it...


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## flexology (Jan 28, 2016)

Yeah I'm feeling like it's run by a neural net or some AI thing like that. Despite selling off their excess computing power for cheap, AWS still sits idle most of the time; I'm sure they don't mind spending some computations on trying to make Flex more efficient. So they can tell all kinds of things about you not just by the data you send but the frequency, as in frequency of clicks, how often you check, and stuff like that. I don't doubt for a second that it could figure out your feelings and adapt accordingly.


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