Amazon Logistics (rant)

typhoon49

I'm an Amazon Logistics courier and whilst I do my best to deliver every item I have on my van each day its amazing the amount of people that are either not in when they know the parcel is coming or don't request an alternative delivery day especially on say a 2nd attempt. as a driver we are allowed to bring a max of 4% of items back a day without incurring the wrath of Amazon which when you have some 150 parcels to deliver daily isn't very many so I do my upmost to delivery incl neighbours and posting where possible.I even phone customers who aren't in at the 1st attempt to see if they are in later in the day for me to reattempt if I cannot get the parcel delivered to a neighbour.

now I realise people go to work but what person in their right mind orders something knowing full well they are not going to be in,hoping that the driver will deliver to a neighbour,at the end of the day the delivery to a neighbour is a courtesy rather than a god given right! why don't you have the item delivered to your workplace or advise Amazon of a safe place to leave it,ie a shed or a covered porch?
I understand their are mupppet drivers out there who tend to give the good ones a bad name but I'm not sure people are aware of the amount of pressure delivery drivers are under with the amount of deliveries we are expected to make on a daily basis and this time does not include wandering up and down a street hoping to find a neighbour in to accept the item! again with flats,a lot have trade buttons to allow entry before 12noon but all,if a driver cannot get access to the property how are they expected to post the item or post a card informing you of a delivery attempt?

I really do think customers should think about the whole delivery process before complaining about us actually doing their best to do their job and get your parcels to you!

I have also worked for DPD in the past and even when customers are given their 1 hour window and the option of rescheduling you still cannot get your head round the amount of people not in or relying on neighbours to take a delivery!

there are also instances of customers having received the parcel and still informing Amazon of non receipt,plenty of websites out there showing you how to scam Amazon!

so please,before blaming the delivery driver have a look at yourselves first! a lot of courier companies drivers don't actually get paid for non delivery of items so despite driving to your address using their time and fuel for nothing,we do our best to actually deliver the item so we get paid for our effort!

rant over lol

custardy

typhoon49 wrote: »

I'm an Amazon Logistics courier and whilst I do my best to deliver every item I have on my van each day its amazing the amount of people that are either not in when they know the parcel is coming or don't request an alternative delivery day especially on say a 2nd attempt. as a driver we are allowed to bring a max of 4% of items back a day without incurring the wrath of Amazon which when you have some 150 parcels to deliver daily isn't very many so I do my upmost to delivery incl neighbours and posting where possible.I even phone customers who aren't in at the 1st attempt to see if they are in later in the day for me to reattempt if I cannot get the parcel delivered to a neighbour.

now I realise people go to work but what person in their right mind orders something knowing full well they are not going to be in,hoping that the driver will deliver to a neighbour,at the end of the day the delivery to a neighbour is a courtesy rather than a god given right! why don't you have the item delivered to your workplace or advise Amazon of a safe place to leave it,ie a shed or a covered porch?
I understand their are mupppet drivers out there who tend to give the good ones a bad name but I'm not sure people are aware of the amount of pressure delivery drivers are under with the amount of deliveries we are expected to make on a daily basis and this time does not include wandering up and down a street hoping to find a neighbour in to accept the item! again with flats,a lot have trade buttons to allow entry before 12noon but all,if a driver cannot get access to the property how are they expected to post the item or post a card informing you of a delivery attempt?

I really do think customers should think about the whole delivery process before complaining about us actually doing their best to do their job and get your parcels to you!

I have also worked for DPD in the past and even when customers are given their 1 hour window and the option of rescheduling you still cannot get your head round the amount of people not in or relying on neighbours to take a delivery!

there are also instances of customers having received the parcel and still informing Amazon of non receipt,plenty of websites out there showing you how to scam Amazon!

so please,before blaming the delivery driver have a look at yourselves first! a lot of courier companies drivers don't actually get paid for non delivery of items so despite driving to your address using their time and fuel for nothing,we do our best to actually deliver the item so we get paid for our effort!

rant over lol

Some fair points. However Amazon choose the carrier.
How does the customer know when/how the item will be delivered?

Cuilean

custardy wrote: »

Some fair points. However Amazon choose the carrier.
How does the customer know when/how the item will be delivered?

An interesting post, Typhoon49. Thank you for giving us the other side of the story. It's quite interesting to know how things work "behind the scenes".

However, Custardy has kind of hit the nail squarely on the head here, at least he (Sorry Custardy, I've always assumed you're male, apologies if I'm wrong) has in my case. I've gone from a first class service from DPD which I cannot fault - a one hour time slot, a driver who covers just my district and knows where the best safe place is at my house, live tracking, and superb customer service - to Amazon Logistics, who I have to sit around for all day, with no clue whether I'll see my parcel at 9am or 8pm. As you rightly say, don't order it if you're not going to be at home, but good grief, sitting around the house all day is such a waste. Don't get me started on their superb throwing skills either - I didn't think anything could get over my garden fence, but my Amazon Logistics courier clearly has designs on the throwing events at the next Olympics, because when I have gone out (and left instructions on how to access the garage both online and on my front door), I've come home to find the parcel chucked over an eight foot tall fence and sitting in the middle of my lawn.

I'd like to think I'm not one of the people who wastes any courier's time, and I definitely do not want you to take people's complaints about Amazon Logistics personally if you're one of the good eggs, but I think we're all just a bit disappointed that Amazon aren't able to give their own courier brand the same quality service that we'd been used to from the likes of DPD. You deserve better from them, and so do we.

Doc_N

typhoon49 wrote: »

I'm an Amazon Logistics courier......

Interesting to see it from your viewpoint - would that all drivers were as good.

If the DPD-style 1 hour slot could be introduced, along with a DPD-style system for easy postponement of a delivery, I think there would be far fewer unhappy customers.

And I still can't for the life of me see why Amazon can't allow a Prime customer to place an order and opt for despatch to be delayed by 1/2/3 whatever days. That would substantially increase the chances of finding someone in, and I can't see that it would be remotely difficult to put into practice. Amazon, as always, make all the right noises when you suggest it - but do nothing.

klvszss

Made my order on 2/10, of course chose the next day delivery. Automatically my delivery date was set to today, 4/10 (???).
Last night spent a lot of time trying to find out about AL, about their service. And after reading this thread, started to worry.
Spent the whole day sitting in, listening for a knock on the door. And then I decided to check delivery status at 1515, turns out the delivery was attempted, but...Well, you know the drill. Because the driver supposedly could not access my front door. On a walk. with no front garden or fence or anything. Of course, no note left.
So, as soon as I see this, I decide to give them a call.
"We can arrange a delivery for tomorrow", of course. I told them, that tomorrow won't work for me and I need it today and now. .. Of course, they could not let me contact the carrier. Why?
In the end, after a while listening to a hold tone, they tell me that the driver will attempt to deliver once more today, but "they can't promise me anything". This is really confusing. They didn't hesitate to take my money for a promise of next day delivery. A promise they haven't held. In fact, there is no guarantee that I'll even get the item at all. And, when they realise they can't provide me with the item, who is going to compensate me for the days/weeks/monts, opportunities and potential profit I lost waiting for the item to arrive? Noone.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to express my frustration and say, that, if I'll have a choice next time, my choice definitely won't be Amazon.


Update @1800: Another call to Amazon, supposedly they have no means to get in touch with the delivery drivers.

Update @2100: Still nothing. There goes my hope of getting it today.

Update @0930(5/10): Had a chat with one of the customer service people last night around midnight, phrases like "I can assure you that this will not happen again" and "I have updated all your preference to the driver and for sure you will receive your item by tomorrow." I requested thet they deliver it before 9am. Still nothing.

GreatBeyond

Doc_N wrote: »

Interesting to see it from your viewpoint - would that all drivers were as good.

If the DPD-style 1 hour slot could be introduced, along with a DPD-style system for easy postponement of a delivery, I think there would be far fewer unhappy customers.

And I still can't for the life of me see why Amazon can't allow a Prime customer to place an order and opt for despatch to be delayed by 1/2/3 whatever days. That would substantially increase the chances of finding someone in, and I can't see that it would be remotely difficult to put into practice. Amazon, as always, make all the right noises when you suggest it - but do nothing.

Once your order gets dispatched (providing it is going out with Amazon Logistics) just get in touch by phone, chat or email and tell Amazon you won't be in and when you would prefer it to be delivered. It can be rescheduled about two weeks in advance I think.

Alternatively you can select no rush or Standard delivery free of charge on Prime which would usually delay the dispatch a bit.

Doc_N

GreatBeyond wrote: »

Once your order gets dispatched (providing it is going out with Amazon Logistics) just get in touch by phone, chat or email and tell Amazon you won't be in and when you would prefer it to be delivered. It can be rescheduled about two weeks in advance I think.

Alternatively you can select no rush or Standard delivery free of charge on Prime which would usually delay the dispatch a bit.

Thanks - that's interesting. I'll give it a go. I didn't know that Logistics deliveries could be rescheduled at all.

I knew you could opt out of next day delivery, but when you do that you lose any control over the delivery day, of course.

Still difficult to see, though, why Amazon can't simply tweak their systems to allow a 1/2/3 etc day time lag, as selected at the point of purchase.

Nilrem

Doc_N wrote: »

Thanks - that's interesting. I'll give it a go. I didn't know that Logistics deliveries could be rescheduled at all.

I knew you could opt out of next day delivery, but when you do that you lose any control over the delivery day, of course.

Still difficult to see, though, why Amazon can't simply tweak their systems to allow a 1/2/3 etc day time lag, as selected at the point of purchase.

IIRC they do.

You can select a nominated delivery date, but it costs extra as it also gives you a delivery slot, and both things require additional work for Amazon, and goes against the general approach to shipping Amazon have spent a lot of time perfecting (working out the most efficient and cost effective way of distributing packages across multiple delivery firms depending on distance/time/volume of items).

It's worth noting that "no rush" delivery for prime users gives you a credit to the account for pretty much the same reason, it allows Amazon to put the package on a courier's van at a time when it's most advantageous for them (so rather than it getting a priority pick at the warehouse it's slotted in with the general orders).

Doc_N

Nilrem wrote: »

IIRC they do.

You can select a nominated delivery date, but it costs extra as it also gives you a delivery slot, and both things require additional work for Amazon..........

That I appreciate, but given that I'm paying for Prime already for next day delivery it would cost Amazon no more to allow me to delay that next day delivery by 2 or 3 days so that I can ensure I'm able to take delivery.

I'm not looking for timed delivery, which obviously costs Amazon more - just a delayed next day delivery, which wouldn't cost a penny more.

Not a lot I can do about it, of course, apart from delaying the order, by which time the price may have changed, or not ordering from Amazon at all, but it's a simple little cost-free change which has the potential to help a lot of people - including delivery drivers!

Shnevpayne

As a DPD franchisee I thought I'd get in on this one!
Round where I love in the wild and woOly West Country, Amazon Logistics have recently opened a depot in Weston Super Mare to the horror of some of our drivers, thinking that they will take all the work, Especially on Sundays. While we seem to be the only major delivery company who deliver on Sundays (other than A.L now of course) admitidly 95% of that is from Amazon.
I am yet to see an Amazon Logistics van, or car, or anything that remotely resembles A.L, and of course cannot comment on any deliveries, having ordered S.F.A online for over a year. However, each company is different, but most are heading in the DPD Direction.
DHL, (Drop, Hide and Lose it) will soon be introducing a 2 hour window for their deliveries, and I believe rumour has it UPS is heading that way too, why Amazon can't introduce something like this I do not know, they watched us do it for years!
What I do find most interesting about all Amazon parcels we get, I mean every one, is a little message on my hand held unit, saying "If no one home you are authorised to post". Be it a card or DVD, sometimes a book or small charger, thats fine. But I mean all.... 25kg dog food bag, 40" flat screen TV..... You get the picture.

The point that I am very badly trying to make is that, its not always down to the company, its down to your driver, like it or not there are some absolute muppets out there but there are some drivers who do it for the love of the job, as we say in the Bridgey depot... "Living the dream!!" Not a great dream but its a good place to work.
.
On the contrary, "Update @1800: Another call to Amazon, supposedly they have no means to get in touch with the delivery drivers".

I'm sorry what??? Security and safety of parcels much? Need to contact the driver regarding a certain delivery? Does customer service not ring any bells? !!!!!!. I don't hold out much hope for A.L. Not for a long time yet. And so I will remain dubious, especially with the run up to Christmas, Black Friday and Cyber Monday and every DFS Sofa sale after that.