Hacking Logistics Routes in Amazon
Simple but effective - cellphone radar! In Chicago, some people working for Amazon's Flex delivery service are hanging their phones in trees near Amazon warehouses and Whole Foods grocery stores, to trick Amazon's dispatch mechanism into thinking they're closer to those facilities than they are, so they get awarded delivery routes, Fortune notes.
Irate contract workers have accused “unscrupulous drivers” of gaming Amazon’s delivery dispatch system to load up on lucrative delivery jobs, Bloomberg reports. So ferocious is the competition among those jostling to deliver groceries for Amazon and its supermarket chain Whole Foods that contractors are affixing cellphones to trees located close to warehouses “to get a jump on rivals seeking orders.” The bizarre sight of cellphones tied to trees adjacent to Whole Foods outlets reflects the increasingly robust competition among gig economy workers and the lengths taken to land a $15 delivery route ahead of rival drivers. (Linkedin)