What grinds my gears...

[Tuna]

24 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

Whilst I've been moaning about customers, I should switch my attention to Amazon.

 

I've mentioned before that rout planning is horrendous. It's actually getting worse.

 

This is a section of my route today.

 

The number corresponds to the order of which you drop your parcels.

 

They sent me down the same cul-de-sac FOUR FVCKING TIMES!!!!

 

It's so frustrating. Yes, I could manually override it, but the problem then is that I'm searching through different bags of parcels, which are packed in order. 

 

Their final mile planning is just atrocious. The time it wastes, not to mention fuel. And customers waiting for stuff, seeing you deliver literally next door and having to wait another hour until I get to them.

 

 

Where was parcel 49 in relation to 48 and 50?

[tom27111]

31 minutes ago, Tuna said:

Where was parcel 49 in relation to 48 and 50?

On an industrial estate about 4 minutes drive away 

 

I did skip that one.

[tom27111]

36 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

There must he some reasoning. Not saying its sound reasoning, but they must do it for some reason surely?

 

It's just incompetence. 

 

It's also pretty irresponsible to have a 3 tonne van burning a lot more diesel than it needs to.

[marbles]

I don’t know how true this is - but someone once told me Amazon purposely routes that way so you take your entire shift to deliver.

So if you work 8, and 2 are dedicated to loading/unloading - the route will take 6 if you follow exactly as routed.

Edited 15 October 2022 by marbles

[Nalis]

Any provider that isnt you need to call them to do a basic action and when you do you are on a never ending  combination of options and holding

[Daggers]

12 hours ago, tom27111 said:

Whilst I've been moaning about customers, I should switch my attention to Amazon.

 

I've mentioned before that rout planning is horrendous. It's actually getting worse.

 

This is a section of my route today.

 

The number corresponds to the order of which you drop your parcels.

 

They sent me down the same cul-de-sac FOUR FVCKING TIMES!!!!

 

It's so frustrating. Yes, I could manually override it, but the problem then is that I'm searching through different bags of parcels, which are packed in order. 

 

Their final mile planning is just atrocious. The time it wastes, not to mention fuel. And customers waiting for stuff, seeing you deliver literally next door and having to wait another hour until I get to them.

 

 

That’s is ****ing insane 😂

 

But as entertaining as your posts have been, we all know you spend your day deciding what items to steal and shagging other people’s wives. 

[tom27111]

4 hours ago, marbles said:

I don’t know how true this is - but someone once told me Amazon purposely routes that way so you take your entire shift to deliver.

So if you work 8, and 2 are dedicated to loading/unloading - the route will take 6 if you follow exactly as routed.

No, because if they actually planned them properly, we'd be able to deliver more.

 

I'm allocated 9 hours a day. Loading takes about half an hour and in general, you make your first drop 45 minutes in to your shift.

 

My personal best was 160 stops in 4 hours 35 minutes. Not including loading. Averaging around 35 drops per hour. Expected standard is 20, but it depends on the area you get.

 

I've hit the magical 40 drops an hour once I think!

 

It usually takes around 6 hours.

 

I'd quite happily do 200 drops if they actually planned a route properly and I'd still be done in under 9 hours.

 

Only once have I been over time and that was due to snow.

Edited 15 October 2022 by tom27111

[tom27111]

2 hours ago, Daggers said:

That’s is ****ing insane 😂

 

But as entertaining as your posts have been, we all know you spend your day deciding what items to steal and shagging other people’s wives. 

 I wish 

[grobyfox1990]

15 hours ago, tom27111 said:

Whilst I've been moaning about customers, I should switch my attention to Amazon.

 

I've mentioned before that rout planning is horrendous. It's actually getting worse.

 

This is a section of my route today.

 

The number corresponds to the order of which you drop your parcels.

 

They sent me down the same cul-de-sac FOUR FVCKING TIMES!!!!

 

It's so frustrating. Yes, I could manually override it, but the problem then is that I'm searching through different bags of parcels, which are packed in order. 

 

Their final mile planning is just atrocious. The time it wastes, not to mention fuel. And customers waiting for stuff, seeing you deliver literally next door and having to wait another hour until I get to them.

 

 

Can’t you feed this back to them? Tbf why would they care, it probably costs them dimes, when they’re making billions every week. I cannot believe people in such a small area are ordering so much!!! How much junk do they need?!? No wonder all the roads are these days is delivery vans 

[tom27111]

Just now, grobyfox1990 said:

Can’t you feed this back to them? Tbf why would they care, it probably costs them dimes, when they’re making billions every week. I cannot believe people in such a small area are ordering so much!!! How much junk do they need?!? No wonder all the roads are these days is delivery vans 

They don't care at all. 

[Captain...]

I imagine it's all down to efficiency of picking packing and loading. You've got to coordinate 1000's of packages coming from all different parts of the warehouse, messing around trying to get things picked and loaded in the right order will cause more delays than a van going up and down the same road.

[grobyfox1990]

36 minutes ago, Captain... said:

I imagine it's all down to efficiency of picking packing and loading. You've got to coordinate 1000's of packages coming from all different parts of the warehouse, messing around trying to get things picked and loaded in the right order will cause more delays than a van going up and down the same road.

Good point yeh. For a mega behemoth that’s probably delivering billions of packages a week, they are obviously getting it right far far more than they’re getting it wrong. Otherwise they wouldn’t be a mega behemoth 

[tom27111]

On 15/10/2022 at 11:16, Captain... said:

I imagine it's all down to efficiency of picking packing and loading. You've got to coordinate 1000's of packages coming from all different parts of the warehouse, messing around trying to get things picked and loaded in the right order will cause more delays than a van going up and down the same road.

 

I don't think it is. They've pushed back our collection times, sometimes I pick up as late as 11.30, which is very annoying with daylight hours getting shorter.

 

They pack the parcel bags very late, sometimes they still aren't ready as I'm waiting in the yard.

 

You'll get different deliveries from different warehouses too, depending on who hold the items you've ordered.

 

You could order 3 items and you could receive 3 different deliveries on the same day.

 

Northampton holds a lot and is close to the mega Milton Keynes warehouse, so our depot actually delivers to Leicestershire, because we'll have access to more items than the Leicestershire depots.

 

I deliver to so many people who say "I should have more than this?" And I have to explain that to them.

 

Amazon is also a company that is seriously obsessed with algorithms and statistics. 

 

To have 2 houses next door to each other, on the same route, getting thir parcels 30 drops later is baffling.

 

They don't care about the drivers, we know that. We're self-employed and just a number to them. If I won't do it, the agency will have another guy who will.

 

But the planning is a major problem on almost every route, daily. My phone is full of people, daily, moaning about it on our group WhatsApp. 

 

That's just one agency, at one depot.

 

I'm seriously wondering what environmentalists would make of the wasted carbon footprint. 

 

And if I was the boss of my agency, who pays for the fuel, I'd be livid.

[Corky]

Savage and Lineker being out most prominent, go-to pundits. One seemingly can't stand us and the other loves to play us down.

 

Cheers, lads, for being no help.

[Captain...]

3 hours ago, tom27111 said:

 

I don't think it is. They've pushed back our collection times, sometimes I pick up as late as 11.30, which is very annoying with daylight hours getting shorter.

 

They pack the parcel bags very late, sometimes they still aren't ready as I'm waiting in the yard.

 

You'll get different deliveries from different warehouses too, depending on who hold the items you've ordered.

 

You could order 3 items and you could receive 3 different deliveries on the same day.

 

Northampton holds a lot and is close to the mega Milton Keynes warehouse, so our depot actually delivers to Leicestershire, because we'll have access to more items than the Leicestershire depots.

 

I deliver to so many people who say "I should have more than this?" And I have to explain that to them.

 

Amazon is also a company that is seriously obsessed with algorithms and statistics. 

 

To have 2 houses next door to each other, on the same route, getting thir parcels 30 drops later is baffling.

 

They don't care about the drivers, we know that. We're self-employed and just a number to them. If I won't do it, the agency will have another guy who will.

 

But the planning is a major problem on almost every route, daily. My phone is full of people, daily, moaning about it on our group WhatsApp. 

 

That's just one agency, at one depot.

 

I'm seriously wondering what environmentalists would make of the wasted carbon footprint. 

 

And if I was the boss of my agency, who pays for the fuel, I'd be livid.

Ah there's your answer. You don't work for Amazon you work for an agency. Amazon's goal will be to get as many deliveries out as possible, packing and loading in a certain order is going to be so much slower than just packing as they come. Then it's your problem not theirs.

[tom27111]

4 minutes ago, Captain... said:

Ah there's your answer. You don't work for Amazon you work for an agency. Amazon's goal will be to get as many deliveries out as possible, packing and loading in a certain order is going to be so much slower than just packing as they come. Then it's your problem not theirs.

No, because I could do 200 drops instead of 160 if they sorted out their routes. 

 

Meaning they pay less to the agency because they use less drivers.

 

And it still doesn't address the environmental impact. 

 

Edit...if they actually did give a shit about the drivers, who are the only people that come in to contact with customers, thus giving them an impression of Amazon, then they would be even more successful. 

 

I honestly think they've got so much money now, nothing matters. It does. And I think the shareholders would agree with me.

 

I only know a minute fraction of that business, but I know for a fact that I could improve it in a week, given the chance.

Edited 16 October 2022 by tom27111

[Captain...]

4 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

No, because I could do 200 drops instead of 160 if they sorted out their routes. 

 

Meaning they pay less to the agency because they use less drivers.

 

And it still doesn't address the environmental impact. 

 

Edit...if they actually did give a shit about the drivers, who are the only people that come in to contact with customers, thus giving them an impression of Amazon, then they would be even more successful. 

 

I honestly think they've got so much money now, nothing matters. It does. And I think the shareholders would agree with me.

 

I only know a minute fraction of that business, but I know for a fact that I could improve it in a week, given the chance.

I can only assume they are working at capacity or at least schedule to capacity and the cost of rotating on extra staff to pick and pack in this manner is less cost/time efficient than sending drivers on inefficient routes. 

 

I work with warehouse management systems and to pick and pack and load in this manner is incredibly difficult even in small warehouses. I usually deal with a small number of large orders and that is hard enough to plan.

[grobyfox1990]

7 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

No, because I could do 200 drops instead of 160 if they sorted out their routes. 

 

Meaning they pay less to the agency because they use less drivers.

 

And it still doesn't address the environmental impact. 

 

Edit...if they actually did give a shit about the drivers, who are the only people that come in to contact with customers, thus giving them an impression of Amazon, then they would be even more successful. 

 

I honestly think they've got so much money now, nothing matters. It does. And I think the shareholders would agree with me.

 

I only know a minute fraction of that business, but I know for a fact that I could improve it in a week, given the chance.

You’ve answered your own question there, it’s a minute part of the business. If poor route planning is costing them $10m a day no serious shareholder would give two hoots about it, they’re a €1tn company, they generate >$100bn of revenue a quarter.

Even environmentally, you aren’t an Amazon employee so your emissions are scope 3 to them. It will be a tiny tiny fraction of a percent. 
Their time and money is much better spent developing new products than worrying about immaterial costs. Likewise environmentally, focus on rolling out electric vans or drone deliveries If you want to cut emissions. 
that being said you clearly have key insight and say you can sort it out, tell them you’ll do their route planning for a decent fee/cost saving share!!

[tom27111]

3 minutes ago, Captain... said:

I can only assume they are working at capacity or at least schedule to capacity and the cost of rotating on extra staff to pick and pack in this manner is less cost/time efficient than sending drivers on inefficient routes. 

 

I work with warehouse management systems and to pick and pack and load in this manner is incredibly difficult even in small warehouses. I usually deal with a small number of large orders and that is hard enough to plan.

 

3 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

You’ve answered your own question there, it’s a minute part of the business. If poor route planning is costing them $10m a day no serious shareholder would give two hoots about it, they’re a €1tn company, they generate >$100bn of revenue a quarter.

Even environmentally, you aren’t an Amazon employee so your emissions are scope 3 to them. It will be a tiny tiny fraction of a percent. 
Their time and money is much better spent developing new products than worrying about immaterial costs. Likewise environmentally, focus on rolling out electric vans or drone deliveries If you want to cut emissions. 
that being said you clearly have key insight and say you can sort it out, tell them you’ll do their route planning for a decent fee/cost saving share!!

 

Fully understand these points and like I say, they don't care.

 

It's got worse though, it never used to be like this, which makes it more frustrating. 

 

Ah well, it suits me and it's easy money!

 

And I'm talking the OK routes, the ones in the town center and in Victorian terrace housed areas are another matter 

[grobyfox1990]

45 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

 

 

Fully understand these points and like I say, they don't care.

 

It's got worse though, it never used to be like this, which makes it more frustrating. 

 

Ah well, it suits me and it's easy money!

 

And I'm talking the OK routes, the ones in the town center and in Victorian terrace housed areas are another matter 

Have you talked to them about being involved in route planning though? As from what you say above that could be even easier money. Plus being part of the solution rather the problem is much more fun 

[tom27111]

1 minute ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Have you talked to them about being involved in route planning though? As from what you say above that could be even easier money. Plus being part of the solution rather the problem is much more fun 

We report it to our agency, known as the Delivery Service Partner, or DSP.

 

To be fair to the guy who runs our DSP, he's said it's ridiculous and would like a few of us to attend meetings with Amazon management. 

 

Rob has got a lot more hands on in the last couple of months, no doubt because of the cost of everything, and he's keen to sort it out. He's got some good staff he doesn't want to lose.

[Parafox]

1 hour ago, tom27111 said:

And I'm talking the OK routes, the ones in the town center and in Victorian terrace housed areas are another matter 

What about those tower blocks with lifts that smell of piss and when you have to wait for the electronic door lock at the entry to be activated and then it de-activates so quickly you have to press the button again.

Some things that I have experienced in my job.

[tom27111]

Just now, Parafox said:

What about those tower blocks with lifts that smell of piss and when you have to wait for the electronic door lock at the entry to be activated and then it de-activates so quickly you have to press the button again.

Some things that I have experienced in my job.

Oh man, you've given me flashbacks to the one time I did that route. 

 

We don't have a lot of high rise flats in Northampton, but we have 3 storey ones, they are horrendous. And like you say, all smell of piss.

 

I had one, delivery instructions were "If I'm not home, buzz any neighbours for entry and leave outside my door, try number 52, he's a nice guy"

 

Buzzed number 52, he told me to fvck off 

 

There are some areas you drive in to as well, and they just have a stench of marijuana around them. 

 

They're the places where you don't leave your keys in the van or hide parcels behind bins 

[tom27111]

The worst is an area called Abington. Its where the cricket ground is in Northampton. 

 

Not a bad area, but imagine trying to park your van in areas like off Melton Road or off Narborough Road.

 

Then, there are no safe places for parcels.

 

Amazon don't even give you less drops. You have 160 still, you can't park and nobody is in.

 

The amount of parcels that are undeliverable is ridiculous, I'd say about 30-40%.

 

And amazon expect you to try again after you've done your round  seriously.

 

You basically have to do 2 rounds in a day.

 

I tell them to fvck off and drop everything back at the depot.

 

Another thing I could easily resolve if Amazon actually listened to me.

Edited 16 October 2022 by tom27111

[Parafox]

11 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

Oh man, you've given me flashbacks to the one time I did that route. 

 

We don't have a lot of high rise flats in Northampton, but we have 3 storey ones, they are horrendous. And like you say, all smell of piss.

 

I had one, delivery instructions were "If I'm not home, buzz any neighbours for entry and leave outside my door, try number 52, he's a nice guy"

 

Buzzed number 52, he told me to fvck off 

 

There are some areas you drive in to as well, and they just have a stench of marijuana around them. 

 

They're the places where you don't leave your keys in the van or hide parcels behind bins 

I assume you are familiar with housing estates such as Beaumont Leys where the access to so many flats is by foot into unfamiliar and dingy places and the order of the house numbers make no logical sense. For people like you, me and posties it's a nightmare.

 

As an aside. Northampton has that tower that was used for testing lifts braking systems, IIRC?

Edited 16 October 2022 by Parafox