Amazon will give your overworked supply driver $5 for those who ask Alexa to say thanks

Last 12 months, an Amazon supply driver stated that the excessive quantity of orders throughout vacation season “makes life hell.” This 12 months, these contracted employees can get a $5 tip if their buyer says, “Alexa, thank my driver.”

This is a part of a promotion that Amazon is working to have fun its impending milestone of 15 billion packages delivered. If a driver is without doubt one of the first a million to obtain a thanks, they get $5. The 5 drivers who obtain essentially the most thank yous will get a $10,000 bonus, plus $10,000 donated to a charity of their alternative.

That signifies that Amazon can pay about $5.1 million to employees by this promotion. For comparability, Amazon spent over $4.3 million on anti-union consultants final 12 months.

“For drivers, it’s more than just the packages that they deliver—they form relationships with customers, provide support to the community in tough moments, and sometimes play the role of the unexpected hero,” Beryl Tomay, Vice President of Last Mile Delivery at Amazon, wrote in a press release.

These “unexpected heroes” are estimated to make between $18 to $25 an hour, based on the web site for Amazon Flex. Drivers contracted by Amazon Flex are gig employees who use their very own car to make deliveries on their very own time. Amazon additionally contracts drivers by Delivery Service Partners, that are independently-operated companies.

According to a report from VICE final 12 months, the vacation season usually leads supply drivers to work late into the night time, making the job extra harmful. Some drivers have reported having guns pulled on them once they make a supply at night time, whereas others would drive with their seatbelts buckled behind them to make deliveries faster. Drivers are additionally still peeing in bottles, regardless of Amazon’s adamant refusal that this can be a frequent follow. Then, this October, a driver was mauled to death by dogs whereas on the job — Amazon responded with a memo reminding drivers that they will verify for a paw print icon within the “delivery notes” part of the app in order that they “aren’t surprised by our four-legged customers.”

Amazon has lately made investments to extend advantages and pay for its warehouse employees and supply drivers by about $1 per hour, however these investments don’t meet the calls for of some labor organizers, who advocated for a $5 per hour increase. Over the following 12 months, Amazon will dedicate nearly $1 billion to this pursuit. These investments come throughout a time when reports say Amazon might actually run out of U.S. warehouse employees to rent by 2024, since turnover in these roles is so excessive.

So, these $5 thank yous might seem to be one other comfort prize, given the entire labor organizing amongst disgruntled Amazon contractors, in addition to Amazon’s refusal to play by the rules as these employees advocate for higher circumstances. But for those who’re getting a supply at present, you would possibly as effectively take a second to inform Alexa to thank your driver, I suppose?