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Comment by mabbo | Hacker News Reader

> The company promises deliveries are only made by Amazon employees it thinks are trustworthy.

Amazon doesn't have employees delivering packages. They are all contractors, and often contractors hired by contractors. The concerning thing about this is that it literally means Amazon may have only learned the name of the person who is accessing your home 30 minutes before they are inside it.

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Likely not very well vetted in advance. I ordered a few computer parts last month that never arrived. Amazon used a "shipping partner" instead of one of the mainstream delivery services. Amazon claims to have no idea what happened to my package but it sounds like the contractor just took off with their vehicle full of goods.

It wouldn't surprise me if they do very little vetting, especially this time of year, and just suck up the cost of packages that contractors fail to deliver. Perhaps for large shipments they go after the contractor legally if they can find them but for smaller shipments they probably just blacklist the person and move on. Taking an extra ten days to get my order via replacement shipped by a reputable delivery service was mildly annoying but I certainly never would allow Amazon's random hodgepodge of contractors enter my home.

I recently met a friend of a friend who was just hired on as an Amazon delivery contractor. He said that to get the job, he replied to an ad on Craigslist, met someone in a parking lot, talked to him for 10 minutes and was told that he had the job. The guy who hired him doesn't work for Amazon, but is himself a contractor. So, not a whole lot of vetting going on there.

Incidentally, this is in the Pacific Northwest, not far from Amazon HQ. S

I know for a fact that Amazon does employ package delivery people in my area. They are not contractors or hired by contractors. Amazon fulfillment is a massive organization.

It is a massive organization that includes employees, contractors, and contractors hired by contractors. I've had Amazon deliveries dropped off by UPS, FedEx, USPS, white vans with the logo of local independent delivery services (contractors hired by contractors... that's Amazon Logistics), and random people in their own cars using an app on their phone (contractors... that's Amazon Flex).

What makes you sure they aren't contractors? Ask them the next time you get a delivery.

They may drive trucks with the Amazon logo; they may tell you they are delivering for Amazon; they may be driving around with an app made by Amazon that gives them step by step instructions of what to do. But they are not legally employed by Amazon. Not in the US or UK. I spent some time as a part of their software organization, and have been inside the delivery stations. As far as I know, there are no employees delivering packages.

You can speculate as to why Amazon would want things setup this way. I don't speak on the company's behalf.

I did ask them, the guy I talked to was an Amazon employee. I wasn't just assuming when I made the comment.

If someone wants to steal from my apartment or trash it, there are a million better ways that don't involve them being employed or contracted by Amazon, being tracked and having video of their entry into my abode.

As long as Amazon knows their name, has them tracked and my Key takes video, it seems like there's near zero risk of that person doing something illegal. It's just too easy for them to get caught.

Yea considering the alternative is package theft from "someone" whose face my security camera might get a snap of, and then my only option is to go to the cops with a grainy picture and a timestamp, I'll go with the "Amazon, who is placing a great deal of their reputation on the line by allowing contractors in the house."

After having an amazon delivery driver aggressively harass me for the door key code to my apartment rather than just use the intercom I lost all faith in their delivery service.

I'm pretty sure Amazon launched its own delivery service.

I'm pretty sure it is not Amazon employees who do the delivering, but contractors.

They did. Amazon logistics. No one who delivers for it are Amazon employees.

>Amazon doesn't have employees delivering packages. They are all contractors, and often contractors hired by contractors.

Are you 100% sure about this or is it a guess? There’s no evidence I’m aware of that goes against Amazons statement.

Maybe it's different in US, but in UK all deliveries from Amazon are done by 3rd party companies - DPD, Hermes, Parcelforce, etc, even if the tracking website says "Amazon Logistics" - it's just a front company.

Is the Amazon Key service available in the UK?

No but you can give a door access code if one is available.

In the US, they are all individual "contractors". They call them Flex Drivers. They are similar to Uber drivers. Individually hired but are technically contractors. So Amazon does background checks on them but technically they are not Amazon employees, they are "self employed". Which is why many of them drive things like Uhaul vans for deliveries. They try to cram as many orders as they can into a van, and rush them through, to get the biggest possible payout.

"Amazon Logistics" - it's just a front company

Are you sure about that because all deliveries I have had are clearly not from any of the regular companies you mention?

It being done by a 3rd party doesn't mean that it is an established delivery company. Per https://logistics.amazon.co.uk/ :

> Drivers are independent contractors with a delivery provider.

> The programme is open to single driver owner-operators as well as larger companies.

I've certainly had deliveries come in unmarked white vans without the driver displaying any sort of company affiliation.

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