Ok, as someone who deals with logistics, package delivery, and the evolving business models operating in the space; I have observed a disconnect between A.I. and the Human delivery driver.
Prior to the emergence of Direct Delivery by Amazon, deliveries were made by UPS, USPS, and Fed Ex. The deliveries generally occurred within a predictable time frame and were made by the same driver. This allowed you to develop a relationship with the driver, allowed the driver to understand your business, all which minimized any disruptions in the service that might develop.
In the past 6 months, I have been in an ongoing battle with Amazon to deliver packages to my place of employment in a timely fashion. Once I create a dialogue with the driver, they understand the businesses needs, and that driver if used on our route again, delivers during our hours of operation. The communication falls apart when Amazon dispatches different drivers daily, each who do not have experience with the route they are delivering packages to. Why do they do this?
From what I have learned, Amazon uses DSP (delivery service partners) to deliver the packages that Amazon routes on their mapping algorithm, which provides direction to the network on how the packages are to be delivered. Problem is that I have been told a driver (1) Can not deviate from the algorithm, and is at times unable to scan the packages at a stop if delivered out of order, (2) they do not differentiate business from residential customers, who may have different needs, different hours, so might require a different approach? Here it seems that the technologist that created the algorithm deployed it without soliciting input from those that make deliveries for a living.
Why would using the same driver make sense for a business: (1) Today, businesses need to provide a secure and safe facility. Having the same driver introduces a degree of predictability (not all can afford an Amazon Hub). (2) As a driver the first thing you do is look at your route and then determine which stops have bathrooms that you may be able to utilize. When you are in a truck all day, knowing where the bathrooms are located are kinda a big deal. (3) Having a different route each day may allow for some optimization, but might also introduce some frustration, as deliveries may arrive after a business is closed. If the purpose of Prime is to deliver within a specified time frame, then is it not in your best interest to live up to your promise? Amazon’s business model in the retail space has been built on the backs of trusted delivery networks, that banked trust will evaporate if they don’t interject a degree of humanity into the algorithmic driven system they are seeking to implement.
My complaint is not with the drivers, but with the rigidity of the technology that has not adapted to the conditions on the ground, and learned that the sheer speed of the promise of one day delivery, does not always “value” the driver, and is overly reliant on an algorithm that does not always serve the best interests of its clients. For a business, predictability, familiarity, and responsiveness are of value, so perhaps adapting to their needs would be a value add?
Economic Journeyman 