Whats going on with Amazon deliveries? They pay well?

[aFrugalFather]

I've known that Amazon contracts out some of their deliveries, I guess like Uber/Lyft, people can make some side money this way?

But what has shocked me is the last two deliveries were made by what looked like young professionals, nicely dressed and driving expensive late model luxury vehicles (A Lexus SUV and a large shiny Cadillac).  Whats going on here?  The guy in the Caddy just delivered a box at 2:00, so seems like this should be in the middle of the normal work day.  These cars all use premium gas and can't be cheap to run for deliveries that I don't even pay for directly (amazon prime).  Is Amazon paying so well, or are these people bad at math or is it a combination?  This can't be sustainable.

I'm very confused.

[ixtap]

This market has been tough on the gigolos.

It is likely a combination of factors, including bad at math.

[terran]

Gotta do something to afford those giant car payments.

[bobechs]

Pizza delivery syndrome:  turning the car back into the money it took to buy it.

[le-weekend]

I signed up for one of the official online orientations for doing Amazon deliveries with my own car. (If you're curious i found the ad in the part time jobs section of Craigslist.) The pay is pretty good but all the other factors added up to it not being worth it. First off you agree to take packages up to 40 or 50 lbs (? don't recall) and being of slight build I was out right there. And being female I was sqigged out about being in dark doorways delivering stuff. And they were rigid about how many attempts you have to make and using your own phone to do numerous documentation procedures which kinda bugged me.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[Paul der Krake]

There is no money in driving in the gig economy. The churn is unbelievably high, but there is an almost limitless amount of labor since everybody and their dogs has a car. It's just people subsidizing their luxurious tastes in automobiles before they realize how poor a deal for them it really is.

[Noodle]

Well, in my area it could be someone hit by the downturn in the energy industry. Or someone gifted a car, or driving their parents' car.

However, it just as likely could be a neighbor delivering a package to its correct destination because Amazon's delivery systems cannot seem to get anything where it needs to go in the last couple of months. Of four packages lately, one ended up with my upstairs neighbor, one ended up with my across the hall neighbor, one was dropped off at the condo complex office (without any notification as to where it was...it took a week to find), and one was correctly delivered the first time. I am currently waiting on a birthday gift which failed to deliver "because the business was closed." It's a condo complex (and I put the gate code in the delivery info). We are never closed!

[le-weekend]

I've had 99% positive experience getting my Amazon deliveries, but ironically a terrible time with Washington Post delivery the last two months. (It's ironic because Jeff Bezos owns both companies!)

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[big_owl]

Anecdotal...but I ordered a washer/dryer combo from Amazon recently and delivery and installation was through an Amazon subcontractor local to the DC area. We got to talking and the guy said that there was all the business he could handle but the margins were razor thin and he had no negotiating leverage with amazon...which is about what I expected would be the case.   He was more interested in how the process was for the buyer, and in my case it was absolutely painless. 

[TaraB]

A guy in a Nissan SUV delivered my amazon prime package at 8 pm this week. So weird.

I've also seen a bright yellow Camaro (newish) with a Panera delivery sign by work. Definitely voting bad at math.

[aFrugalFather]

Yeah I don't see how the math could work for running these cars.

[sokoloff]

Yeah I don't see how the math could work for running these cars.

There's marginal and average costs to consider.

Amazon deliveries may not pay for the average cost of running a luxury sedan, but if you already have a luxury sedan (for whatever reason) and only drive it a few hundred extra miles doing Amazon deliveries each month, it's quite possible that you can cover the marginal costs of operating the car and have a little white meat left over.

[BJC]

Could be an Uber or Via driver making extra money between rides...  2pm would likely be the slow part of the day for a taxi driver

[ketchup]

Well, in my area it could be someone hit by the downturn in the energy industry. Or someone gifted a car, or driving their parents' car.

However, it just as likely could be a neighbor delivering a package to its correct destination because Amazon's delivery systems cannot seem to get anything where it needs to go in the last couple of months. Of four packages lately, one ended up with my upstairs neighbor, one ended up with my across the hall neighbor, one was dropped off at the condo complex office (without any notification as to where it was...it took a week to find), and one was correctly delivered the first time. I am currently waiting on a birthday gift which failed to deliver "because the business was closed." It's a condo complex (and I put the gate code in the delivery info). We are never closed!

We get 100+ packages from Amazon per year, and I've never had an issue with delivery to the wrong address, or something not showing up (just the occasional delay).  Though it's always been to a house (a townhouse for a year), not a condo or apartment.

I've noticed the diversity of Amazon delivery vehicles over the past year.  I don't mind it, my stuff still gets here.  Sometimes arrives at 10am, sometimes at 8:30pm.

[Roots&Wings]

A guy in a Nissan SUV delivered my amazon prime package at 8 pm this week. So weird.

I've also seen a bright yellow Camaro (newish) with a Panera delivery sign by work. Definitely voting bad at math.

A woman and her young daughter in a Prius (daughter delivered package, mom driving) delivered Sunday afternoon for me recently. Figured some kind of hopefully decent paying side-gig, but also struck me as odd.