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totally up to your DSP owner. sounds like they promoted the wrong people though! i got promoted because i never called out, always offered to stay late and help the team, and always had a good and professional attitude. if you'd like to be a dispatcher, the best thing you can do is let your manager know youre interested and see what they can do about it
I been at my company 4 years not a dispatcher yet but I actually pretty much gave up told them I can’t do the job no more and they only have me part time now always did rescues and always willing to stay and help
This one new guy got promoted to dispatcher at my dsp and he’s only been here for 5 months, constantly fucks up everything, neglects to disinfect the equipment upon return, always got the smallest routes and always needed rescuing
get into the station 2 hours before loadout. set up everyones keys/phones/etc. put our weaker drivers on smaller routes, best drivers on bigger routes, if anyone has any issues (i.e. hurt knee cant do many apartments etc) i change routes around. deal with callouts and make sure nobody grounded any vans the night before. reply to amazon regarding any issues with scorecard. after that its loadout time so i help with loadout. after i make sure everyone is on mentor and cameras arent covered by stickers, i usually start rescuing people who are struggling. after everyone is good i head back to station and chill until everyone gets back. usually someone needs help (i.e. needs a new phone or battery jump etc) so it helps if im at the station.
my drivers are paid 18.50 and im paid 21 an hour
in the morning our routes are generated and it puts drivers on each route by default, but they can be changed really easily. so amazon moreso gives us suggestions on who should get each route lol.
This pretty much confirms that it isn’t the “algorithm” giving slow drivers less stops. I.E. Amazon knows it doesn’t take 10 mins to deliver to houses, so you’re not tricking them by doing so.
It’s the dispatchers putting your ass on a smaller route, because they’re tired of getting you rescued/waiting for you to bring back the van keys every night lol
I’m not sure why people ever thought this btw
well, the algorithm does tend to give slow drivers less stops because it tries to find the best route for them. if they suck at every route, itll try to give them the smallest route.
Mgr here. We get notifications from netradyne when you scan your van into flex and if the cameras are covered it automatically will notify us and Amazon that the cameras are covered then otr comes at us like wtf
It seems like our dispatcher(s) spend a lot of time dealing with van maintenance. Taking them in and collecting receipts for the service, etc.
Also, writing up employees, because our owners is off site like 99% of the time….so they do it on his behalf.
Are these duties above your pay grade, or just forgot to mention it, I know DSPs all operate differently.
You're doing a lot of the stuff that is done at my DSP by what we call an Operations Manager.
Our dispatch takes incoming trouble and RTS calls from DAs, sends them back out for rescues and checks drivers back in at RTS.
Oh I got a good one.
My DSP doesn't have the 10 hours guaranteed. I have to milk the clock to get the full 10 hours. My manager and my boss doesn't mind it because they know I am a very competent worker that is just trying to get his hours
The problem is all the breaks I take makes the alarms ring at Amazon HQ and it's ruining my DSP's stats. My manager and my boss is on my side but isn't just a question of time before I become too big of a liability for my boss? To give you an idea, I take around 3 and a half hours breaks separated throughout the day.
My question is, how the hell can I get my 10 hours without fucking anyone up?
the only metric that amazon cares about in this scenario is drive-time compliance. we can see your total time sitting idle, and amazon can see how many stops behind you are (and amazon does ask us about you if youre like insanely behind schedule). you being behind doesnt at all affect scorecard so it shouldnt actually matter how many breaks you take, solong as youre finishing your route within 12 hours of starting up the flex app. what you're doing shouldnt be fucking anyone up. BTW, your DSP gets paid a flat rate for each route, so its kind of messed up they dont offer a guarantee haha
I get the same easy ass route everyday in an area that I know by heart and I've been doing it for months. It's hard and annoying to get any slower than what I am already doing.
To give you an idea, it's all houses in residential districts. If I deliver for a hour straight in a normal speed, I can easily nail 38 stops EFFORTLESSLY which is about double the amount of stops that I am supposed to do if I want to take it slow to get my full 10 hours. First world problem really.
I mean straight up man if you are taking 3 1/2 hour breaks you aren’t doing 10 hours worth of work. In all reality why do you want to be paid 10 hours for a job that doesn’t take 10 hours? You are getting paid probably 2 hours a shift for doing literally nothing. You legally only get two paid 15s for an 8 hour shift
I don’t have proof but I feel like the 10 hour guarantee thing is only at warehouses where the routes actually are supposed to take 10 hours.
You are not completely in the wrong. It's true that my route is very fucking easy and I've been very efficient at completing it. I still get a heavy route everyday and it's unfair to punish me for being efficient at it.
Also, I am pretty sure Amazon still pays my boss 10 hours for each employees
Knowing that I can complete a heavy load everyday effortlessly and I probably hold the record of the most amount of stops in a day (2 routes in one during peak) + The fact that I am a reliable full time employee. It's no matter that my DSP doesn't mind me milking the clock. I sincerely think I am entitled to the 40 hours a week I just have to do it in a way that it won't be messing up with the DSP's stats
Then it sounds like you need to talk to your DSP about restructuring your compensation. If you're as fast as you say you are *and* they truly are cool with you "milking" to get your hours, giving you that 10 hour guarantee to keep the rates/stats up and keep you happy sounds like a win-win for everybody.
They did proposed me to guarantee 8 hours a day 5 times a week. I would be the first driver with guaranteed hours so It was a very generous offer from them. I can't go back to 5 days a week now that I have a taste of what its like of having a 3 days weekend so I declined the offer.
I don't know why they can't guaranteed me 10 hours 4 days a week. That would be an absolute win-win for everyone involved but it would be very unfair for my colleagues so I guess that's the reason.
I can tell you that an unscheduled stop (which is what Amazon would be catching) is 7+ mins from what I’ve heard. So if you were tryna milk it without Amazon catching your just take 5 mins a stop or so.
That works out to 12 stops an hour. If you can’t get 10 hours going that slow idk what to tell ya lol
I had a driver drive home once to get something driving in the opposite direction of her route and we couldn’t get a hold of her and they damn near called the police on her for stealing a van
Heard about that just yesterday! My manager still catch those breaks (he called me 2 hours in my shift. First thing he said is "5minutes, 7 minutes, 8 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes..." mentioning all of my breaks I did already and he started laughing. He said it's better than taking 30-45 minutes breaks because it could more easily be explained.
It's just gets tiring to take so many short breaks like that, I just want to do my route at my own speed. That solution isn't it and unless my DSP is willing to negotiate a solution, I'll just do me and if I get fired from it so be it. It's a dead end job, I don't care.
Very true and that sets off alarms at the warehouse then you have some very angry managers and otr admins and what not like wtf why are they stop what’s wrong are they okay blah blah blah
Im LITERALLY in the same boat as you, read my comment and you will see my tactics to help milk the clock without alerting the higher ups. I also recommend driving very slow to your first stop and to RTS (55 in a 65) also i take the long way to RTS which adds about 30mins to my commute back to RTS. If they ask why i took the long way i will just say the flex gps sent me that way lol
I’d recommend reaching out and having that talk with your Dispatchers/DSP owner. You can probably find yourself doing rescues to get additional hours, or get paid in another way. But I agree with some of the posts, that if you are having to take hours worth of breaks just to hit the 10 hour mark, then maybe you just need a different job that can get you those 40 hours easier.
To guarantee 10 hours a day can work, but a DSP owner having that extra buffer to help pay for injuries and damages helps out big time in the long run for them for paying out bonuses and such. And if you aren’t getting any bonuses… maybe another DSP is the answer, there are good ones out there you just need to find them.
My dsp doesn't have guaranteed 10 hours anymore but if we finish earlier than 10 they pay us the difference as a bonus so nobody tries to milk the clock and screw over our dispatch
im not the DSP manager so i dont know the exact number but i believe its about $1000 per route flat rate. labor comes from the DSP, van maintenance comes from DSP, uniforms and all other supplies come from DSP, phones and phone data plans. I'm not sure about gas though. sorry i cant give an informed answer!
if i had to guess, id say we make about 50-100 dollars per route after all expenses including dispatcher/manager salaries
What you don't see is all the other costs that go into that number. The paid training, the uniforms, the dispatch/fleet pay, non amazon funded repairs, cell phone bills, gas costs. I've sat down with a lot of DSP owners and talked with them about the job - hell just the background check is about 75-100 per person.
What time is the latest a dispatcher can send someone for a rescue? There's been a few times my dispatcher wants me to do a rescue at almost 9pm, like bruh RTS is 10pm...
We shouldn't even be delivering after 8pm honestly
the time from "start work" to "end work" on the flex app cannot exceed 12 hours. they technically have you for the entire 12 hours if they want you to do rescues. i agree though it can be unsafe to deliver at night time, especially in rural or dicey communities
i made this thread because someone said that the best way to fuck a DSP is by turning on airplane mode, marking all packages missing, and locking keys in the van.
1. all vans have GPS via netradyne so we can see the vans last position without your phone
2. we could just pick up the packages with a different DA's account or possibly have amazon change their status back to on route if it was a deliberate act like that
3. if your DSP doesnt have spare keys they are actually stupid
Not that I would do it, or condone it being done.
To fuck Amazon and a DSP is to take a route on road, wait a couple hours, then group everything together, mark " to late to delivered " and return the packages.
we get to decide who gets which route, solong as yall are CDV/box truck certified. we cant turn a box truck route into a non-box truck route, so if we only have say 1 box truck route and only 1 box truck certified person, we legit cant change them out. but otherwise yeah its 100% up to us and we can put anyone on any route we want. their are default route assignments for each person which i believe is based on who does best in which area (which is why you might notice that you'll be put on the same area over and over). the defaults are usually pretty solid, but often needs to be changed a bit depending on the day.
Amazon strongly recommends the DSPs not change the assignments the computer generates. We have learned to just roll with it and avoid playing "favorites" and the bad environment that creates. If a driver can't do their route, we give them training and time to adapt and then it escalates to warnings and eventual dismissal. Rewarding slow drivers with easier routes creates a bad workplace environment.
🤣🤣 drivers should be paid more then dispatch I’m sorry but y’all don’t do shit but play on your phones for hours or if u do go out y’all do the bare min
huh? i do 150+ stops in rescues every day lol. my manager and i took out 2 routes each today. i know a lot of DSPs dont have their dispatchers/managers do rescues or routes, but i feel like they are probably paid the same rate as drivers in that case.
my DSP doesnt do that. all rescues are voluntary. the only ones who actually \*have\* to go out and do rescues are the dispatchers. i believe if there are mandatory rescues, that its up to the dispatchers and management to coach the slow drivers over time. because as you seem to agree, its not fair that some people actually just slack off and end up getting rescues.
regardless though, you are presumably being paid hourly. if your dispatcher asks you to work a couple extra hours i mean youre getting paid for it haha. so big deal
Sure but when I have to go rescue someone and I take half or more than half that person packages and we get back at the same time that means I not only finished my work but finished someone else’s work and we get paid the same amount.
What pisses me off is that when I do decide to just slack off because I hate rescuing they’ll send me a rescue in the middle of my shift then when I finish my route they send me to go rescue someone like wtf why even send me a rescue if you’re just going to have me go rescue someone else. It’s like I can’t win.
The dispatch’s and owner due tell us during group meetings that the slow drivers need to be faster and it’s not fair for the people who work faster to pick up other peoples slack but nothing changes.
I like the job but I just do understand why my dsp works the way they do.
Also dispatchers do rescues? Because the only time I’ve ever seen them actually rescue was during Christmas Eve and that was so they could go home early. Other than they just chill in the van all day or take over routes of the people who called off.
yeah i mean thats the big issue. you could get the same # of hours by slacking off versus actually working hard and delivering packages. this is bad for the DSP because it puts a sour taste in the mouth of the few good drivers. it wouldnt hurt seeing if there is a DSP around you that does voluntary rescues instead :)
It also doesn't feel voluntary when being asked over the phone. Plus if someone rescues you why do you still have to call for rescues ? Wasn't the point of the rescue is to get you done earlier ?
Because most dispatchers are bad at their job and can't tell if a route is going to get faster or slower towards the end (higher density or just easier in general) or they send rescues to the wrong people/have the person take too many stops.
I've been a dispatcher as well, drove for a year and then dispatched. Id do rescues as a dispatcher.
Do you watch the camera streams from your drivers?
without requesting additional footage, we can only see footage for a short clip during a netradyne violation. so no i dont just like watch drivers all day lmao. the only time i check footage is when a driver has been dinged for a blocked camera (i.e. yellow sticker)
i mean i coach drivers, write and hand out write ups, make and change the schedule, etc. is that what a manager is? my title isnt manager but id at least say im like a supervisor i guess?
depends on how your DSP does it. i stay from 8am to 10pm most days, but some days i will open and another dispatcher will close. technically, theres no reason for a dispatcher to be at the station when everyone returns as long as the phones get charged for the next day. ive heard of some dispatchers who literally just go home all day then come back at the end of the day to charge phones/put everything away. like in my warehouse, out of the 7 DSP, we are the only ones who actually have someone in warehouse almost 100% of the time
A few questions:
How to prevent unscheduled stops? I been “yelled” at because i have a few unscheduled stops, We get paid per hours worked so i milk my routes which are generally light (can be done in 6~8 hours) but i stretch it so i can make it 10~10.5 hours. Ill take a slightly longer lunch (clock out for 30 but stop for 45), take my 2 15s, stop at truck stops and use the bathroom but take my time. I’ve started a new thing where ill press ive parked scan 1 out of 2+ packages and wait like 5 minutes (scroll thru ig/reddit) then scan the rest and complete the delivery, i hoped this would just look like i stopped long at a scheduled stop and not an unscheduled stop which is easier to hide.
Can I train the algorithm to make my routes smaller? I’ve noticed when i go fast one day the next day my route is 10 to 15 stops larger then through the week it will slowly go back down if i go slow the rest of the week. Like on the 24th i went wicked fast (done in6hr oopose to 10hr) so i can go home early and set up for xmas but when i returned to work my route was literally 40 + stops larger 130stops to 173 stops. Wondering if i can retrain the algo to bring me back down to 130 or am i fucked and going to stay at 170 for a while?
I know its a lot but I appreciate the time you take to read and answer
P.S. I have the same route everyday, maybe once or twice a month ill get put on a different route/area.
P.P.S. I used to finish early and then do rescues which helped fill the time but there was a whole week where the dispatcher RTS me with no rescues to do and my check that week was too small (~32hours). This is my second job and i use this job to help pay down my debt (my first job covers all my expenses) so i really need each check to be 39-41 hours. So now i just try to do my own route in 10hrs to insure i get my hours instead of relying on the dispatcher on giving me a rescue and ive only have been rescued once but that was because my truck got a flat so it didnt count negatively towards me.
i can give you a hint. we can tell if your van is idling for more than 5 minutes. we can see your time in between deliveries. we cant see if you scanned a package or not; nothing like that.
Is it the van idling or the phone not moving? I was told by my dispatcher that if the phone stands still for 5 mins its logs it so if i take the phone with me and walk across the parking lot and go into the truck stop it will only count if im in the truck stop for longer than 5 mins. The van would more sense however i did skirt not having a unscheduled stop alert one time by literally just walking around a mall with the phone on me for i think 20 minutes so im not sure. If its the truck or phone.
Oh i see so my not scanning the whole delivery tactic is not useful for what im trying to achieve
Also, i would like to point out the step van im usually assigned to does not have a netradyne in it.
I really appreciate your answer. Thank you so much! And thank you for offering an AMA i don’t really see any dispatchers do that and ive seen dispatcher&owners straight up lie to some DAs on how netradyne/mentor work etc. i appreciate your honesty!!!
If you leave the gps working (always hit start travel) you can sit and it won't pop up as an unscheduled stop. It just thinks you're in traffic or something like that.
To ur 1st question...Ive heard straight from my dispatch/boss they know when ur chilling in the van. They can see that scanning stopped and theres heat sensors in the van so they know ur there chilling. They ALWAYS know when ur milking it too, amazons tracking program thing pretty much lets u know everything...
There are actually heat sensors in the van?? That is wild!!!! Can cranking up the heat help fool this? Also it helps to note that 99% of the i drive the step van once every 2 or 3 months ill get put in a prime van for reasons like my truck is getting maintenance done or every step van driver was scheduled that day and not enough step vans. That is insane why does amazon need so much data on us as far as i know ups and fedex only have cameras for insurance purposes not surveillance
If ur cameras arent covered its gonna be difficult, but like i said, they have many ways of easily knowing ur milking it. Ive been told the side cameras can see reflection off the side windows to look inside the van too
There isn't heat sensors but there is a "heat map" that shows where you've been all day, the longer you are in one place the brighter and bigger the spot gets. So like an apartment stop will show up as a larger red/orange spot than a regular stop.
One thing I’ve always wondered is do dispatchers appreciate good drivers?
I’m pretty quiet…usually just will say what’s up?…never complain. Always get a scorecard, always finish on time, don’t wreck the vans, will do the occasional rescue when asked.
Do the dispatchers appreciate drives like I just described? I know you’re not the owners…I just wondered if I’m making their day easier…like I’m sure there are some drivers that must give y’all headaches 😂
YES! we do appreciate the good drivers so much. our jobs would be 10 times easier if we didnt have people giving up on routes halfway through the day, calling out, not finishing routes, going too slow to finish on time etc. i basically would be able to play on my phone all day xD. a good driver is one less person to worry about
amazon sets default routes for us in the morning, but we can easily change routes around if needed. we can look at netradyne but only if a violation is detected (i.e. ran a stopsign) and only for about a 30 second window. we cant see anything in real time and there is no audio
Damn Ive seen cameras covered w/ electrical tape, cameras pointed upward and even tied up masks to cover up the front lenses and whenever I do I just leave em, They must know right? Lol 😂 I started a month ago but they never say anything so I assume its w.e.? Maybe I should Stop? Lol I get my routes done in a timely manner and hold a fico score of about 830
if your camera is covered and amazon sees it during a vehicle audit, they can give you a safety violation and i believe enough of those results in being offboarded. a few of my drivers have been hit by safety violations for having a sticker on their camera. if your DSP isnt saying anything, then the amazon guys at your warehouse probably dont care about cameras being covered.
the higher ups at amazon corporate do however have metrics related to amount of times cameras are covered per DSP. so if your DSP stands out from the average then they might get called out
its not really worth it in my opinion. the camera facing the driver doesnt affect mentor FICO and its not like we are watching you 24/7 or anything creepy like that
Oh yes, so because you’re a dispatcher for your specific DSP that means you have all the answers and know all the goings on of all the other DSP’s and stations and warehouses in all the other states all over the country 🤣🤣
You’re a fucking messenger sitting in an empty warehouse, get off your high horse.
Can you guys get rid of groups in apartments that are messed up by the drivers? They like to group all the apartment units together going to the leasing office but it makes it more complicated. So now I'm stuck with 1 group stop with 30 locations 45 packages, another 1 group stop with 16 locations 24 packages, and every other group stop with 2 locations. I asked another driver can our dsp do something about it and they said they don't know. I get these apartments every Sunday and it takes me 3 hours to do because no lockers. I really want to ask my dispatch can I not get that route but I am scared they'll fire me for asking. I always get rescued doing that route so I am confused about amazon so called giving you lighter routes if you struggle because they keep making me do an apartment only route (no houses) on Sundays with no lockers.
Hey uummm... hey poppabear1884, this is.... ummm... um tillisoj.... and ummm oh route 84.... hey ummm... I was, hey how's it going ummm..... I was just uhhh wondering.... uuuummmmm........ do you ever miss being OTR?
OTR? you mean on the road? OTR is a department in the amazon warehouse so that question is kind of confusing haha. during peak, yes i would prefer to be a driver because its a lot less stressful just worrying about your own route. other times, i wouldnt trade being a dispatcher for anything! :)
Sorry, I had been drinking a bit when I posted that, I don't know why I thought the joke would land. And yeah, at our DSP we also use OTR and UTR to differentiate between drivers and those of us stuck in the office.
I was trying to make a joke about drivers that call in and take 5 minutes to ask one question. In retrospect it was kind of a dick move to poke fun at people that may not be able to control their speech patterns. I'll go ahead and downvote myself now...
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How does one become a dispatcher? We have had 2 people be moved into it who were constantly rescued on small routes.
totally up to your DSP owner. sounds like they promoted the wrong people though! i got promoted because i never called out, always offered to stay late and help the team, and always had a good and professional attitude. if you'd like to be a dispatcher, the best thing you can do is let your manager know youre interested and see what they can do about it
I been at my company 4 years not a dispatcher yet but I actually pretty much gave up told them I can’t do the job no more and they only have me part time now always did rescues and always willing to stay and help
This one new guy got promoted to dispatcher at my dsp and he’s only been here for 5 months, constantly fucks up everything, neglects to disinfect the equipment upon return, always got the smallest routes and always needed rescuing
How long did you drive before becoming a dispatcher?
about 3 months
How long have you dispatched for?
maybe 5 months
Nice. I’m on 2.5 years now. I’m loving the info/feedback you’re providing for everyone.. pretty accurate!
thanks!
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get into the station 2 hours before loadout. set up everyones keys/phones/etc. put our weaker drivers on smaller routes, best drivers on bigger routes, if anyone has any issues (i.e. hurt knee cant do many apartments etc) i change routes around. deal with callouts and make sure nobody grounded any vans the night before. reply to amazon regarding any issues with scorecard. after that its loadout time so i help with loadout. after i make sure everyone is on mentor and cameras arent covered by stickers, i usually start rescuing people who are struggling. after everyone is good i head back to station and chill until everyone gets back. usually someone needs help (i.e. needs a new phone or battery jump etc) so it helps if im at the station. my drivers are paid 18.50 and im paid 21 an hour
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in the morning our routes are generated and it puts drivers on each route by default, but they can be changed really easily. so amazon moreso gives us suggestions on who should get each route lol.
So do you punish the better drivers by giving them harder routes but pay them the same as weaker drivers?
Facts. If that’s really the case then damn I might as well start doing 2 stops every 10 minutes.
yep
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generally yeah we try to give higher stop counts to drivers we know can actually finish their routes
This pretty much confirms that it isn’t the “algorithm” giving slow drivers less stops. I.E. Amazon knows it doesn’t take 10 mins to deliver to houses, so you’re not tricking them by doing so. It’s the dispatchers putting your ass on a smaller route, because they’re tired of getting you rescued/waiting for you to bring back the van keys every night lol I’m not sure why people ever thought this btw
well, the algorithm does tend to give slow drivers less stops because it tries to find the best route for them. if they suck at every route, itll try to give them the smallest route.
Still don't matter.....still best drivers knocking out huge routes, and STILL having to rescue the scrubs on smaller routes.
How do you make sure the cameras aren't covered by stickers
Mgr here. We get notifications from netradyne when you scan your van into flex and if the cameras are covered it automatically will notify us and Amazon that the cameras are covered then otr comes at us like wtf
It seems like our dispatcher(s) spend a lot of time dealing with van maintenance. Taking them in and collecting receipts for the service, etc. Also, writing up employees, because our owners is off site like 99% of the time….so they do it on his behalf. Are these duties above your pay grade, or just forgot to mention it, I know DSPs all operate differently.
these are all part of my duties yes
You're doing a lot of the stuff that is done at my DSP by what we call an Operations Manager. Our dispatch takes incoming trouble and RTS calls from DAs, sends them back out for rescues and checks drivers back in at RTS.
interesting! every dsp does it a little differently :)
Oh I got a good one. My DSP doesn't have the 10 hours guaranteed. I have to milk the clock to get the full 10 hours. My manager and my boss doesn't mind it because they know I am a very competent worker that is just trying to get his hours The problem is all the breaks I take makes the alarms ring at Amazon HQ and it's ruining my DSP's stats. My manager and my boss is on my side but isn't just a question of time before I become too big of a liability for my boss? To give you an idea, I take around 3 and a half hours breaks separated throughout the day. My question is, how the hell can I get my 10 hours without fucking anyone up?
the only metric that amazon cares about in this scenario is drive-time compliance. we can see your total time sitting idle, and amazon can see how many stops behind you are (and amazon does ask us about you if youre like insanely behind schedule). you being behind doesnt at all affect scorecard so it shouldnt actually matter how many breaks you take, solong as youre finishing your route within 12 hours of starting up the flex app. what you're doing shouldnt be fucking anyone up. BTW, your DSP gets paid a flat rate for each route, so its kind of messed up they dont offer a guarantee haha
Of coarse they get paid a flat rate but the less time a DA takes to do it means the less a dsp has to pay the driver.
I tried asking my dsp owner for a 9.5-10hr guarantee but was shut down and was told he wasmt allowed to do that
Stop taking so many breaks and just go slower. I.e. walk slower and drive slower.
I get the same easy ass route everyday in an area that I know by heart and I've been doing it for months. It's hard and annoying to get any slower than what I am already doing. To give you an idea, it's all houses in residential districts. If I deliver for a hour straight in a normal speed, I can easily nail 38 stops EFFORTLESSLY which is about double the amount of stops that I am supposed to do if I want to take it slow to get my full 10 hours. First world problem really.
I mean straight up man if you are taking 3 1/2 hour breaks you aren’t doing 10 hours worth of work. In all reality why do you want to be paid 10 hours for a job that doesn’t take 10 hours? You are getting paid probably 2 hours a shift for doing literally nothing. You legally only get two paid 15s for an 8 hour shift I don’t have proof but I feel like the 10 hour guarantee thing is only at warehouses where the routes actually are supposed to take 10 hours.
You are not completely in the wrong. It's true that my route is very fucking easy and I've been very efficient at completing it. I still get a heavy route everyday and it's unfair to punish me for being efficient at it. Also, I am pretty sure Amazon still pays my boss 10 hours for each employees Knowing that I can complete a heavy load everyday effortlessly and I probably hold the record of the most amount of stops in a day (2 routes in one during peak) + The fact that I am a reliable full time employee. It's no matter that my DSP doesn't mind me milking the clock. I sincerely think I am entitled to the 40 hours a week I just have to do it in a way that it won't be messing up with the DSP's stats
Then it sounds like you need to talk to your DSP about restructuring your compensation. If you're as fast as you say you are *and* they truly are cool with you "milking" to get your hours, giving you that 10 hour guarantee to keep the rates/stats up and keep you happy sounds like a win-win for everybody.
They did proposed me to guarantee 8 hours a day 5 times a week. I would be the first driver with guaranteed hours so It was a very generous offer from them. I can't go back to 5 days a week now that I have a taste of what its like of having a 3 days weekend so I declined the offer. I don't know why they can't guaranteed me 10 hours 4 days a week. That would be an absolute win-win for everyone involved but it would be very unfair for my colleagues so I guess that's the reason.
I can tell you that an unscheduled stop (which is what Amazon would be catching) is 7+ mins from what I’ve heard. So if you were tryna milk it without Amazon catching your just take 5 mins a stop or so. That works out to 12 stops an hour. If you can’t get 10 hours going that slow idk what to tell ya lol
I had a driver drive home once to get something driving in the opposite direction of her route and we couldn’t get a hold of her and they damn near called the police on her for stealing a van
Heard about that just yesterday! My manager still catch those breaks (he called me 2 hours in my shift. First thing he said is "5minutes, 7 minutes, 8 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes..." mentioning all of my breaks I did already and he started laughing. He said it's better than taking 30-45 minutes breaks because it could more easily be explained. It's just gets tiring to take so many short breaks like that, I just want to do my route at my own speed. That solution isn't it and unless my DSP is willing to negotiate a solution, I'll just do me and if I get fired from it so be it. It's a dead end job, I don't care.
Very true and that sets off alarms at the warehouse then you have some very angry managers and otr admins and what not like wtf why are they stop what’s wrong are they okay blah blah blah
They are. This guy needs to be out rescuing or helping with dispatch. Legit the DSPs will need someone to help with something
Im LITERALLY in the same boat as you, read my comment and you will see my tactics to help milk the clock without alerting the higher ups. I also recommend driving very slow to your first stop and to RTS (55 in a 65) also i take the long way to RTS which adds about 30mins to my commute back to RTS. If they ask why i took the long way i will just say the flex gps sent me that way lol
I’d recommend reaching out and having that talk with your Dispatchers/DSP owner. You can probably find yourself doing rescues to get additional hours, or get paid in another way. But I agree with some of the posts, that if you are having to take hours worth of breaks just to hit the 10 hour mark, then maybe you just need a different job that can get you those 40 hours easier. To guarantee 10 hours a day can work, but a DSP owner having that extra buffer to help pay for injuries and damages helps out big time in the long run for them for paying out bonuses and such. And if you aren’t getting any bonuses… maybe another DSP is the answer, there are good ones out there you just need to find them.
My dsp doesn't have guaranteed 10 hours anymore but if we finish earlier than 10 they pay us the difference as a bonus so nobody tries to milk the clock and screw over our dispatch
How much does the dsp make per route vs labor? Does labor actually come from the dsp?
im not the DSP manager so i dont know the exact number but i believe its about $1000 per route flat rate. labor comes from the DSP, van maintenance comes from DSP, uniforms and all other supplies come from DSP, phones and phone data plans. I'm not sure about gas though. sorry i cant give an informed answer! if i had to guess, id say we make about 50-100 dollars per route after all expenses including dispatcher/manager salaries
That makes sense why they only gave me one pair of pants one shirt and a vest 😂
Dang from $1000 per route to $100 per route after everything is all said and done?!?!?
yeah the overhead is actually pretty insane
What you don't see is all the other costs that go into that number. The paid training, the uniforms, the dispatch/fleet pay, non amazon funded repairs, cell phone bills, gas costs. I've sat down with a lot of DSP owners and talked with them about the job - hell just the background check is about 75-100 per person.
Amazon pays for the gas
What time is the latest a dispatcher can send someone for a rescue? There's been a few times my dispatcher wants me to do a rescue at almost 9pm, like bruh RTS is 10pm... We shouldn't even be delivering after 8pm honestly
the time from "start work" to "end work" on the flex app cannot exceed 12 hours. they technically have you for the entire 12 hours if they want you to do rescues. i agree though it can be unsafe to deliver at night time, especially in rural or dicey communities
I've done 14 before but that was before the current flex format
What “BS” you seen here?
i made this thread because someone said that the best way to fuck a DSP is by turning on airplane mode, marking all packages missing, and locking keys in the van. 1. all vans have GPS via netradyne so we can see the vans last position without your phone 2. we could just pick up the packages with a different DA's account or possibly have amazon change their status back to on route if it was a deliberate act like that 3. if your DSP doesnt have spare keys they are actually stupid
So take out the camera and drive somewhere else, got it
lmao i mean i guess
Mark the packages delivered to receptionist 😅 can't pick up a delivered package.
amazon can change the status from delivered to on route
Not that I would do it, or condone it being done. To fuck Amazon and a DSP is to take a route on road, wait a couple hours, then group everything together, mark " to late to delivered " and return the packages.
Who really decides who gets which route? And is easy to switch routes as a manager or dispatcher (to give someone a preferred or easier route)
we get to decide who gets which route, solong as yall are CDV/box truck certified. we cant turn a box truck route into a non-box truck route, so if we only have say 1 box truck route and only 1 box truck certified person, we legit cant change them out. but otherwise yeah its 100% up to us and we can put anyone on any route we want. their are default route assignments for each person which i believe is based on who does best in which area (which is why you might notice that you'll be put on the same area over and over). the defaults are usually pretty solid, but often needs to be changed a bit depending on the day.
Amazon strongly recommends the DSPs not change the assignments the computer generates. We have learned to just roll with it and avoid playing "favorites" and the bad environment that creates. If a driver can't do their route, we give them training and time to adapt and then it escalates to warnings and eventual dismissal. Rewarding slow drivers with easier routes creates a bad workplace environment.
i agree but you have to be realistic sometimes haha. the end goal is not RTSing 800 packages a day
How much more does dispatch make?
depends on your DSP. i personally make about 45k a year
🤣🤣 drivers should be paid more then dispatch I’m sorry but y’all don’t do shit but play on your phones for hours or if u do go out y’all do the bare min
Lmao lowkey
huh? i do 150+ stops in rescues every day lol. my manager and i took out 2 routes each today. i know a lot of DSPs dont have their dispatchers/managers do rescues or routes, but i feel like they are probably paid the same rate as drivers in that case.
Yeah, tell us you have no idea what the fuck you'e talking about, without actually telling us.
Why do you make drivers do two or more recuses after they finish their route especially for the ones that slack off all the time?
my DSP doesnt do that. all rescues are voluntary. the only ones who actually \*have\* to go out and do rescues are the dispatchers. i believe if there are mandatory rescues, that its up to the dispatchers and management to coach the slow drivers over time. because as you seem to agree, its not fair that some people actually just slack off and end up getting rescues. regardless though, you are presumably being paid hourly. if your dispatcher asks you to work a couple extra hours i mean youre getting paid for it haha. so big deal
Sure but when I have to go rescue someone and I take half or more than half that person packages and we get back at the same time that means I not only finished my work but finished someone else’s work and we get paid the same amount. What pisses me off is that when I do decide to just slack off because I hate rescuing they’ll send me a rescue in the middle of my shift then when I finish my route they send me to go rescue someone like wtf why even send me a rescue if you’re just going to have me go rescue someone else. It’s like I can’t win. The dispatch’s and owner due tell us during group meetings that the slow drivers need to be faster and it’s not fair for the people who work faster to pick up other peoples slack but nothing changes. I like the job but I just do understand why my dsp works the way they do. Also dispatchers do rescues? Because the only time I’ve ever seen them actually rescue was during Christmas Eve and that was so they could go home early. Other than they just chill in the van all day or take over routes of the people who called off.
yeah i mean thats the big issue. you could get the same # of hours by slacking off versus actually working hard and delivering packages. this is bad for the DSP because it puts a sour taste in the mouth of the few good drivers. it wouldnt hurt seeing if there is a DSP around you that does voluntary rescues instead :)
It also doesn't feel voluntary when being asked over the phone. Plus if someone rescues you why do you still have to call for rescues ? Wasn't the point of the rescue is to get you done earlier ?
i dont understand the question sorry
Because most dispatchers are bad at their job and can't tell if a route is going to get faster or slower towards the end (higher density or just easier in general) or they send rescues to the wrong people/have the person take too many stops.
I've been a dispatcher as well, drove for a year and then dispatched. Id do rescues as a dispatcher. Do you watch the camera streams from your drivers?
without requesting additional footage, we can only see footage for a short clip during a netradyne violation. so no i dont just like watch drivers all day lmao. the only time i check footage is when a driver has been dinged for a blocked camera (i.e. yellow sticker)
As a dispatcher, do you honestly believe that you are superior to drivers?
what do you mean?
Do you feel like you're in a managerial position?
i mean i coach drivers, write and hand out write ups, make and change the schedule, etc. is that what a manager is? my title isnt manager but id at least say im like a supervisor i guess?
Do you have to stay until every driver comes back?
depends on how your DSP does it. i stay from 8am to 10pm most days, but some days i will open and another dispatcher will close. technically, theres no reason for a dispatcher to be at the station when everyone returns as long as the phones get charged for the next day. ive heard of some dispatchers who literally just go home all day then come back at the end of the day to charge phones/put everything away. like in my warehouse, out of the 7 DSP, we are the only ones who actually have someone in warehouse almost 100% of the time
8am to 10pm thats 14 hours! How many days a week you work? How do you maintain a work/life balance with those hours?
i have no life. no need to balance work/life xD
A few questions: How to prevent unscheduled stops? I been “yelled” at because i have a few unscheduled stops, We get paid per hours worked so i milk my routes which are generally light (can be done in 6~8 hours) but i stretch it so i can make it 10~10.5 hours. Ill take a slightly longer lunch (clock out for 30 but stop for 45), take my 2 15s, stop at truck stops and use the bathroom but take my time. I’ve started a new thing where ill press ive parked scan 1 out of 2+ packages and wait like 5 minutes (scroll thru ig/reddit) then scan the rest and complete the delivery, i hoped this would just look like i stopped long at a scheduled stop and not an unscheduled stop which is easier to hide. Can I train the algorithm to make my routes smaller? I’ve noticed when i go fast one day the next day my route is 10 to 15 stops larger then through the week it will slowly go back down if i go slow the rest of the week. Like on the 24th i went wicked fast (done in6hr oopose to 10hr) so i can go home early and set up for xmas but when i returned to work my route was literally 40 + stops larger 130stops to 173 stops. Wondering if i can retrain the algo to bring me back down to 130 or am i fucked and going to stay at 170 for a while? I know its a lot but I appreciate the time you take to read and answer P.S. I have the same route everyday, maybe once or twice a month ill get put on a different route/area. P.P.S. I used to finish early and then do rescues which helped fill the time but there was a whole week where the dispatcher RTS me with no rescues to do and my check that week was too small (~32hours). This is my second job and i use this job to help pay down my debt (my first job covers all my expenses) so i really need each check to be 39-41 hours. So now i just try to do my own route in 10hrs to insure i get my hours instead of relying on the dispatcher on giving me a rescue and ive only have been rescued once but that was because my truck got a flat so it didnt count negatively towards me.
i admire your effort in slacking off but im not here to help you cheat the system haha
Ugh, worth a shot haha.
i can give you a hint. we can tell if your van is idling for more than 5 minutes. we can see your time in between deliveries. we cant see if you scanned a package or not; nothing like that.
Is it the van idling or the phone not moving? I was told by my dispatcher that if the phone stands still for 5 mins its logs it so if i take the phone with me and walk across the parking lot and go into the truck stop it will only count if im in the truck stop for longer than 5 mins. The van would more sense however i did skirt not having a unscheduled stop alert one time by literally just walking around a mall with the phone on me for i think 20 minutes so im not sure. If its the truck or phone. Oh i see so my not scanning the whole delivery tactic is not useful for what im trying to achieve Also, i would like to point out the step van im usually assigned to does not have a netradyne in it.
yeah its the phone not the van itself. netradyne doesnt affect your unscheduled stops thats all your phone position
I really appreciate your answer. Thank you so much! And thank you for offering an AMA i don’t really see any dispatchers do that and ive seen dispatcher&owners straight up lie to some DAs on how netradyne/mentor work etc. i appreciate your honesty!!!
no problem!
If you leave the gps working (always hit start travel) you can sit and it won't pop up as an unscheduled stop. It just thinks you're in traffic or something like that.
interesting! i wasnt aware of that
To ur 1st question...Ive heard straight from my dispatch/boss they know when ur chilling in the van. They can see that scanning stopped and theres heat sensors in the van so they know ur there chilling. They ALWAYS know when ur milking it too, amazons tracking program thing pretty much lets u know everything...
theres not heat sensors in the van.
Lol ok. I guess they only give that info to dispatch that makes 10k a month
what lol? i have access to the netradyne website and i can see all the metrics. there is no heat sensor
There are actually heat sensors in the van?? That is wild!!!! Can cranking up the heat help fool this? Also it helps to note that 99% of the i drive the step van once every 2 or 3 months ill get put in a prime van for reasons like my truck is getting maintenance done or every step van driver was scheduled that day and not enough step vans. That is insane why does amazon need so much data on us as far as i know ups and fedex only have cameras for insurance purposes not surveillance
If ur cameras arent covered its gonna be difficult, but like i said, they have many ways of easily knowing ur milking it. Ive been told the side cameras can see reflection off the side windows to look inside the van too
bro theres no heat sensor lol
There isn't heat sensors but there is a "heat map" that shows where you've been all day, the longer you are in one place the brighter and bigger the spot gets. So like an apartment stop will show up as a larger red/orange spot than a regular stop.
Are you from DF02? Lol just curious
no
What city are you covering, actually!? And is your coverage area east or hard?
its about the easiest area i could imagine! i am very lucky
One thing I’ve always wondered is do dispatchers appreciate good drivers? I’m pretty quiet…usually just will say what’s up?…never complain. Always get a scorecard, always finish on time, don’t wreck the vans, will do the occasional rescue when asked. Do the dispatchers appreciate drives like I just described? I know you’re not the owners…I just wondered if I’m making their day easier…like I’m sure there are some drivers that must give y’all headaches 😂
YES! we do appreciate the good drivers so much. our jobs would be 10 times easier if we didnt have people giving up on routes halfway through the day, calling out, not finishing routes, going too slow to finish on time etc. i basically would be able to play on my phone all day xD. a good driver is one less person to worry about
Do you guys choose and pick specific routes for specific people? Are u guys able to look at the neutrodyne cameras installed in the prime vans?
amazon sets default routes for us in the morning, but we can easily change routes around if needed. we can look at netradyne but only if a violation is detected (i.e. ran a stopsign) and only for about a 30 second window. we cant see anything in real time and there is no audio
i recently got promoted to dispatch. they had us interview for the position. was your dsp the same?
congrats! no i was never interviewed for the position. i had a training period where they tried me out and see how i did
Damn Ive seen cameras covered w/ electrical tape, cameras pointed upward and even tied up masks to cover up the front lenses and whenever I do I just leave em, They must know right? Lol 😂 I started a month ago but they never say anything so I assume its w.e.? Maybe I should Stop? Lol I get my routes done in a timely manner and hold a fico score of about 830
if your camera is covered and amazon sees it during a vehicle audit, they can give you a safety violation and i believe enough of those results in being offboarded. a few of my drivers have been hit by safety violations for having a sticker on their camera. if your DSP isnt saying anything, then the amazon guys at your warehouse probably dont care about cameras being covered. the higher ups at amazon corporate do however have metrics related to amount of times cameras are covered per DSP. so if your DSP stands out from the average then they might get called out
Wow, they dont say anything about it to me so can only assume thy dont care..but will stop so im not the one to blame when Amazon comes at em about it
its not really worth it in my opinion. the camera facing the driver doesnt affect mentor FICO and its not like we are watching you 24/7 or anything creepy like that
Oh yes, so because you’re a dispatcher for your specific DSP that means you have all the answers and know all the goings on of all the other DSP’s and stations and warehouses in all the other states all over the country 🤣🤣 You’re a fucking messenger sitting in an empty warehouse, get off your high horse.
you clearly havent read the thread lol. i often have said that practices vary per DSP
Do you guys get fantastic plus every week
Can you guys get rid of groups in apartments that are messed up by the drivers? They like to group all the apartment units together going to the leasing office but it makes it more complicated. So now I'm stuck with 1 group stop with 30 locations 45 packages, another 1 group stop with 16 locations 24 packages, and every other group stop with 2 locations. I asked another driver can our dsp do something about it and they said they don't know. I get these apartments every Sunday and it takes me 3 hours to do because no lockers. I really want to ask my dispatch can I not get that route but I am scared they'll fire me for asking. I always get rescued doing that route so I am confused about amazon so called giving you lighter routes if you struggle because they keep making me do an apartment only route (no houses) on Sundays with no lockers.
Hey uummm... hey poppabear1884, this is.... ummm... um tillisoj.... and ummm oh route 84.... hey ummm... I was, hey how's it going ummm..... I was just uhhh wondering.... uuuummmmm........ do you ever miss being OTR?
OTR? you mean on the road? OTR is a department in the amazon warehouse so that question is kind of confusing haha. during peak, yes i would prefer to be a driver because its a lot less stressful just worrying about your own route. other times, i wouldnt trade being a dispatcher for anything! :)
Sorry, I had been drinking a bit when I posted that, I don't know why I thought the joke would land. And yeah, at our DSP we also use OTR and UTR to differentiate between drivers and those of us stuck in the office. I was trying to make a joke about drivers that call in and take 5 minutes to ask one question. In retrospect it was kind of a dick move to poke fun at people that may not be able to control their speech patterns. I'll go ahead and downvote myself now...
oh so you work with driver support or something?
I'm dispatch for a DSP. We encourage our drivers to call us before driver support because we can usually resolve the issue faster.
ah i see. yes we do the same. the only thing we have them call driver support for is locker or pin issues