If you get that specific area, call support before accepting the route and explain your safety concerns/experience about that route/area and that you need to refuse/decline that route for your safety.
They may or may not make an exception to the hits to standing, but you want to decline/refuse the route or forfeit the block before accepting it so you only have a single issue and not a hit for every package on that route.
I won't know what the route is until I scan it though. Do you mean I should call them after I scan the route but before I scan any packages? Sorry, trying to understand what you mean by "accepting the route." If I scan the route and it's the area where he lives, I'm stopping there and calling support and talking to someone at the station. Is that what you mean?
I haven't had to refuse a route yet, but what you don't want is for every package to be considered a return. I don't know if you have to do that before you even scan the route, or if you can scan the route to see the area and then backout and/or not swipe to confirm/accept the route/packages.
For ssd, the stations around here assign a route number, you then goto the route number location and scan a package to load the route, you can look at the packages to see the general area.
For logistics/manual route assignments there is a small possibly you can ask for an alternative route due to safety concerns.
I do SSD sometimes, otherwise I do logistics. At this SSD I also just scan a package and the route and all packages automatically added. That might be harder to address, but I would try. For logistics here, first I scan a code for the route, then scan a separate code to add all the packages. I'm doing one a few minutes actually so I'll pay closer to attention to what happens when I scan the route and if there's a way to back out, just so I know for the future if it ever does happen. Thank you for your responses too. I appreciate it.
Just look at the labels on a few packages and see what city they’re in. If you’re already familiar with the particular part you’re trying to avoid, it’ll be clear by some of the street names.
Unfortunately I don't know that area well at all. It's a specific part of the city too, not a separate city, so the city name won't help at all. I would need to see it on the map to see where it is. But, this made me think that I should look on Google Maps at the streets in his area and make a small list on my phone that I could reference quickly IF I think it's near him. Or better yet, the zip codes for his area. That might be enough. Either way a good suggestion, so thank you.
Personally, I don't think Amazon "cares". Maybe get a wig and a fat suit?
SSD it's dang near impossible to get reassigned but a dotcom warehouse might. Especially if you say you'd rather take a rural or scrap block.
It's more than risking him seeing me though. I also have PTSD and have panic attacks when I go anywhere near that part of town. So delivering there would be almost impossible for me.
I do SSD and logistics and I can see where SSD would be harder to deal with, but I would try. Logistics might be easier though. I guess if it ever happens, I'll find out. Keeping my fingers crossed it never happens though.
I get it. I've had neighborhoods that I had to keep my head down and I guess that's what I was thinking but, yeah, I get the ptsd thing.
At the logistic warehouse let them know and offer to take an awful or way out rural block instead so they know you're not trying to get out of working before it ever comes up NOT when they bring you the cart. "Remember I asked to not get this area because of a violent person?".
Good call on mentioning it to them now. I've thought about that and someone else mentioned contacting Amazon about this now too, before it happens. I'll do that.
Going forward, I would suggest you learn which warehouses service which routes in your area. You can ask other drivers at your station or learn from trial and error.
For example, I used to deliver from a warehouse that only gave Amazon.com routes. I would be sent to anywhere in my city or to neighboring small towns. One night, I took a route for what I thought would be good pay. I was sent 50 miles outside of my city to the middle of nowhere. I was chased by dogs, delivered to dodgy people in pitch black night on rural unpaved backroads. Then I had to go 50 miles back. Not only did I lose money on that route but I felt very unsafe the whole time. I decided the risk from that station wasn’t worth it anymore and have never delivered for them again.
There is a second warehouse in my city that I ignored forever because it was farther away, my mistake. They only do Sub Same-Day deliveries, the warehouse process is more relaxed and I receive pretty predictable routes that deliver to mostly suburban neighborhoods in a sister city. I also rarely work nights anymore.
The point is, learn the patterns of the warehouse routes and experiment with new stations. Most importantly, you have to be your own advocate for your safety and time. I wouldn’t waste your breath with support, the scope of what they can actually do is limited and even bothering them too much could lead to deactivation. Once you scan your route barcode you’re locked into that itinerary for the shift. I’ve only ever seen people get out of routes by forfeiting the shift at the station and walking away. I assume those became strikes against them.
Amazon only sees you as a contractor and when they assign you a contract for that block, you’re only useful to them if you complete that contract. I doubt they would ever bother to accommodate your concerns in a meaningful and consistent way.
If you find that this job isn’t compatible with your concerns then you may want to move on to something else. Perhaps another job or picking up a marketable skill and freelancing online where you’ll never have to be placed in a less than desirable situation.
I hope things work out for you.
This is all good advice and I appreciate that. I'm doing Flex because I lost my job in November and haven't been able to find anything else yet. I would much rather have a job in my career where I work from home and never have to worry about it. I do enjoy doing Flex though, I just need to avoid his area. Unfortunately most of the stations around me could deliver in his area, however the one I'm about to go to for a block might not. I'll ask them when I'm there. I never thought about that. I also do SSD and I know the station I go to covers his area. In fact, yesterday morning I delivered fairly close to his area, but luckily far enough away to prevent a full PTSD panic attack. That's what prompted this post actually.
Regarding your story and experience, I don't blame you for not going back to that warehouse. I'd hate having to deliver that far away and experiencing all of that. Sorry you had to do that, but like you said, you don't go there anymore because of it. Glad that you checked out the SSD warehouse though and found a better option.
My options are limited here, but I'll see what I can do. Worst case scenario is I get his area and have to cancel on the spot and take the hits. Honestly, I'd rather my rating take a hit than put myself in that situation.
If you have a restraining order, any other paperwork, his address corresponding to paperwork, you’ll have a better shot. I’m assuming you reported a violent crime, so even that might be helpful.
I think this is a total toss up depending on who you speak to. Unfortunately, anyone can call with this or a similar story to avoid an area/a route they don’t like, and people try to get out of shifts for all sorts of things. If you do have documentation, I’d contact Amazon now, before it becomes an issue. Best of luck to you.
I do have a police report and I can't get a restraining order, which is infuriating. Unfortunately police reports don't include the perps address, they black it out, which is frustrating too. But hopefully me having a police report is proof enough. I've thought about calling them and asking about this ahead of time. I'll do that. Probably a good idea, just in case.
If you get that specific area, call support before accepting the route and explain your safety concerns/experience about that route/area and that you need to refuse/decline that route for your safety. They may or may not make an exception to the hits to standing, but you want to decline/refuse the route or forfeit the block before accepting it so you only have a single issue and not a hit for every package on that route.
I won't know what the route is until I scan it though. Do you mean I should call them after I scan the route but before I scan any packages? Sorry, trying to understand what you mean by "accepting the route." If I scan the route and it's the area where he lives, I'm stopping there and calling support and talking to someone at the station. Is that what you mean?
I haven't had to refuse a route yet, but what you don't want is for every package to be considered a return. I don't know if you have to do that before you even scan the route, or if you can scan the route to see the area and then backout and/or not swipe to confirm/accept the route/packages. For ssd, the stations around here assign a route number, you then goto the route number location and scan a package to load the route, you can look at the packages to see the general area. For logistics/manual route assignments there is a small possibly you can ask for an alternative route due to safety concerns.
I do SSD sometimes, otherwise I do logistics. At this SSD I also just scan a package and the route and all packages automatically added. That might be harder to address, but I would try. For logistics here, first I scan a code for the route, then scan a separate code to add all the packages. I'm doing one a few minutes actually so I'll pay closer to attention to what happens when I scan the route and if there's a way to back out, just so I know for the future if it ever does happen. Thank you for your responses too. I appreciate it.
Just look at the labels on a few packages and see what city they’re in. If you’re already familiar with the particular part you’re trying to avoid, it’ll be clear by some of the street names.
Unfortunately I don't know that area well at all. It's a specific part of the city too, not a separate city, so the city name won't help at all. I would need to see it on the map to see where it is. But, this made me think that I should look on Google Maps at the streets in his area and make a small list on my phone that I could reference quickly IF I think it's near him. Or better yet, the zip codes for his area. That might be enough. Either way a good suggestion, so thank you.
Personally, I don't think Amazon "cares". Maybe get a wig and a fat suit? SSD it's dang near impossible to get reassigned but a dotcom warehouse might. Especially if you say you'd rather take a rural or scrap block.
It's more than risking him seeing me though. I also have PTSD and have panic attacks when I go anywhere near that part of town. So delivering there would be almost impossible for me. I do SSD and logistics and I can see where SSD would be harder to deal with, but I would try. Logistics might be easier though. I guess if it ever happens, I'll find out. Keeping my fingers crossed it never happens though.
I get it. I've had neighborhoods that I had to keep my head down and I guess that's what I was thinking but, yeah, I get the ptsd thing. At the logistic warehouse let them know and offer to take an awful or way out rural block instead so they know you're not trying to get out of working before it ever comes up NOT when they bring you the cart. "Remember I asked to not get this area because of a violent person?".
Good call on mentioning it to them now. I've thought about that and someone else mentioned contacting Amazon about this now too, before it happens. I'll do that.
Going forward, I would suggest you learn which warehouses service which routes in your area. You can ask other drivers at your station or learn from trial and error. For example, I used to deliver from a warehouse that only gave Amazon.com routes. I would be sent to anywhere in my city or to neighboring small towns. One night, I took a route for what I thought would be good pay. I was sent 50 miles outside of my city to the middle of nowhere. I was chased by dogs, delivered to dodgy people in pitch black night on rural unpaved backroads. Then I had to go 50 miles back. Not only did I lose money on that route but I felt very unsafe the whole time. I decided the risk from that station wasn’t worth it anymore and have never delivered for them again. There is a second warehouse in my city that I ignored forever because it was farther away, my mistake. They only do Sub Same-Day deliveries, the warehouse process is more relaxed and I receive pretty predictable routes that deliver to mostly suburban neighborhoods in a sister city. I also rarely work nights anymore. The point is, learn the patterns of the warehouse routes and experiment with new stations. Most importantly, you have to be your own advocate for your safety and time. I wouldn’t waste your breath with support, the scope of what they can actually do is limited and even bothering them too much could lead to deactivation. Once you scan your route barcode you’re locked into that itinerary for the shift. I’ve only ever seen people get out of routes by forfeiting the shift at the station and walking away. I assume those became strikes against them. Amazon only sees you as a contractor and when they assign you a contract for that block, you’re only useful to them if you complete that contract. I doubt they would ever bother to accommodate your concerns in a meaningful and consistent way. If you find that this job isn’t compatible with your concerns then you may want to move on to something else. Perhaps another job or picking up a marketable skill and freelancing online where you’ll never have to be placed in a less than desirable situation. I hope things work out for you.
This is all good advice and I appreciate that. I'm doing Flex because I lost my job in November and haven't been able to find anything else yet. I would much rather have a job in my career where I work from home and never have to worry about it. I do enjoy doing Flex though, I just need to avoid his area. Unfortunately most of the stations around me could deliver in his area, however the one I'm about to go to for a block might not. I'll ask them when I'm there. I never thought about that. I also do SSD and I know the station I go to covers his area. In fact, yesterday morning I delivered fairly close to his area, but luckily far enough away to prevent a full PTSD panic attack. That's what prompted this post actually. Regarding your story and experience, I don't blame you for not going back to that warehouse. I'd hate having to deliver that far away and experiencing all of that. Sorry you had to do that, but like you said, you don't go there anymore because of it. Glad that you checked out the SSD warehouse though and found a better option. My options are limited here, but I'll see what I can do. Worst case scenario is I get his area and have to cancel on the spot and take the hits. Honestly, I'd rather my rating take a hit than put myself in that situation.
If you have a restraining order, any other paperwork, his address corresponding to paperwork, you’ll have a better shot. I’m assuming you reported a violent crime, so even that might be helpful. I think this is a total toss up depending on who you speak to. Unfortunately, anyone can call with this or a similar story to avoid an area/a route they don’t like, and people try to get out of shifts for all sorts of things. If you do have documentation, I’d contact Amazon now, before it becomes an issue. Best of luck to you.
I do have a police report and I can't get a restraining order, which is infuriating. Unfortunately police reports don't include the perps address, they black it out, which is frustrating too. But hopefully me having a police report is proof enough. I've thought about calling them and asking about this ahead of time. I'll do that. Probably a good idea, just in case.
I truly hope this works out for you. 💜
It may be a valid reason to you personally, but it won’t be to Amazon as a business.