Phones dangle from trees outside Amazon and Whole Foods delivery stations, but not as some kind of high-tech prank. It's about work.
The phones are key to a clever job-jumping strategy that snags orders faster for a network of drivers and cuts competing drivers out of jobs.
At Whole Foods, drivers compete for fast-delivery Instant Offers. These require an immediate response and take from 15 to 45 minutes to complete, according to Crain's Business. An automated system uses driver smartphones to detect which drivers are closest to the delivery station. Nearby drivers have only minutes to accept the offer. Since the automated system at Whole Foods can detect phones from about 20 feet away, drivers connected to the devices in trees can accept offers before drivers parked in lots or blocks away.
At Amazon, the plot thickens.
Amazon Flex Account drivers are paid a neat $18 per route. Phones in trees evidently serve as multiple master devices controlled by an secret person or computer that acts as an intermediary between Amazon and drivers. It dispatches routes and charges drivers a fee, which violates Amazon policies, according to Crain's. It also allows unauthorized drivers (those without a license or those not authorized to work in the U.S.) to accept Flex routes by paying an hourly fee to an unknown person.
Although against Amazon policies, this activity has either not been fully understood or is simply allowed to continue.