Amazon's New Delivery System Unnerves Some Moms
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Amazon's newest delivery method had some local moms a little unnerved.
"It weirded me out," said Ashlee Sands, a mother of two from Bethel Park.
Sands loves to order from Amazon, but was puzzled by her two most recent deliveries.
"It was just a random guy," said Sands. "Normally, I'm used to FedEx people, UPS people coming."
The first time she says a man pulled up in an unmarked car while she was outside.
"He had an orange vest on, and I think he had a badge. We weren't really paying attention, and he dropped the package off," she said.
But she says the next time, a guy rang the doorbell and waited: "Didn't give me an idea that he was with Amazon. It creeped me out," said Sands.
"When I looked closer, and my daughter went to open the door, I saw a T-shirt, and I thought that's not the UPS guy, and I don't normally open the door when I'm home with just the kids," she says.
She asked a mom's group on Facebook about it, and other moms in the South Hills said they had similar experiences. But others explained it's something called Amazon Flex.
Amazon launched Amazon Flex last year. It works kind of the way Uber does. Private drivers using their own cars to deliver your packages.
An online video explains how it works to prospective drivers: "Just mark that you've arrived, scan, and load your packages, and hit the road," says the announcer.
It doesn't address wearing a badge or having a sign or identification on your car.
"I knew it was my delivery because it was what I was expecting, but it was weird," said Sands. "And it made me uncomfortable cause I was home by myself."
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Amazon had not responded on Wednesday to KDKA's questions about whether delivery folks are supposed to wear identification.
Sands says this will not keep her from ordering from Amazon.
By the way, according to its website, people who agree to make Amazon deliveries can earn from $18 to $25 an hour.
