Amazon is giving prospects a brand new option to thank the drivers who ship their packages, simply in time for the vacations. Particularly, its “Alexa, thank my driver” program asks them to take action by way of its voice assistant Alexa.
Sadly for Amazon, the timing of this system’s launch yesterday is awkward in a couple of methods. First, it follows information that Amazon is planning large layoffs, with a deal with the groups engaged on Alexa and the units used to entry it. Second, it comes the identical week as a lawsuit alleging the corporate used misleading strategies to guide shoppers to imagine that tip cash went on to drivers as further pay, when it actually was used to subsidize their base wages.
Alexa is a part of an Amazon division that has posted main losses in recent times. The unit can be the focus of enormous job cuts deliberate at Amazon, as reported by the New York Instances final month. That raises questions on whether or not the “thank my driver” program is partly an effort to spice up a disappointing a part of Amazon’s enterprise.
An Amazon spokesperson, requested simply that by Fortune, replied:
“No. Collectively, tens of hundreds of thousands of shoppers all over the world work together with Alexa billions of occasions every week, and Alexa interactions elevated by greater than 30% within the final 12 months alone. This program is devoted to offering prospects with the chance to indicate drivers their appreciation.”
Underneath this system, in keeping with Amazon, “any time a buyer says ‘Alexa, thank my driver,’ the motive force who delivered their most up-to-date bundle might be notified of the shopper’s appreciation.” And “with every thank-you acquired from prospects, drivers may even obtain an extra $5, for free of charge to the shopper. We’ll be doing this for the primary 1 million thank-you’s acquired.” It added, “the 5 drivers who obtain essentially the most buyer ‘thank-you’s’ in the course of the promotional interval may even be rewarded with $10,000 and an extra $10,000 to their charity of selection.”
The spokesperson famous that prospects can thank drivers “by an Alexa-enabled machine, the Alexa app and the Amazon cellular purchasing app.” With the latter, the method can be carried out by Alexa: Prospects begin by clicking the Alexa brand discovered on the backside proper nook of the purchasing app.
As for why the thank-you messages go particularly by Alexa, the spokesperson replied, “It’s a handy option to share their thanks and likewise permits Amazon to effectively get the thanks over to the motive force.”
Amazon launched Alexa in 2014, and it sells hundreds of thousands of units by which prospects can entry the voice assistant, akin to its line of Echo sensible audio system. Promoting the customarily low margin units has all the time been secondary, although, to the larger aim: Getting prospects to make use of Alexa to purchase extra issues on Amazon.
That aim has proved elusive.
In keeping with Insider, the “Worldwide Digital” unit at Amazon—which incorporates Alexa, Echo audio system, and the Prime video streaming service—had an working lack of over $3 billion within the first quarter, by far the biggest amongst all enterprise items, and was on tempo for a $10 billion loss this 12 months. And the New York Instances reported final month that Echo and Alexa misplaced about $5 billion in 2018.
That unit isn’t the one one underneath scrutiny at Amazon, in fact, given widespread predictions of a recession within the U.S. CEO Andy Jassy, talking on the New York Instances DealBook summit final week, mentioned he and his management workforce had been reviewing 50 or 60 of items and was seeing related developments the place the financial system was unsure.
“We simply felt like we would have liked to streamline our prices,” Jassy mentioned of the layoffs.
Extra broadly, the tech sector has seen a lot of layoffs in latest months forward of the anticipated financial downturn. Final month, for example, HP mentioned it’ll let go of 4,000 to six,000 workers over the subsequent three years, and Fb dad or mum Meta mentioned it will minimize 11,000 workers.
If the timing of the “Alexa, thank my driver” announcement falling so near the Alexa-heavy layoffs is a matter of coincidence, it won’t be the one one.
Yesterday, D.C. Legal professional Normal Karl A. Racine introduced a shopper safety lawsuit in opposition to Amazon. The swimsuit alleges the corporate used misleading strategies to guide shoppers to imagine that tip cash went on to drivers, when it actually was used to subsidize wages.
“This swimsuit is about offering staff the ideas they’re owed and telling shoppers the reality,” Racine mentioned in a press release. “Amazon, one of many world’s wealthiest firms, definitely doesn’t have to take suggestions that belong to staff. Amazon can and may do higher.”
The Amazon spokesperson responded to Fortune: “This lawsuit includes a follow we modified three years in the past and is with out benefit—the entire buyer suggestions at difficulty had been already paid to drivers as a part of a settlement final 12 months with the FTC.”
In November final 12 months, the Federal Commerce Fee mentioned it despatched Amazon Flex drivers “virtually $60 million in checks and PayPal funds to eligible drivers who had their suggestions illegally taken by Amazon.”