Amazon Will Pay Your Driver $5 If You Get Alexa To Say Thank-You

In the real world, there are no Santa Claus and elves. Instead, you have (often overworked) Amazon delivery drivers who toil through the night to get parcels at your door in time for the gift-wrapping season.

So this Christmas, Amazon wants you to thank your driver with a tip. You can trigger this act of generosity by telling your voice assistant, “Alexa, thank my driver.”

The gesture comes as Amazon approaches the busiest period of the year. As Vice reported last year (via TechCrunch), this season can be especially dangerous for contracted workers, who aren’t just peeing in bottles to meet their targets but have also been threatened at gunpoint for arriving at doors at night. In October, one driver was mauled to death by dogs.

Amazon says the thank-you option is being introduced to commemorate its 15-billionth delivered package.

“Since Amazon opened its digital doors in 1994, not only has selection grown, but so has the ability to deliver quickly and conveniently… But for drivers, it’s more than just the packages that they deliver—they form relationships with customers, provide support to the community in tough moments, and sometimes play the role of the unexpected hero,” describes Beryl Tomay, Amazon’s vice president of Last Mile Delivery.

As detailed on the Amazon Flex site, gig drivers make from US$18 to US$25 per hour handling deliveries from their own vehicles. Amazon logistics is more of a side job for them, and they help out in their own time. 

If your driver belongs to the first million to get a thank-you, they’ll be rewarded with US$5. The five drivers with the most prompts will receive a US$10,000 bonus, along with an additional US$10,000 to be donated to a charity of their choice, says Amazon. As noted by TechCrunch, this amounts to US$5.1 million being devoted into the campaign.

[via TechCrunch and Amazon, cover photo 172100348 © Cineberg Ug | Dreamstime.com]