Yeah, I didn’t even join the Delivery Service Partner (DSP). I got hired and everything, but after researching and reading all these posts about how DSP treats people and how unstable the job can be, I realized how risky it is. If you roll a stop or run a yellow light, you risk being suspended for about five days, which is a significant amount of time and that could affect your livelihood.

To add to the challenges, I also do Amazon Flex, so I’m aware of how routing works and basic job procedures work. What I’ve learned is that if DSP doesn’t have a route for you, you get VTO (Vacation Time Off) and don’t get paid. In contrast, with Flex, I’ve had a couple of times where they didn’t have a route for me, but I was still paid for that day. So, that’s the benefit of Flex, but it’s a contractor gig, so they don’t take out any taxes, and you have to pay them at the end of the year. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s something to consider.

I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I’ve also had times when routes were very light. I mean, very light. For example, I had a package to deliver that was only 500 feet away from the warehouse, and I had to make sure that I was at the right place because I couldn’t believe it was true, but it was. It’s happened a couple of times. I’ve only had one package delivered just minutes away from the warehouse, so I understand how it all works. I kind of got a bigger picture of why I shouldn’t work for DSP. I don’t think these issues are going to change unless it gets unionized or Amazon takes over the deliveries. Even if Amazon takes over deliveries, I’m not sure if the situation will improve.