The GIG Economy Podcast
Talks about our Gig Economy adventures and breaking down the Gig Economy News
The GIG Economy Podcast
DoorDash Sold A Condom Every 37 Seconds
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We trade stories from the road and get honest about how quickly “flexible gig work” can start to feel like unpaid on-call labor. We also unpack the latest platform experiments, from delivery robots and awkward retail promos to surveillance concerns, new Amazon Flex verification, and what a California driver union could realistically change.
• a “reserved” BT Trucks route that shows up as no work and no pay
• why low transparency makes gig work feel like a job
• DoorDash offering drivers $5 to load a delivery robot
• questions about how far delivery robots really operate
• reported plans to use rideshare vehicles for license plate surveillance
• DoorDash Cringe Mart and what it says about demand and marketing
• a viral driver meltdown over a $2 order and why doubles hide no-tip deliveries
• multi-apping chaos when notifications explode at the worst time
• Amazon Flex delivery in a school bus and the real costs of fuel and vehicle choice
• Amazon Flex identity verification at warehouse pickup
• Stricter return scanning and what happens when you cannot return by 10am
• California drivers moving toward a union and whether an association model works better
• Amazon routing getting worse and using Spoke to cut doubling back
• Why using multiple map apps can save a route when one fails
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Welcome And Real Life Updates
SPEAKER_04Hello, hello. Welcome to the Gig Economy Podcast, episode three hundred and fourteen yesterday. Yesterday. Last week I said three hundred and three, and you probably didn't catch it, but I was editing and I was like, well, that's not right. Uh so I put a uh a buzzer in there or I made a buzz sound and then did an AI 313. There you go. Yeah. I correct. Use those tools. Yeah, I was like, geez, one second in, and I already got the uh the the episode number wrong. Come on. So they all run together. They do. How's it going, Larry?
SPEAKER_03I'm doing well. Yeah. It's been uh been an interesting week. Um we'll see what do we do? Well, we always cover the weather and our ailments, right? No, so doing well this week. It's been busy at work. We're getting ready for the semester snark to start next week. So wrapping up lots of projects and stuff. Uh did some gig work this past weekend, and all the western students are rolling in.
SPEAKER_04So pick it up. Yeah, good. That would be great for you to earn some more business and some more money.
SPEAKER_03Definitely.
SPEAKER_04It's been interesting. I've had a lot of trouble sleeping the last couple days, and I don't know. You know, I haven't driven bus long enough to know, but I don't know if I'm like anxious about school starting, like, or I'm depressed or what, but like I've been having trouble falling asleep and like waking up in the middle of the night, and like I don't know anything different, but I'm not actually thinking about the busing a lot during the day, so I I don't know what's going on, but it's called getting old. Yeah, that's true. That's true. I've been sleeping like shit and all that fun stuff. But anyways, uh all right, stories from the road. Do
The BT Trucks Reserved Route Trap
SPEAKER_04you have any? I know you said you did some gig work, nothing exciting, other than me uh crashing out over the weekend.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, no, pretty uh pretty tame. Didn't really have any um anything outstanding. Just some did a little food delivery, did a little ride share. Uh, but yeah, nothing uh nothing to write home about.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Well, uh for me, I you know been doing a lot of flex route. That's been okay. And and I think we talked about it on the if we if we didn't talk about on the Patreon, we talked it about talked it did. We talked about it on the uh the regular show or the Patreon. I can't remember. Doesn't matter, but we talked about uh BT Trucks, um better or better trucks, BT Trucks, better trucks, I don't know. So it's another uh gig app like Vho or Amazon Flex, just a little bit different. And I had uh a week before this past Monday, I had scheduled a route, said it was reserved. Um they kind of do it, they drop them all, and then you pick them up throughout the week, but it's not like an everyday thing. Like if I went right now, any any routes this week would have been already scooped up. So um I reserved a route for Monday at 10 o'clock. So I get there and the guy, and it's a small little place, like you know, there's renting a space, and yeah, the packages look like you know, VHO, they're smaller bags, not very many big boxes. And I was like, Hey, I'm here for my route. He's like, Oh, I don't have a route for you. I was like, Okay, uh, do I get paid then? He goes, Oh no, you don't get paid. And I was like, Okay, uh and he's like, Well, that was reserved, meaning if something becomes available or somebody doesn't show up, you will get the opportunity to take that route. And I was like, Okay, and so I started picking his brain. I was like, All right, so what's going on here? What you know, what does the algorithm do? Like, how do I get chosen for a route? And he made up some you think he was a uh fucking CEO. He's he started talking about like there's three different buckets there's the the drivers that do routes all the time, there's new drivers and something else. I had already tuned him out, and he says that the algorithm AI picks, you know, mostly then the the drivers that have done it a lot, and and then a couple other things, and he goes, but I but I can override it. So I'm like, Okay, do I have to suck you off? Is that I mean, like, is the algorithm choosing it or not? Because what I noticed, so what so basically backing up a little bit, he goes, You can wait 15 minutes, we'll see if everyone shows up. Everyone did, everyone did show up. There was no route for me, so I'll jump to that. But uh, as I was waiting and watching these people come in, he knew everyone's names. So these drivers that are doing these routes are coming in every single day. Yeah, and so I'm like, okay, you you say it's an algorithm, but then you can override it. I guess I'm confused, and and he's like, Well, I can get your route tomorrow, I can guarantee you a route tomorrow because you showed up today, and maybe because I showed interest. I mean, me clicking okay and right and not you know rejecting or forfeiting it probably means I'm gonna show up. Um, so it's kind of confusing. So I I just said, Well, I can't do it Tuesday, I can do it today. Well, I ended up canceling today because what I found out is it is not pay a lot, so he showed me a sample route, and this kind of made my decision already Monday for Wednesday, but I still kept it active. I I may have changed my mind, but it was like a three or three-hour route or maybe a four-hour route, and had like 80 stops, and it was gonna pay like 78 bucks. And I was like, fuck that. But I did keep it for today, and so I will show you a picture that shows uh initially what you get when you get a request. Um, it see it says reserved right there. The zone B is like my area of Wyoming value is 75 to 140. Because according to them, they don't get their uh shipment until the day of like that morning. I think they come in and they sort them out or something like that. I don't know. That's what he told me. So so that's what it looks like when you reserve it. Um, and then this is what I ended up seeing today before I cancel it. So if you look, the payment was gonna be $67.74, two to four hours of of a route, and and 30 packages in Wyoming. So maybe that was gonna be a good one. I don't know. I just didn't feel comfortable taking it, so I ended up just rejecting it. I don't know if that was a good thing, but like I it it sounds like this is a J O B. It doesn't sound like it's a gig work. If I have to like prove that I have to come every day to actually get an opportunity to do a route, I'm not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, especially with school starting back. Well, not even with that. I don't think I would do it anyways. I mean I mean, I guess sixty-seven dollars for 30 stops, I mean, it's not horrible, but I mean, if it's for four hours, it's not, and I guess for four hours at 74 is not because that's less than 25 an hour. So even even with all this information, it still hasn't given me a more an accurate number. And I know that's not a big difference between 67 and 74, but I don't know. It just felt it felt a little not shady, just something I don't know if I want to fart around with.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And uh yeah, I mean if that was the four hours and you and on in the lower end, yeah, that that's yeah, and you just don't know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you just don't know. And I guess I guess they all each of those delivery apps have an element of unknown, right? Flex, I know exactly how much I'm gonna make, but I don't know where I'm gonna go and go, and I don't know how many miles I'm gonna drive. Right. Uh VHO, I guess VHO, honestly, if you take it at a surged route, gives you the most information. It tells you where you're gonna go and how many stops you have and how much you're getting paid. But if you take them the night before, when they don't show that, you you don't have that transparency. So it's they all kind of have a little bit of an advantage, but I I don't think I'm doing better trucks. I I should have just done it for the experience, but I decided I didn't want to work today, and I'm like, I'm not farting around with this. I gotta mow the lawn and run some errands and stuff. Do I really want to be pissy, but the rest of the day from this stupid ass app? So that that's my stories from the road. I'm not saying I won't do it again, but I think maybe this is uh maybe a next summer kind of thing. They've only been in Grand Rapids for six months. Um, I don't know. It just felt weird because like I don't want to have to prove to you every day that I'm going to be here because that's like a job.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_03Set the route, and I'm gonna be here for the route. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Like I was, and then like if if if there's a bucket for new people, I'm fucking new. Like, yeah, can you give me like I you would think they would be like, all right, let's get this guy hooked, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, let's get him in here and get him get him in the rotation, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And he might be a good driver and whatever, but yeah, I I don't want to have to like work every day or work every other day just to stay in the the system. I if I go on vacation for a week and come back and I can't get a route, like I don't want to depend on that. So I could be be completely wrong, and that's not how it works. The guy didn't seem super confident himself explaining it to me. Nice guy, I didn't have a problem with him. Yeah, just making it up as he went. Well, and I was just like, hey man, I've you know, I've been doing this for a while. Do you understand where I'm coming from? He goes, No, I totally get where you're coming from. He goes, I don't own the company I just work from. I'm like, I get you, you know, but it it felt like he was like, especially he said he could override it. I'm like, are you the grand master or something? Like, yeah, for for this depot, you know, I you can just say, Oh, well, I'll just I'll just take you know Joe off and put Jason on.
SPEAKER_03There you go.
SPEAKER_04I don't know. Just felt a little weird, felt a little off by it. Sounds a little weird, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but VHO and and B BS B trucking or whatever it's called, and I signed up for them, but of course, you know, they're not in. Right, of course, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I I the VHO I like because it's it gets a little busier at the end of the week. So, like if you haven't worked and the the the routes sometimes get close to to what I want, sometimes they don't, but here's the thing I a lot of times the area is so centralized to where I live. Like the last time I did a VHO, I literally delivered to my neighbor. My next door neighbor was my last stop. I mean, you can't beat that, so yeah, the money might have been a little bit less than what I would have taken for Amazon, but I'm not freaking driving to fucking Timbuktu.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you sound like you had one of those routes that Faith gets.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, well, yeah, yeah, exactly. Like drive 25 miles, yeah. So yeah, that's kind of my deal. You know, that stuff's gonna dry up a little bit as school starts uh a week from two weeks from month this past Monday. So um, but yeah, so that's my stories from their own. Nothing, nothing dangerous. There's your tip for BT, better trucks. Better trucks is not better. It is not better. So uh all right, gig economy in the news. Uh,
DoorDash Drivers Loading Delivery Robots
SPEAKER_04we talked about this, we didn't get to it last show, and then we talked about it on Patreon, but it was such a such an irony moment that I thought we should bring it front and center for for today's show. So Larry's gonna talk about uh a new job for uh DoorDash drivers.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and of course, uh in my mind when I was prepping for the show today, I was like, wait a minute, I know I talked about this last time. And then I went back and looked at the sheet, and I was like, we did talk, and I was like, oh wait, no, no, no, we talked about it on the Patreon. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, so yeah, this is uh this is a new thing from DoorDash. So um they interviewed a guy, uh, well, Davina. So I guess uh maybe a girl. Yeah, it is a girl. Davina, uh by be a DoorDash worker in Mesa, Arizona. Um, she was talking with or being interviewed by a business insider, said that she received an offer in July through the DoorDash app to go and load a robot instead of uh delivering food to the customer. She got offered to go to the restaurant about two miles away, pick up the order, and put it inside the little dot robot that was waiting in the parking lot. Said she also had to photograph and document each step of the process, but it took about five minutes and paid about five bucks. So yeah. She said uh, you know, um she had a screenshot uh of her app that showed the instructions for the driver to find the dot robot and saying that the customer's name would appear on the robot's light bar. Um and then yeah, so apparently they use this when I guess some of the restaurants are uh too busy to uh and and receive a large number of robot delivery orders. Um the restaurant doesn't have time for retorquers to be loading them, so they'll you know send out a request for DoorDash drivers if they want to come do it and uh you know make a quick five bucks by loading up a little dot robot.
SPEAKER_04It seems strange to me that they wouldn't have time to take an I mean it's it's what five steps from the inside of the restaurant.
SPEAKER_03I mean and you know you know if they're busy, they're walking stuff out to the cars they have pulled over anyway.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's very strange. And and typically with and I don't know which restaurants are using this because they're I mean, I know they're probably just still testing all these things as far as the robots, but like McDonald's has an exclusive deal with DoorDash, and they had they make them a priority. Uh and so you would think that they would do that for this, but maybe it's just since it's a trial or a quote unquote beta that they're not, you know, if we can't get to it, then send your own people over to do it. Right. Um, but yeah, it's kind of a slap in the face if you're like, hey, go load this delivery robot, the one that's gonna take your job, which I I really don't. I really don't think, like, especially in and I don't I in your area too, maybe it's so suburbia that like it wouldn't work.
SPEAKER_03No, it wouldn't work here. I I tell you some of the some of the deliveries I get here, man. I mean, it may go 10-15 miles out in the boonies. There ain't no robots going out there.
SPEAKER_04Well, even even if you think about it, there's not a I mean, I was saying for me, there's not even a lot of apartments in like Grandville has a lot of restaurants, but there's not even I mean, there's like a couple hotels that are close to like the the restaurant strip that might it might work, but not like apartments or anything. It's just suburban homes, and I can't imagine that things I wonder I wonder how far it does go. Like what is its what is its geofencer parameters? Not even the range, but like where how far do you think they will deliver? Um that's a good question.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'll look it up real quick.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm I'm looking it up too.
SPEAKER_03Uh says it does not have a strict maximum set limit, but it's an engineer for local neighborhood trips. Can operate for six to eight hours on a single battery charge. So it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_04Well, the bat yeah, I get the battery.
SPEAKER_03Um carry up to 30 pounds. Uh but it doesn't say how far they how far they go.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah. We did you look it up on chat or did you look at the same thing.
SPEAKER_03I just looked, I just Googled. Oh, Google.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, I got the same information, hasn't published specific miles, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh they can go up to 20 miles an hour.
SPEAKER_04Well, I I don't want the mileage range. They keep talking about DoorDash Doc can operate for six plus hours. Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_03But they haven't far do they send them out.
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, I want to know exactly because are they sending them out, you know, two miles? I mean, I guess if they can go 20 mile hours, 20 mile per hour times six hours, 120 miles, in theory, um, that's quite a few miles. But that doesn't include all, you know, like it said, like the stops and the Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I tried to reword the question and it it said it typically operates within a short radius of a few miles from the restaurant. Yeah, which is what we expected.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I in my head I feel like it's just it would have to be so much closer, but what do I know? But yeah, so you might get a notification some point for five bucks. You can and it was probably the easiest five bucks she ever made. The hardest part was driving there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm sure, yeah. I mean, you just go, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Because you literally go into the restaurant and go right outside, put it there, and you're done, and then you're off to the next pictures. Well, I was gonna say, I wonder if she did have to take pictures to Yeah, it did say that.
SPEAKER_03It did say that she had to document it uh along the way. Let me see where it found out uh again. Um pictures along uh along the way, had to photograph and document each step of the process. So okay.
SPEAKER_04I mean it makes sense, but there's not many steps.
SPEAKER_03You know, pick up the food, put it in the robot. I mean that's pretty much it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's I mean, not that hard.
SPEAKER_03No, not a lot of steps.
SPEAKER_04You
Rideshare Surveillance And License Plate Data
SPEAKER_04know, a lot of talk that's been happening about Flock, and uh there's an article that popped up uh earlier this month is Flock Plitched. That's fun. God, I'm I'm great at speaking. I should have a podcast. Flock pitched a plan, so that's tough, to turn Uber and Lyft drivers into roaming surveillance vehicles. So uh the document provided that they attended a partnership last August when multiple sources uh said or provided information on the plan. Um let's see. Oh, keep reading free. No, thank you. Uh they said Flock told 404 Media in an email it never executed the partnership with Nexar, but the presentation still shows Flock's ambitious plan to constrict rideshare and delivery drivers to collect license plate data for its network. It's not clear whether Uber Lyfter drivers working for those apps would have been aware of the data collection. Shady AF. And uh so yeah, it just kind of talks about how I guess Nexar, did they have a deal with Uber? I think with dash cams. Was that the company?
SPEAKER_03Because it wants to that must uh that's what I'm wondering. Uh you know, the Uber offered to give you a dash cam. That must have been through Nexar. I think so. I would assume, yeah. Uh I think it was. Uh I'll try to verify that. But yeah, because yeah, the only way it's gonna work is if it's an Uber controlled owned camera.
SPEAKER_04They said Flox uh automatic license plate reader usually stationary. Obviously, we've heard a lot about it. It's a hot topic in the areas. Uh the Nexar partnership would have made those data collection efforts mobile. Axon, the law enforcement contracting agent, also sells ALPR cameras to some of its uh uh the police officers for the roaming cars. Um, so yeah, there's a lot of that going on. And as I was like reading through this today, I was looking at it, and then right at the last paragraph, I was like, in May, 404 media reported a company called Bus Patrol, which I've heard of, that has cameras installed in tens of thousands of school buses, plans to turn those cameras into ALPRs and give access to the or access to the data to law enforcement. I'm like, bro, like we don't have those in our buses, but I know a lot of semi companies and stuff like that have those AI cameras. I'm assuming Amazon, the DSPs, I've seen those, they're like a little just thing that you put in the window. And um, yeah, it's not cool. I mean, whether your opinion on that is is is um whatever your opinion on that, I just feel find it weird, especially uh not letting the the party know about that, especially with the rideshare drivers, if that was if that was the case, or like putting it in a bus, which it and then you're just like giving it to law enforcement, like that seems weird.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it's it's unfortunate, you know, people I don't think would have as much uh of a resistance to this if we haven't already seen how much it's been abused.
SPEAKER_04That's the thing. Like I I don't mind if it's in there under lock and key and need a subpoena to get it or a warrant. Like I I mean, just like my phone, you can't you can't look at my phone without a warrant. You're just not gonna look at it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But but you know, you read about uh police officer that you know looked up his ex-girlfriend like you know 200 times through the system or something like that and was stalking her everywhere. Yeah. Uh that's that's not good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, just in that article, there was some stuff on the side, it looks uh about it. It said, uh let's see if it pops up. Oh, cops use flock to track a man across state lines to create pretext to search his car for weed. And I think you may have told me that. Somebody told me that story. They basically followed him from Michigan into like Wisconsin, and that was a way for them to get probable cause to like uh search his car because they flocked, followed him from Michael Weed? Yeah, weed is legal in Michigan, but not in Wisconsin. But I know, but see that's that's a mute.
SPEAKER_03Sure, it is. I mean, what the fuck?
SPEAKER_04I mean, there may be more to the story. He may be a dealer. It may have been, yeah, who knows? But you know, just read still.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Still, it's it's you're breaking the rules.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And just reading the article. And and I hate that, you know, the this company is like, yeah, we'll give you the data. I'm like, come on. Like, yeah, get a warrant for it. Like how everything else does. Like, it's just, it's just kind of shitty. But yeah.
Patreon Perks And Support Shoutouts
SPEAKER_04Anyways, Patreon.com slash the Gigacon podcast. Love for you to uh I forgot what I was doing. Uh love for you to join. Uh it's a great platform for sharing things. Um when you sign up, you get uh at the three dollar tier, you get ad-free episodes, you get the pre-show banter at the seven dollar tier, you get all the Patreon audio and video. Um you can do it, watch it live or um get it later in your podcast player. So right now there's a special till the end of the month. You get half off your first month and a seven-day free trial. We'd love for you to join. Uh go to patreon.com slash the gig econ podcast. Want to thank our Patreon members as always. Uh Samson, Bud, Omar, Frank, Tom, Jim, Miguel, Lindy, Lindy. Jesus Christ. What is it's like when I'm thinking in my head, like you know how you talk in your head and it's like perfect. And then you start putting it out and talking, and it just doesn't work. Uh Linda from Tampa, Jerry, Faith, Metal, Kickass, and Anna. Thank you guys so much for supporting the show.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I should join the Patreon and get that pre-show banner. That's where the real rubber meets the road. That's where it happens.
SPEAKER_04Right, for sure. Yeah. Today it was a little short because my computer decided to update. Uh, and so yeah, it's usually it's usually uh stupid tech stuff or um, yeah. Anyways, check it out.
DoorDash Cringe Mart Awkward Essentials
SPEAKER_04Larry, uh, cringe mark, is this a legit thing? Like, or is this just like a satire article from DoorDash?
SPEAKER_03No, I I I think it's actually uh I think DoorDash is actually doing it inside their app. Um so gotcha, yeah. What it is, uh you know, DoorDash, I'm sure it's just a uh marketing thing. Um somebody came up with with which but it it works pretty good, actually. So uh DoorDash had an announcement the other day, so today we're introducing cringe mart, a new in-app storefront and campaign designed for life's most awkward, intimate, and TMI essentials. No eye contact required. Says, yeah, we've all had to make a purchase that we hope no one saw us make, whether it's walking to the pharmacy counter with a single box of hemorrhoid cream or realizing you need a plunger at the most inconvenient time possible. The embarrassed aisle is a universal experience. So today we're introducing cringe mart, a new in-app storefront designed for life's most awkward intimate NTMI essentials, uh, created in partnership with Loop. So yeah, they talk about starting August 3rd. You can skip in real life cringe by searching cringe mart directly in the DoorDash app. You can shop from a series of custom curations tailored to life's most awkward needs from a product called Go Piss Girl, which is UTI test and treatment, to something called Daily Dump, which is a hell digestive relief. Oh goodness. Uh let's see. Uh also uh it says cringe carts by the numbers. We've looked at data, it turns out cringe is a very high-volume business. Um in 2025 alone, over four million customers turned to DoorDash for the most awkward essentials. So they broke down some numbers. It says, uh, by the second, it says these moments don't wait, and neither do our customers. In fact, a condom is sold every 37 seconds on DoorDash, and two laxes are sold every minute. What? Uh let's see, committed to cringe. It says for some cringe is a way of life. We had one customer that placed over 659 cringe worthy orders in a year. Shot off. Oh my goodness. Uh cringe combos. DoorDash is a one-stop shop, and customers don't just come for one item. Those popular cringe combos include Imodium and flaming hot Cheetos, extra, extra sensitive condoms and candles, and mac and cheese and laxades. And then last but not least, putting cringe on display to celebrate the launch of this product. DoorDash is bringing the data behind these moments into the spotlight in New York City and LA. Custom billboards will feature a live condom counter. That is hilarious. That is pretty good. That is pretty good. You gotta remember that hand it to their marketing people. Yeah, that's pretty funny.
SPEAKER_04Um, so one of the things I don't understand, laxatives, like to help you shit. Yeah, so clearly people are eating a lot of cheese and a lot of like like yeah, we're almost at like selling laxatives quicker than condoms. Like y'all need some water or something. Like Christ lay up the rest of it.
SPEAKER_03Holy shit.
SPEAKER_04That's incredible. Oh, oh, hey, Faith. Yeah, uh, yeah, that's that's incredible. I I do think I do think there is a market for them to jump on board, especially if if it's coming out of their market, their Dashmart, is to put them in like discrete bags, like yeah, packaging. Packaging, yeah. You know how like I feel like there's a lot of states, and don't quote me on this, but you used to be able to or used to have to put liquor like in a brown paper bag. Like that was you had to hide it. I remember I don't know where I was, they're like, you need to have it in this bag. I'm like, well, I'm not going in the street to fucking drink it. He's like, that's the rules, man. I was like, okay, like whatever. But yeah, I I I do feel like uh, you know, DoorDash could do that from the marts, or maybe like with Walgreens, like if you do a condom or a laxative or whatever, you have to put it in a brown bag.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, have to have to keep it concealed.
SPEAKER_04Or they could literally do the marking again and put cringe bag on it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, make like a cringe box or something.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, like you know, I don't want to carry it as a driver, but wherever I pick it up, I would be like, hey, you know, I need a cringe box or a cringe bag. This is a cringe item. Uh, me personally, I mean, I've bought tampons. That doesn't, you know, yeah. Yeah, that doesn't bother. Well, none of it really bothers me. Yeah. Um, but I haven't bought in any, I don't think I've done condoms. I don't think I've done any like personal, what do they call them from personal massagers? I haven't small greens. Yeah. I haven't done any of those, but how about you? Uh for shopping, no. Yeah, you don't do a lot of shopping.
SPEAKER_03That's I do not. I I do like practically zero shopping.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, that's true. But yeah, um, I don't know about Faith or or Baba Sue, but like uh yeah, I haven't done anything crazy. But clearly the numbers say otherwise.
SPEAKER_03It's happening. It's somebody's buying it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I I am I am happy that they're buying condoms. Like, I appreciate the the practicing of the safe sex. I know they suck, men. I get it. I get it, but you don't want to get a girl pregnant or STD.
SPEAKER_02So exactly.
SPEAKER_04Um all right. Uh where are we at? Oh, okay. Um,
The Viral Two Dollar Tip Meltdown
SPEAKER_04this is a video of a driver. Larry and I couldn't tell if it was fake or not. Uh he's very upset for the two dollar either tip or two dollar order he took. So we'll watch that. And I haven't watched the whole thing, but it seems it kind of seems fake, but then I saw it go viral and no one really said it was fake. So who knows? Here we go. Pretty pissed.
SPEAKER_01Two fucking dollars. I got the fucking order, man. Two fucking dollars, cheap ass motherfucker. Cheap ass motherfucker, man.
SPEAKER_04I feel like the stuff at the end makes me think it's fake. Like it was a little like he kept saying it and then he at the end, yeah, maybe a little over the top there at the end. Yeah, I I haven't confirm or deny it's AI. Uh well, not AI, it couldn't be AI because it's from a ring. Well, I guess it could be.
SPEAKER_03It's from a ring camera, but yeah, it could be regardless of whether it's it was a setup or not, I'm sure this stuff happens. We know it happens.
SPEAKER_04Well, I feel like it wasn't, or because he did kind of tap all the buttons to take a picture and all that, like he did what he was supposed to do, so maybe it was real. Um so Faye says you took it, so why complain? But unless it was saddled with another one. Yeah, because they hide that that shitty one. When you take a double, you're like, oh, that mileage, I mean, it happens all the time. That mileage looks fine with the amount, but what you realize is that you're getting the extra amount from the the base pay from DoorDash, and that other one has zero tip. Because I've definitely had that happen several times. So um, but yeah, if you if that was real, he's he probably doesn't have a job anymore. And it's is it that is it that big of a deal? I mean, we never know what people are going through, but seriously, like calm the fuck down.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, definitely need some uh he didn't he need some weed from that dude.
SPEAKER_04I was just gonna I literally I don't know what you were gonna say, but whatever you said, I was gonna say he needs a little bit of weed. He need takes a gummy and chill the fuck out. Hey, great minds think alike. I know. I'm like, geez, dude, you don't need alcohol, you need some weed. Yep, you chill. Uh okay, this I thought this was kind of funny. This
Multi App Alerts And Missed Pings
SPEAKER_04guy does a lot of ride share videos. I've I watched a couple other ones and they were okay, but I I do enjoy this one a little bit. But um, and Gabe and I have you know, I've talked to Gabe about all his notifications and that he doesn't turn them off. Because I asked him, I was like, Do you turn those off during a ride? He goes, Fuck no, I don't. So this is oh yeah, this is kind of I turn all my stuff off. I do too. Well, yeah, I don't take a lot of rides, but yeah, I turn all my stuff off too. So here we go.
SPEAKER_00Good morning.
unknownGood morning.
SPEAKER_04Lyft. Instacart, Doordash. No, that was DoorDash. That's Uber. That's Lyft. I was trying, I know you guys couldn't hear me. The people on the pod will be able to hear me in the audio, but I was like, okay, that's Lyft. Yeah, that's DoorDash. That's Uber.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so where you at audio listeners, uh, yeah, it's just a guy, and and the uh headlines like when you've been sitting there and it's been dead, so you take the five dollar ride, you know, and then all of a sudden all your notifications for all your other apps seem to explode. And and I don't know, but I don't know how true it is when uh if it if they do you know relate it to movement, but I know I've been sitting places for a while sometimes doing just ride share and like nothing, and then like all right, screw it, I'm gonna move. And like the second I start I take off, I I get a ride. I think there is some truth to that. There I it's happened to me too many times to not believe that there is something to that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, especially if you're on a if you're multi-apping and you're on another app and you get a ride from them, and then you move a couple miles down the road and then the other one goes off. Um, yeah, I I can definitely see that. I uh I turn I don't turn my so I don't have any of my I can't figure out how to turn Ubers off. Like even if you have the volume all the way down, Uber like overrides that. But I typically don't have any of my audio alerts on for any of my stuff.
SPEAKER_03Right. Yeah, and like I and my problem is now Uber, Uber used to override everything, but now like if I have Lyft up on the screen, but Uber's in the background, all I get's a little is like a little flash of text up there. I don't get a noise anymore. And I've been trying to get the noise to come back, but I can't figure out the settings.
SPEAKER_04Well, at least on Android, I don't know if on Apple, but Android it pops up like a big square on the bottom.
SPEAKER_03No, mine's a a little tiny little bit. Oh, you can't even read that. No, and especially if you're not, I mean if you're not looking at the screen, if you're driving, yeah, I'm I know I miss stuff, so generally I'll leave I'll leave uh Uber on top. And Lyft in the background, yeah, because all Lyft will still notify you.
SPEAKER_04I mean, this you know, I know you have two phones and one's a personal one, but like it might be behoove you to just have a lift on your personal so you can have both phones up. Um I'm not saying I don't have any notifications on, but like like Walmart, I don't, and um maybe I do for DoorDash. I don't know. I just feel like I get so many of them and I don't mind them popping up. And I'm usually looking at my phone anyway, so I don't need an audio alert, but Uber's aggressive with their at least on my phone. They they like to take over all the audio for some reason. I haven't spent the time to try to figure it out. But Bubba Sue said I purchased and delivered. Well, I'm glad you purchased it, and I'm glad you delivered it. Stole it and delivered it. I I stole it and I kept it for myself. Those are the other two options. I purchased and delivered a personal massager to a hooker at a hotel. I was like, what does she need that for? I'm sure the man asked for it, you know. He's like, Oh, I need you to do this. Yeah, gross. That was his thing. That was his thing, yeah. Okay, um, so I don't know if this is true or not.
Amazon Flex Delivery By School Bus
SPEAKER_04This is another video. There's an Amazon driver delivering, and it's a literal school bus. Uh, we'll show the video on that, but like I think he's like a flex worker, which they don't they don't really say you can't drive a school bus. Maybe they do. I mean, I mean, I would think the schools would not be happy about it. Well, I can't remember now. I we'll watch the video. I don't know if it's blacked out on the side because you can buy, I mean, you can buy it, like we auction off school buses all the time for like five grand. And you the only requirement. Well, we actually before we send them to auction, we stripped the we stripped the lettering off. We don't paint over it, but we strip you can faintly see it, but it's clearly not part of our fleet anymore.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, a friend of mine in high school, him and his buddy lived in a bus for about six months.
SPEAKER_04Like uh a deck, like they redid one or just Nah, Britain I took out some of the a few of the seats and just laid it. You know, I have the like I'm not a big camper, but I that would be a fun project, but honestly, every time I see that, people give up. And if you go to Facebook Marketplace right now, while you're listening to this show, if you go to Facebook Marketplace and search School Bus for Sale, you will find 10 of them. And nine of them are not even gutted out, and their wife wants them to get rid of it because they bought it in the in hopes to do a project and they never did it. So you're so don't buy from the auction house, buy them from Facebook Marketplace for half of what they auction for. Yeah, a whole lot, a whole lot cheaper. A whole lot cheaper. But that being said, it would be really cool. I would rather buy one that somebody already redid. I don't want to do the work. I want to walk in and go, oh, this is freaking amazing. I want to do this, you know. Especially if you were part of a race team. Um, I think about the small racetrack here. You could drive that bus from track to track, pull your car behind it, be pretty dope. All right, here we go. It's 15 seconds. Okay, it's blacked out. It is blacked out, it is spray painted over. So some people said maybe his car was behind it, but I I think I wish it I don't know why it didn't uh why it cut off there unless the car was behind it and they try to make a viral video because like why not get watch him get in it, shut the door and drive away. But sure. Um I'm not I can't remember their required now, like at some of the um not the same day uh places, but like Faith will correct me. There's uh she does not do same day, she does uh I don't know what it's called. But anyways, I don't think they would let you drive that bus in there. I mean, there is a pretty big overhang, so I guess it would fit, but um the other one you just pull into a parking lot and you walk inside and grab your cart and walk it out. So I don't see a problem with it.
SPEAKER_03But but but the whole question, why why would you drive a school bus? I mean for a flex ride. I mean, yeah, I can't get your gas mileage.
SPEAKER_04Well, no, but I mean I've seen people rent U-Hauls to do flex. I mean, I've seen them in the I've seen them in the warehouses. I mean, it maybe they're in a pinch, I don't know. I mean, some of those U-Hauls you can honestly rent for 19, like the pickup trucks you can rent for $19 and maybe get on, maybe it's a little bit more for unlimited mileage, but I mean that's probably cheaper than renting an SUV.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_04Or a cargo van. Uh face that that's supposed to be flex. Where's this vest? Do you know the vests are not required to wear? You're only required to wear a vest inside the warehouse or when you're on Amazon's property. And even that doesn't get enforced. The warehouse I pick up, um I would say a third of them don't have a vest on. So there's a guy at a warehouse who drives a sprinter van, it fucks everything up because he doesn't fit in the spot. Yeah, too long. He always has to be last in line. Yeah, at at the warehouse she's going, I know because I just went to one when I did an afternoon one, which I typically don't, I usually do the same day. There are like lines painted and it's made for cars, it's not made for sprinter vans, but but yeah, I'm pretty sure you don't have to wear your vests on delivery unless they've changed that. I mean, I always do. Why wouldn't you? In fact, when I do my VHO routes, I wear my Amazon vest. Because I I mean I like people give you the dirtiest look when you pull up, and I'm tinted out. You know me, a black car tinted windows, but the second they see that vest, it immediately disarms them. Yeah, like, oh, Amazon. Yeah, so I I don't know why you wouldn't want to wear a vest, but yeah, the gas mileage on that bus probably isn't great. I mean, my bus gets like four miles to the gallon. That's Larry's dying over there. So yeah, I see a lot of Priuses. Um I last was it last night? No, Monday night, I did a morning route and an afternoon route. I saw a Tesla behind me. Uh, but I don't see very many electric cars, and I'm like, man, that if you're if you can afford it, and maybe a lot of them can't, but like buy a used electric car, I'm like, your gas is four bucks a gallon, it's gotta be killing these guys. And I see these these routes go for base, and I'm like, you're going for base spending four dollars a gallon. Like you cannot be making any money.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04I mean, in the moment you are, right? If you need to pay a bill, you got it, but in the long run, that doesn't work. Yeah, it's a wash, yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a wash. Fucking hell, Billy. Oh Warsh. My grandma said wash too. Warsh.
Waymo Reactions And Explaining Gig Work
SPEAKER_04Um, all right, no Waymo today. I couldn't really find anything, couldn't find any stories. I looked at some videos, I'm like, this is all the same shit. So no Waymo in the news.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no Waymo in the news. I'll throw out the Waymo story for the week. I was telling Jason about it. I told my mom took my mom and mom and pop uh dinner last night. I go down there every other week or so and told her about me and my wife riding in a Waymo when we were in Nashville, and she's like, What? I was like, it's a it's automated car, it's driven by computer. It blew her mind. She's like, Why in the world would you do something like that? What were you thinking?
SPEAKER_04I just see how serious your face is before you laugh. And I'm like, I can see like I don't know your mom, but I can just see her with the deadpan face.
SPEAKER_03Like she was very serious about it. Yeah. What was I thinking?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. What does she think about you doing like ride share? I mean, you know you've talked about that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, she's used to that. I've been doing it so long, but uh when I first started it, she wasn't real sure about that. And she'd ask me every now and are you still doing that? You're like driving them people around, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Once in a while, you know what else I I have a lot of people that don't understand, and I I guess it's just we're in it 24-7. People always, especially the well, I can see the old people. They always ask me what else I do because I I went to breakfast with them this morning. They know I'm not just doing this job, but sure. Even like people my age, and that they'll ask, Well, so what do you do? I go, I drive school bus, and and then they're like, Oh, what do you do in the summer? I go, I do a lot of gig economy work. What? Yeah, maybe I'm saying it too fast, like and then I'll go like gig work. What do you mean? Yeah. So now I just I I don't even say it. They ask, I go, Oh, you know, like Uber Lyft, DoorDash, Walmart, Amazon. That's I just list all the companies and then they get it.
SPEAKER_03But they understand that more. Yeah. It's funny because yeah, we are so you know, we've been Immersed in it for 10 years and it's just uh part of our vernacular. But yeah, you tell people some people gig work, and they're like, huh?
SPEAKER_04And maybe I say it too fast, and I work what's that? Yeah, what is that?
SPEAKER_03I'm like, you know, like you're in a band, you know, playing gigs.
SPEAKER_04Yes, yeah. I recently had somebody think say that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I've had people, I've had that before.
SPEAKER_04But it was recent, like that's gonna drive me nuts. And they're like, I thought you meant you were in a band. I'm like, yeah, no, I'm not in a band. I can't remember what it was, but who knows?
Amazon Flex Face Check And Returns Tracking
SPEAKER_04Couple of new Amazon things coming down. Uh, I got a couple of pictures to share, but first, I'll let Larry read it. Is a new verification prop uh thing. Here we go. There we go.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so there's a uh there's an Amazon Flex message inside the app. Uh says updated identity identity verification process in the Amazon Flex app. Starting August 6th, there will be an updated identity verification process in the Amazon Flex app to help protect your account from unauthorized use. After you've parked and tapped I've arrived, the app will prompt you to open your camera and guide you through the updated process. It should only take a couple of seconds. For the best experience, make sure your face is well lit and clearly visible. Remove hats, sunglasses, and any non-religious accessories that cover your face. Use your face, not a photo, to complete the steps. If you're unable to complete the identity identity verification, contact driver support and the app for help. Thank you for delivering with Amazon Flex. So is this every stop you have to do this?
SPEAKER_04Uh no. So it is uh once every 24 hours because I did it, I got it the first time. I think I don't know if it was Gabe or Faith. One of those two got it the first time. Um, and I got it Monday morning, and then when I did my Monday afternoon, I didn't have to do it.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so I what I was because this the way it sounds to me, uh saying I don't do Amazon Flex because they won't they won't let me. It says, you know, it says after you tapped I've arrived. So to me that sounds like every stop you're when you're tapping I've arrived.
SPEAKER_04Oh no, no, no. This is when you're just showing up to the warehouse. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_03That's that that's not that's I mean, that's not a big I'm I would be all for this.
SPEAKER_04No, the uh face says she failed on a third day. Oh, I think everyone's for it to get out scammers, people that are using like other people's account and stuff like that. Right. I think the biggest issue for me is like um you can usually just tape the or take the picture while you're driving. This you can't you can't drive, you have to hold it so close with two hands. So I mean, I'm usually always early, I'm never late. In fact, you can get there 15 minutes early to check in so you can start your route sooner. So it's no problem for me, but you have to be parked because you have to don't yeah, just like Uber, just like Uber verification. No, no, it doesn't know that you're driving. You just it it's so your hands have to be so still, and you have to hold the phone like this and like move it closer and watch these lights. Okay, gotcha. I don't think you can do it while you're moving. Gotcha. Yeah, but no, you're right. Uber does not let you do it.
SPEAKER_03I know, and I forget about that so many times. I'll I'll I'll click on lift and I'll be like pulling out of my driveway, and then I'll hit Uber and I'm going down the road, and then it's gotta verify, you know, because it almost always does it the first when I first turn it on uh to to work. And uh you're like, gosh dang, now I gotta pull over somewhere.
SPEAKER_04The amount of times I've done the same, or I've like finished the ride and I'm getting well, a lot of times it's an Uber ride, and I still have I get start going, you get on the highway, and then it's like, oh, you need to verify. Um not even if I'm on Lyft, like it's it can be after an Uber ride. I'm like, why didn't you do this at the beginning of the shift? Mine always does at the beginning of the shift. Oh, every time? Yeah. But it but it doesn't do it like you just said, or like when you turn it on and off?
SPEAKER_03Oh very rarely, very rarely you just said you were driving away. Oh, you're just saying, like I'm pulling on my driveway. Like if I like I hit if I'm putting my own my driveway, and as I'm pulling out, I'll hit click on lift and start it up, and then I click on Uber. And but so I always try to remember go ahead and do Uber, take the picture before I ever pull out of my garage. Okay, try to get that going. But you know, I forget.
SPEAKER_04You must have a uh enough of a break in between where it wants its picture. Because when I'm doing well, I haven't done food delivery in a while. I kind of Walmart's kind of been shitty, so I've been just doing routes, but normally if I'm doing Uber almost every day, like at least food delivery, it doesn't ask for it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and once in a while, yeah. And and that's you know, over the last year I haven't done as much uh ride share, so yeah, it's probably you know, that's uh it's a longer time between when I go out usually. Yeah, we'll see if it pick how it is once now that school's picking back up and I'm gonna you know hopefully be driving more regularly.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, hopefully. Yeah. Uh timer. Yeah, right. And next thing, uh, this is uh new Amazon return. So uh if you're not a flex driver, you are always required to bring the package back by 10 a.m. But it wasn't a hard and fast rule per se. And I've gone a couple of days and return packages uh just because I uh don't I mean I don't do a route every day. I have been lately, but not regularly. And now you have to scan it, so it's like now they know you have it. And like the last time I had one, I think it got canceled mid-route. So they clearly didn't want it. So I thought I thought it wasn't a priority for me to bring it. But it just says basically the improved in-app scanning feature makes returns quick and ensures every package is tracked accordingly, which I can't believe they it's taken this long for them to do that. The amount of like floating packages around in people's cars that you know, for whatever reason that got returned. Um, there's another picture too. I don't know what this is. I don't know, it's just instructions. We don't need to read it all. But um, so that'll be interesting. Uh, I wonder if we're gonna get dinged for that. I maybe because like if I deliver, let's say I deliver on a s on a Sunday, I gotta work the next day for school. What happens if I can't get it back by 10? Am I gonna get dinged for that? And it didn't uh I don't think it said that in there, but for how long they've gone without without tracking the those packages. Well, and I had a I had a gal the other day, she brought her whole card in, and she's like she had gotten an accident uh the the day before. And so, like, must have been on her way to her route, and so she didn't bring anything back. Now, is she gonna have to scan every single one of those packages like after she gets in an accident? I don't know. It just seems seems kind of weird, but um, yeah, it's it's kind of fucked up. But yep, might be an extra step. You might have to go back and you might get dinged for. I mean, it would force people to go. I'd I'd do it begrudgingly because I wouldn't want to dig on my account. But sure, sometimes if I'm going west of the pickup location, halfway home is my home, I would have to basically backtrack right times to to deliver this package. So it's just just kind of frustrating. But I I understand why they're doing it. So sure.
California Drivers Move Toward Unionising
SPEAKER_04Um all right, talking about unions again. I don't know what area this is, but Uber and Lyft drivers prepared to form a union. What state is this in, Larry?
SPEAKER_03This is Calais, Fournale. Okay, here we go. Yeah, so yeah, um, out in California says hundreds of thousands of independent contractors for ride hailing companies in California could be part of a union starting next month. Um, the California Gig Warriors Union, which represents thousands of app-based drivers, met a required 30% fresh threshold of active drivers who are supportive of the effort, according to the state's public employment relations board. Uh so under state law that went into effect this year, that that support sets the stage for state regulators to certify the union within 30 days. So um drivers in California, they've had a lot of battles uh over the last several years, you know, where they were going to be uh considered employees or where they were gonna be independent contractors. Uh they passed, you know, uh AB 1340, um, which gave drivers a path to form unions and bargain for you know different kinds of protections. Um pay and benefits are the top two things that drivers say they they're you know looking to bargain with the company. They you know state that well, we all state that Lyft and Uber take too much out of the fares. Yeah. Um but also uh you know fighting for better conditions. Um yeah, we'll see what happens. Uh you know, once this union, you know, if they do certify it and they start bargaining with them, we'll see if it they're able to get any concessions from you know from the rideshare companies.
SPEAKER_04The thing is though, how do you track conditions? You're in your own car. I mean, you kind of control your own conditions, right? I mean, I know that's a thing they say when when you're when you're like trying to form uh a union or whatever, is the the work conditions, but like you're in your own car.
SPEAKER_03I mean, how do you you kind of Yeah, and they may not need it quite as literal. They may yeah, maybe they're talking about you know working conditions, like you know, there's no overtime, there's yeah, you know, sick leave and all that kind of thing. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see. You know, they've had certainly had a lot of uh legislation uh and and you know back and forth uh in California and and a few other states, they kind of set the precedence for everywhere else, it seems like. So it'll be interesting to see how it goes.
SPEAKER_04I th I do think that and we've talked about it before, I think there's a great place for some sort of protection. I just don't know how that's gonna work. Right. I mean, you have to have the state thing like that happened in Seattle, or that's not the state, but um, but like in uh New York City, uh you have to have it on that level to get those protections. Cause I I've I and that wasn't done by a union per se. That was just done by like regulations from the government. But I don't know how you get that at a true like union where you know you have members and representation and contracts and stuff like that. I mean, it I guess it would be good. I mean, um depending on what it is, but yeah, I think we both agree there needs to be a little bit of a balance, but um Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You don't want them to go too far and and and you know be under complete control, but but you don't want the companies just be able to do whatever they want with no regards to the contract, you know.
SPEAKER_04Well, it's funny because like the way we get paid is kind of like a union because it's like it's not based on merit, like everyone gets the same rate uh in the area you're in. Obviously, it's different from California to Texas or whatever, and that's like it is with me. I mean, people get paid more at a different school district than I do, but at my district, everyone gets these are the steps, everyone gets paid that. There's it doesn't matter if you're an amazing bus driver or a piece of shit bus driver.
SPEAKER_02You suck, yeah.
SPEAKER_04You get paid the same, which kind of sucks. I'm not gonna lie. That's one part I don't like about the union. Not that I think I'm a great bus driver, but we have some awesome ones and we have some ones that might be better fit in a different field. Um, but yeah, so we'll see how that works out. We're always just kind of watching how that works. Um, would you rather I'm gonna ask you a question? Would you rather have a union uh esque? I don't want to use the union word because it's like such a loaded word, but like some sort of association, or would you rather have the government involved making the regulations?
SPEAKER_03I'd rather have an I'd I'd rather start out with try it with an association.
SPEAKER_04Association, yeah. Like we use the these are the things that we want and we agree to as a group. And yeah, yeah, I I agree too. No one really wants the government to step in. Uh it's just sometimes it's good for some things, but it's like I consider them you know the the weapon of last resort. Yeah, for sure. If there's something like egregious going on that yeah, we can't get a hold of or to get the company to stop, yeah, they need to step in. But just trying to like yeah, it's not the first step though. No, it's definitely not. It's it's at the end where we're if we can't figure this out. But yeah, I think I feel like as long as people keep doing the work, I I think I think it's gonna be fine. And and I think the only I don't know. I don't know. We'll have to see. I'm gonna end it there. So uh let's see, one last or two more um quick ones. So
Fixing Bad Amazon Routes With Spoke
SPEAKER_04Faith and I have been talking about this. This is uh Amazon has been smoking methamphetamines for the last three months because some of these routes are crazy. You got two, three, and eighteen right next to each other, and I don't know if they're trying some new software or what are they doing because it used to be fine. Like I never used to really bat an eye. Every once in a while, it might be a little wonka-doo, but never to the point where I would study the map. And now every route I study the map. And Faytha talked about Spoke, which is a routing app uh a while ago. I didn't really do anything with it because I wasn't doing a ton of flex, and then I started doing flex, and then I got fucked on a route that I didn't pay attention to enough, and I was like, you don't really realize you're zigzagging when you're doing um uh long distance routes with a little bit of stops because you don't really know what's going on. The zigzagging you know is if it's if it's a tight route, and you're like, I was just on this fucking street. Yeah, you know what I mean. So this is a video of a uh a person experiencing that, uh, and then uh we'll talk a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00Day after day, seems like I push against the cloud.
SPEAKER_04So it's kind of video of what Amazon had and how she did it. It was very short, so but for audio listeners, like yeah, literally it was like two, three.
SPEAKER_03A lot of backtracking on on the Amazon version, uh uh crossing your path uh several times, and then uh when they they did it, planned it themselves, yeah, it's more of a linear um progression.
SPEAKER_04Just kind of like a certain and that's the thing, like, and especially as a new driver, you don't think about that, and then you would be I mean, I bet most drivers get irate when they're like, Oh my god, I was just here an hour ago. Like, what the fuck? You know, so this app called Spoke, there's a couple of them out there. Spoke has been the best one so far. It is twenty dollars a month if you want to take pictures of your route. So basically, what I do, I have a separate, I have two phones. I have a well, I say it's my personal phone, but I have gig apps on it. But sure, I use my Android phone for Amazon. I get I can get three or four on a page, I take a picture, do the next one, you can route it, it optimizes it, you can put your ending stop, and that's what I've been using. I got a two-week trial, so I'm trying it out, and then of course I'm back to school, and I I don't think I'll pay ten or twenty dollars a month for it, but um, and it it's helped, it saved me some time, especially if you drive those rural routes where you're going all over God screen earth. I mean, it maps it accordingly, and then your last stop is your to your house, you know what I mean? Instead of ending way northeast, I want to be southwest, and so yeah, I would check it out if you're interested. I think it's worth the $20 a month if you're a gig worker regularly, um, because you can write that off and it will save you so much time. And you can just funny, Faith didn't know the picture thing. I thought she did. I was like, Well, you can get the light version, but doesn't let you put pictures. I'm like, I'm not copying pasting 40 stops into this app, it's just not gonna happen. So for uh for 20 bucks, you can uh you can get all that taken care of and it and it's great. So Faith says the hilarious part they sent an email early summer claiming less doubling back. I do remember that, and it's gotten worse. I think that I think that the coders were like, this is gonna be great. Oh, we fucked it up.
SPEAKER_03But this should have been a story from the road for you, though, when you were out testing this out the other day, and then and then my man about stroked out on us. So I was so happy.
SPEAKER_04I it was the second day of using spoke, and it it saved me a ton.
SPEAKER_03I was I was super You were so happy, you were so proud.
SPEAKER_04I was so proud of it. I was like, I I found the I found the way the glory has arrived, and I'm like, I'm using this every time. And then I put Google Maps on, and it took me down to a place that had uh they had they must have decided just to close it. They didn't they had like the road commission closing it, they didn't have like a construction company, and I it was routing me all over the place, and then I fucking freeballed it and said, Oh, I'll do it this way. I go to get on the highway like north of there, and it's backed up from that area. Um and I and Larry's just la everyone's laughing at me because I'm just like freaking out on the uh on the telegram. Sorry, on the telegram track that you can join.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's funny because I I was out on a rare Monday doing gig work because I found out I needed some more dental work done, which is like 1300 bucks. Like, daddy needs to make some money, right? So I was out on Monday. So like I'm gonna listen to some of the messages. I pull it up, and Jason is just stroking out, and then all of a sudden hear this message. Oh my god, it's a fucking train. Are you it's it's a train?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, are you kidding me? Oh my god.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because after I kind of like started to calm down and I was like finding my way, a freaking train was there.
SPEAKER_03I was like, I know exactly where I was with like the piece de resistance right there.
SPEAKER_04Oh my god. Yeah, that was that's what you're missing on the telegram group. You can hear me jerk out. And I was, if you listen to my progression of messages, I was all giddy and happy, and then I was like, Are you fucking kidding me? So it basically took me like an extra 25 minutes to get home, driving around like an idiot. So it kind of negated my amazing uh You're like, This is good.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna be home within like two minutes when it said I was gonna be home.
SPEAKER_04I know great, it's just awesome. I know, and that that's another thing about Spoke. It it'll because you're driving home and it and you set it up, it takes me a minute first stop. It can, I mean, within the minute, know when you're gonna be home. And I fucked though. I didn't fuck it up. And then M dot gotcha. And then five, ten minutes later, Faith told me about an app called Waze, and that's like I my mind was blown. I had never heard of the GPS app called Waze.
SPEAKER_03And it's changed our lives, hasn't it?
SPEAKER_04It is. I I will be I will be honest, I did not plug in Waze. Um I maybe should have. I may have should have think think about his highest reader comment. Then his voice goes into IP three octave.
SPEAKER_03Goes up three octaves.
SPEAKER_04Oh, goes up three octaves, yeah. Oh, it does. If I'm excited or or frustrated, it's Mickey Mouse voice. My family calls it Mickey Mouse voice. So but, anyways, yeah, join the telegram. You sometimes get those uh the beautiful things. Oh no, Bubba Speaker.
SPEAKER_03We were being we were being facetious.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that was sarcasm. That was sarcasm because Faith, like in her message, it was so funny. She was like, she literally, like, I think she thought she was providing an epiphany. Although that being said, I probably should have tried Waze in that moment. I should have took a deep breath, pulled to the side of the road, kind of like looked at the maps. Like, I'm trying to do this while I'm driving, which is very not safe, and it just adds to the frustration. But I should have brought up Waze because Google was not picking it up, but maybe Waze would have. So, anyways, yes, I've heard of Waze. So, yeah, I don't I used to use Waze all the time. I don't know. I got I got sick of the um the cartoonish piece of it. I was like, I'm just gonna go back to Google Maps, and then Google Maps bought Waze, but they and they haven't really messed with it. Um but you really should use, I mean, I know we're running way long, but you really should use multiple apps because when I was doing a couple VHO routes, the address wouldn't come up in Google because it was so new, and I went to Apple and Apple had it. So which is shock to me that Apple would have it over Google, but maybe they just Apple was in that area before Google updated it. But yeah, that's actually a great tip. You should use all three of those apps in a pinch when you're looking for an address, not when you're crashing out driving down the road.
SPEAKER_03And it it amazes me. We've lived at our house for 11 years, and all the apps still tell tell us to turn off the main road on a road called Gallant Fox, which there is no there is no road called Gallant Fox. It's called Beaumont. So it's not even close. No, no, not even close. I've I've tried to get it changed several times and finally I'm like, screw it. That's weird. I wonder why 11 years I've been here and it's been wrong.
SPEAKER_04I could see maybe like early on, and maybe the builder wants it like that. And he decided, you know, because usually the builders of like the original of that development get to pick the names. You know what I mean? They pick the names of the houses or the the streets, but yeah, that's wild that it still shows wrong on all of them. Wow, that's crazy, anyways.
Weekend Plans And Final Sign Off
SPEAKER_04All right, any gig work this weekend, Larry? Uh yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um don't got any kind of outside plans. So uh yeah, I'm gonna go out. Actually, I'm gonna go out tomorrow night. It's um students be rolling. Thursday Thursday. So Thursday Thursday will be kicking off, and uh yeah, probably have some stories.
SPEAKER_04All right, yeah, uh I might. I got the baseball, the second to last homest week, and then after this, we got one more week. Uh, I might, we'll see. I might not, who knows? Uh uh, but yeah. So, all right, 8 10 p.m. That's in three minutes. Join the Patreon, patreon.com slash the giggy con podcast. And as always, don't put up with anyone's bullshit. We'll see you on the road. All right, peace out. Hey, good night, everybody.
