Amazon Mentor app stops and disciplines delivery managers

Last week, Amazon raised privacy issues when it confirmed it was rolling out AI-enabled cameras in vans used by some of its contracted delivery partners. But the company has been using software for years to monitor and track drivers’ behavior on the road.

Amazon requires contracted delivery managers to download and manage a smartphone app called “Mentor” that monitors their management’s behavior while on the job. The app, which Amazon uses as a tool to improve driver safety, generates a score every day that measures the managerial performance of employees.

The Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program, launched in 2018, consists of contracted delivery companies that handle a growing portion of the online retail giant’s deliveries in the last mile. In a few years, the program has grown to more than 1,300 delivery companies in five countries, threatening to advance an industry traditionally dominated by shipping partners such as UPS and FedEx.

Like the AI-equipped cameras, Mentor is set up as a ‘digital driver safety app’ to help employees avoid accidents and other unsafe driving habits while on their way to their destination. But several delivery executives who spoke to CNBC described the app as intrusive and expressed concern that errors within the app could sometimes lead to unfair disciplinary action by their manager.

Amazon spokeswoman Deborah Bass said in a statement to CNBC: “Safety is Amazon’s top priority. Whether it’s latest telemetry and advanced safety technology in last mile trucks, driver safety training programs or continuous improvements in our mapping and routing technology, we have invested tens of millions of dollars in safety mechanisms in our network and regularly communicate safety practices to drivers. ‘

But Bass did not respond to any of the specific allegations DSP executives made to CNBC about the Mentor app outlined in this story, as well as questions about how the app uses certain behaviors to score executives.

The scores generated by the Mentor app are used in more ways than just evaluating an individual’s performance, managers say. According to the executives, Amazon partially looked at the score of a delivery partner’s status, which asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from Amazon.

The ranking system for DSPs ranges from “Poor” to “Good” to “Fantastic” to the highest level, referred to as “Fantastic +.” A surplus of poor Mentor scores among the staff of a delivery partner could lower the DSP’s ranking, which could jeopardize their access to benefits that Amazon offers, such as optimal delivery routes, the executives said.

The app also includes a dashboard for managers to see how they perform against the rest of their team. Mentor’s score-based system raises concerns that the app is exacerbating work pressure and pitting unhealthy drivers and competing DSPs.

DSPs are already under intense pressure due to the ease with which Amazon can cut contracts with delivery partners.

“Knowing that you are under this level of constant supervision, that even if you work well at your job, an app or algorithm can make a determination that affects your life or your ability to put food on the table for your children. is, I think, deeply unfair, ‘said Evan Greer, deputy director of the digital rights group Fight for the Future. “It’s incredibly dystopian.”

The Mentor app was created by eDriving, a technology company in New Jersey that develops road safety tools for the automotive and logistics industry. Representatives of eDriving did not respond to requests for comment.

Amazon managers must report to the Mentor app at the beginning of their shift each day. The app calculates a score for each driver, called a ‘FICO score’, based on their driving performance, and should not be confused with the credit rating of the same name.

According to the Mentor Guide for DSP Drivers, management follows and measures behaviors such as hard braking, driving fast, making cell phone calls, or texting. The app also keeps use of seat belts and drives in reverse gear, but this behavior does not apply to the driver’s FICO score.

Mentor has a scoring system, with a maximum score of 800 to 850 which is considered ‘amazing’, while a score of 100 to 499 which is considered the lowest level, or which the app considers ‘risky’ . It is unclear how many points each offense is worth, but executives believe that some offenses may hurt their FICO score more than others.

Violation of security does not have to be serious to lower the driver’s score in the Mentor app.

“I got a thing because someone called me and I did not answer,” said Devin Gonzales, a former manager who was fired by his DSP in Colorado last month. The Mentor app falsely marked the incoming call as a violation because it thought the phone was in use while driving.

“I had no control over it,” Gonzales added.

At other DSPs in the US, delivery managers said they were experiencing issues with the Mentor app. Adrienne Williams, who drove for Amazon until last July, ran the Mentor app on an electronic package scanner, which is internally called “rabbit”. Drivers use the rush to indicate when they arrive at each delivery stop on their route, among other things.

Williams said she became frustrated when she would pick up the emergency device to see her stop while her van was idling, but the Mentor app would report the action as distracted driving. As a result, Williams would see her Mentor score drop every time she arrives at a delivery destination.

“Every time I said I was at the stop, I got a dinged,” Williams said in an interview. “And that’s 150 stops a day, so I got dinged at least 150 times a day.”

After this, her score of the ‘high 700s and 800s’ drifted to the 400 level,'[the Mentor app] said my management was risky, “Williams said. I was pulled aside and told that your FICO score is too low. “

Williams’ DSP later gave her another rabbit device, only to run the Mentor app. She said she would keep the device in the glove compartment of her van to prevent errors with the app and to maintain her FICO score.

DSPs can use data collected through the Mentor app for employment decisions, including disciplinary action such as write-ups. Managers say if their score falls below a certain threshold, they could be removed from the work schedule for a few days or a week, lose access to bonuses and be banned from certain benefits. For example, some DSPs will pay drivers for a full day shift if they finish their work early, but if the driver’s FICO score is too low, they will only be paid for the hours they have completed, managers said.

On Reddit forums and in Facebook groups, DSP executives will share tips on how to play the Mentor app and increase their score. Some of the tips can be particularly complicated.

In one YouTube video, a DSP driver instructs employees to wrap the phone with Mentor in a sweater and place it in the glove box so that it does not scurry around while the car is running, which can mislead the app as a driver. use their device.

“If your device moves at all, it will count against you,” says driver Juan Ramos in the video. “You have a better chance of dropping your score.”

While the Mentor app is meant to make drivers adopt safer driving habits, some DSP employees said it encourages them to take risks because they are concerned that the extra steps may slow them down and reprimand drivers who expect fast deliveries.

The Mentor app can detect whether a driver is using their seat belt when driving with an Amazon brand. Some drivers will fasten their seat belts, but place the strap that normally rests over their chest behind them so that they can move around more easily while driving, while avoiding violating the Mentor app.

“Most drivers buckle, put the seat belt behind them and drive without a seat belt, which is unsafe,” said one DSP driver from Ohio.

If a manager feels that the Mentor app has marked them incorrectly, they can dispute it in the app. But that does not always lead to a decision.

“After you dispute it, they’ll send you back and say, ‘We’m sorry,’ and that’s it,” said the Ohio DSP manager. “It’s not a very robust system. I do not think [eDriving] understand how important a manager’s score is. ‘

The Mentor app is a central focus in the daily lives of DSP managers at work as they work to maintain their safety record. But the app can also track drivers outside their delivery van and in their homes.

Some DSPs offer drivers a company-issued phone where they can download and manage Mentor, but several executives told CNBC that they did not provide a separate device from their company, so they had to run the app on their personal device download.

The Mentor app tracks a user’s location using GPS. Privacy features in Apple’s iOS operating system for iPhones ask users via a pop-up message on the screen to choose whether they want an app to run location services in the background only once, just while using the app or already the time. Managers are instructed to allow the Mentor app to collect location data at all times.

“When this message appears, you are offered two options, ‘Change to only while using’ or ‘Always allow’,” reads the Mentor guide issued to DSP administrators. “This setting must remain ‘Always Allow’ to accurately record trips.”

Williams said her DSP in Richmond, California, does not provide drivers with a phone, so they are expected to download Mentor on their own device. Williams said she refused and that the DSP gave her another phone call, but most of her co-workers were too scared to voice their concerns, so they agreed to let Mentor track their location without any restriction. .

“A lot of my colleagues have said it brings them down, but they do not know what to do,” Williams said. “So you get stuck and say, ‘I’m going to allow my employer to follow me on my personal phone at all times.'”