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West Sussex Courier: 225 Deliveries In One Shift - Without Break

A delivery driver in West Sussex has told the Sunday Times he delivered 264 parcels to 225 homes during one nine-hour shift last week.

That equates to one drop-off every two-and-a-half minutes.

The article calls couriers 'modern day Santa's helpers' highlighting a huge boom in online shopping as a result of people trying to get their gifts to loved ones under tier restrictions.

It said tens of thousands of couriers are due to drop off packages as late as 10pm this week, to deliver more than 100 million parcels to UK homes.

According the newspaper, the 22-year-old who works for a company that exclusively delivers for Amazon, has taken just one 30-minute lunch break in three months.

He earns around £100 a day after a £30 charge is deducted for hiring a company van, but workers have been given a Christmas-themed baguette and a drink each day from Amazon.

He told the Sunday Times:

"The way the Amazon system works, it works out the average amount of stops that a driver should be able to do and, because no one takes their breaks, the system thinks everything is OK and they should be able to do this.

"The more you rush, the  bigger the routes will get, so the drivers who rush make the workload bigger for everyone."

In response, Amazon said its couriers often dropped off multiple parcels at a single property, and insisted that they did not work more than a nine-hour shift. 

Delivery drivers from other parts of the country told the newspaper they were delivering up to 356 parcels a day.

Amazon added:

"[Self-employed Amazon Flex drivers can] make great earnings of £13 to £15 an hour.

"Each driver is provided a route that correspons to the block of time for which they are delivering, and the vast majority of the blocks are completed within or in less than the estimated time."

and that "drivers can take breaks at their discretion".

 

 

 

 

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