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Weird (Amazon) Flex, But Okay : The Indicator from Planet Money Nearly half of Amazon's packages are delivered not by UPS or USPS, but by the company itself. Amazon employs thousands of gig workers to make its deliveries, administering them through an app called Amazon Flex.

The Indicator from Planet Money

Weird (Amazon) Flex, But Okay

Weird (Amazon) Flex, But Okay

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Lynne makes an Amazon Flex delivery in Worcester, MA. Adrian Ma/WBUR hide caption

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Adrian Ma/WBUR

Lynne makes an Amazon Flex delivery in Worcester, MA.

Adrian Ma/WBUR

If you buy a lot of stuff on Amazon, you're probably used to seeing that smiley, brown box by your door when you get home. But have you ever thought about the person who put it there? As it turns out, Amazon delivers nearly 50 percent of its own packages, and many of those drop-offs are made by gig workers the company hires through an app called Amazon Flex.

Workers get some flexibility to choose their own hours and even the wages they work for. But because they're hired as independent contractors, they don't get the kinds of benefits regular employees receive.

On today's show, we deliver packages with an Amazon Flex worker, and we explore the trade-offs that come when a gig replaces a job.

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