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Amazon delivery drivers complain about bad work conditions

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Re: Amazon delivery drivers complain about bad work conditions

#2

Post by tyingq »

"skip lunch and urinate in plastic bottles, and some return to homes after their 9pm deadline"

"the allocation and number of stops, and the volume to be distributed for any given day, lies entirely with Amazon."

Argh. If true, hopefully someone can verify the claims and raise some visibility.

Re: Amazon delivery drivers complain about bad work conditions

#5

Post by leggomylibro »

tyingq wrote: post #2

"skip lunch and urinate in plastic bottles, and some return to homes after their 9pm deadline" "the allocation and number of stops, and the volume to be distributed for any given day, lies entirely with Amazon." Argh. If true, hopefully someone can verify the claims and raise some visibility.

"Use contractors, they said. It's so much easier and cheaper, they said..."

I don't have any evidence as to the accuracy of this anecdote, but when I see those news stories about delivery drivers shitting on someone's lawn, this is right where my mind goes.

'That person probably had an insane deadline to meet and no protections ensuring that they get time for basic and universal human functions.'

Re: Amazon delivery drivers complain about bad work conditions

#7

Post by mabbo »

It's such a complex situation. Amazon has contracts with small companies who provide trucks and humans. Amazon provides the work, the groups of packages, the routes, the app the drivers need to use to deliver.

The companies compete with each other for more 'routes' each day. They offer to take on more work, to do more. And then they hire anyone they can to fulfill those routes. The drivers themselves are on contracts with the small companies that can end at any time. Not making your rate? Up to the small company to decide if you have a contract tomorrow.

The contracts themselves presume the drivers will deliver a route in a specific number of hours for a fixed rate of pay. But newbies work at a much slower rate. And during the holiday season, they need a lot of extra labor- a lot of newbies.

Who is to blame? Amazon? The companies? The drivers? Capitalism gone mad? Take your pick.

Re: Amazon delivery drivers complain about bad work conditions

#10

Post by snarf21 »

mabbo wrote: post #7

It's such a complex situation. Amazon has contracts with small companies who provide trucks and humans. Amazon provides the work, the groups of packages, the routes, the app the drivers need to use to deliver. The companies compete with each other for more 'routes' each day. They offer to take on more work, to do more. And then they hire anyone they can to fulfill those routes. The drivers themselves are on contracts…

I agree, this is part of the "gig" economy gone bad. I think the solution is quite simple though. All contracts must also include a minimum wage (not saying this is the US minimum wage currently) per hour. This sets a floor and forces more of the cost back up the chain. It fixes the problem of someone forcing minimally bid contracts to people who are desperate for any kind of work. We have great algorithms and the computing to calculate "fair" amounts of time for delivery including traffic data and time of day that can also be extremely optimized for efficiency. Then the contract is for X hours at Y wage plus (maybe?) a bonus per delivery.

We complain about sweatshops making sneakers in abusive conditions but say cynical things like "... people don't have to take these jobs ..." when it comes to having parcels delivered right to our door so we don't even have to leave the house. I think it only fair we take a stand that these people deserve a decent living for delivering our (frequently frivolous) purchases.

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