The Human Cost of Amazon's Fast, Free Shipping (NYT)

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/us/amazon-delivery-drivers-accidents.html

The Human Cost of Amazon’s Fast, Free Shipping
Amazon directs the destinations, deadlines and routes for its network of contract delivery drivers. But when they crash, the retail giant is shielded from responsibility.
By Patricia Callahan
Sept. 5, 2019

This article is co-published with ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative newsroom.
https://features.propublica.org/amazon-delivery-crashes/how-amazon-hooked-america-on-fast-delivery-while-avoiding-responsibility-for-crashes/

When she added Gabrielle’s name to the chart in her kitchen, Judy Kennedy could picture the annual ritual. At birthdays she would ask her newest grandchild to stand up straight, heels against the door frame, so she could mark Gabrielle’s height beside that of her other granddaughter in the Maine house the family has lived in since the 1800s.

But there are no lines for Gabrielle.

In January, the 9-month-old was killed when a driver delivering Amazon.com packages crashed a 26-foot rented box truck into the back of her mother’s Jeep. The baby was strapped into a car seat in the back.

The delivery driver, a subcontractor ferrying pallets of Amazon boxes from suburban Boston to five locations in Maine, said in an interview that he was running late and failed to spot the Jeep in time to avoid the crash.

If Gabrielle’s parents, who have hired lawyers, try to hold Amazon accountable, they will confront a company that shields itself from liability for accidents involving the drivers who deliver its billions of packages a year.

In its relentless push for e-commerce dominance, Amazon has built a huge logistics operation in recent years to get more goods to customers’ homes in less and less time. As it moves to reduce its reliance on legacy carriers like United Parcel Service, the retailer has created a network of contractors across the country that allows the company to expand and shrink the delivery force as needed, while avoiding the costs of taking on permanent employees.

But Amazon’s promise of speedy delivery has come at a price, one largely hidden from public view. An investigation by ProPublica identified more than 60 accidents since June 2015 involving Amazon delivery contractors that resulted in serious injuries, including 10 deaths. That tally is most likely a fraction of the accidents that have occurred: Many people don’t sue, and those who do can’t always tell when Amazon is involved, court records, police reports and news accounts show.

Even as Amazon argues that it bears no legal responsibility for the human toll, it maintains a tight grip on how the delivery drivers do their jobs.

[Coventina]

1. Remember when Dominos dropped its "30 Minutes or its Free" promise?

After numerous accidents and fatalities?

I'm having Deja-vu.

[LisaM]

2. A Jimmy Johns delivery driver was killed in Seattle on a rainy night.

Didn't see any change in policy by JJ after that, though. None.

I also have to question consumers who need this instant delivery. Is it really worth it to get a package a day sooner?

[Coventina]

4. I think (this is guessing on my part, I admit that) Amazon is trying to lessen the last advantage

brick-and-mortar stores have over it, which is instant gratification.

You see something, you want it, you buy it, and you carry it triumphantly out of the store.

It's hard to compete with that, aside from promising that your thing will be in your hands later that day or the next day.

[LisaM]

8. But being able to buy something off the shelf doesn't carry the other issues.

It's already there, no one is being pressured to deliver it, the people helping you are actually employed by that company and (bonus!) more money spent locally goes back into the local economy.

What I really fear is happening is that there is a new generation that almost doesn't know how to shop any other way than ordering online. We've probably turned the corner. I was in Scotland last summer, and it really hit home how different it is here now when I saw how lively the shopping districts all were.

[Coventina]

11. I know what you mean. I spent part of my summer in a tiny town with just a general store.

A place where Amazon doesn't deliver, except to the town's post office.

It was really a nice experience to go in and get your needed supplies, talk with the other townsfolk while there, see what had just come in to buy, catch up on the news /gossip, etc.

That kind of mercantile experience that also builds a sense of community is something that was first undermined by the big box stores, and now the online market.

I'm back in the big city now, but those weeks will be a cherished memory for me.

[virgogal]

3. Question. Is Macy's,for example,responsible

if a Fed Ex truck is making a delivery for Macy’s and has an accident or is Fed Ex? Seems like kind of the same thing.

[Coventina]

5. There are critical differences between the two models.

The large dept. stores that do deliveries use large delivery companies like Fed Ex and UPS. (We can have a separate conversation about how those jobs have become more and more exploitative, but that's another issue).

Amazon is increasingly using hordes of independent contractors (gig workers) who have no protection of written working conditions, payment, benefits, etc. Therefore, if they don't meet arbitrary deadlines set for them, they don't get the work. The pressure on them to get the job done within the parameters set by Amazon is extremely intense. In other words, if they don't finish their route by the time Amazon says they need to finish it, they don't get their rent money.

[LisaM]

7. Yes - they seem to have no workplace protection and I know they are under pressure.

There was an article written by an Amazon gig delivery driver that would curl your hair.

We have a strict No Amazon Delivery rule at our apartment - the FedEx, UPS, and USPS drivers are all the same people and so they are given access to the lobby. Amazon does make that guarantee, so they don't get access and have to go to the office. I saw one of those gig Amazon guys trying to get into our lobby the other day and boy did it conflict me. Knowing what he had to go through and his pressure, my temptation would have been to let him in, but OTOH, we are absolutely not supposed to let people into our locked building (and for good reason, there have been problems). Luckily the choice didn't end up falling to me, the situation was resolved by the time I got to the door, but I resented being made to have that Hobson's choice.

[virgogal]

10. Thank you..that explains it for me.😀

[MarcA]

6. People should stop using Amazon or at least its sudden free delivery service

Question what you really need or want and pay a little more. The Bottom Line
of a society consists of more than cents for you and $$$ for would be oligarchs.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. Many Amazon items, there's no choice as to delivery.

Fast. Safe. Pick one.

Nope, that is not an option.

You click "buy", you better start walking toward your porch.

I wish "Slow and safe" was a delivery option.