![]() A huge number of "employees" for most tech firms are in fact employees of contracting firms. AdvertisementĪmazon has a whole lot of company in relying on a shadowy network of third-party companies to do business under its brand banner. Amazon contracts with at least a dozen companies that BuzzFeed identified as being "repeatedly sued or cited by regulators for alleged labor violations, including failing to pay overtime, denying workers breaks, discrimination, sexual harassment, and other forms of employee mistreatment." Two drivers working for an Amazon delivery company in the Los Angeles area told BuzzFeed they were encouraged to skip meals, use bottles instead of taking real bathroom breaks, and not to wear seat belts (which are required in California) in order to move faster. The companies also face little oversight for their own bad practices, BuzzFeed reports. “I took the truck back and went and told the guy, ‘This is it. I had 160 packages and it was raining, you can’t even see,'” he told BuzzFeed. The former employee told BuzzFeed that he quit on his first day of driving solo after completing his training. The driver at the time had been pulled over several times in the previous eight years, BuzzFeed found: twice for going more than 20 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, and once for running a stop sign.įurther Reading Amazon plans to make Prime shipping one-day by default ![]() One former employee of an Amazon delivery firm told BuzzFeed that in his first week of training, the driver he was shadowing first backed into a light post before speeding away, then he later blew through several stop signs and ultimately ran a red light before crashing into a motorcyclist going the other way. Some of the lawsuits filed against the company after crashes have identified drivers who had previous convictions for traffic infractions. In some cases, though, it seems like almost anyone with a driver's license can get a job delivering Amazon packages. "Even the most minor fender benders trigger internal investigations that seek to identify who was at fault and how such accidents can be avoided in the future," BuzzFeed observes. Applicants and employees face drug testing and must pass entrance exams before being hired. Safety training is also much more rigorous at the big delivery firms. "We are committed to greater investments and management focus to continuously improve our safety performance." Spotty records ![]() "We have invested tens of millions of dollars in safety mechanisms across our network, and regularly communicate safety best practices to drivers," Amazon told BuzzFeed. Professional commercial delivery businesses, such as UPS and FedEx, are subject to heavy federal regulation, and their commercial vehicles are subject to regular safety inspections. The US Postal Service and UPS between them handle a large chunk of the other half. At least six people have been killed in those incidents, including a 10-month-old baby.Īmazon-branded services now deliver about half of all the company's last-mile shipments, bringing goods from the local warehouse to your doorstep. Operating under heavy pressure to make as many deliveries as possible, as quickly as possible, and with lax regulatory oversight, drivers delivering items for Amazon have been involved in "hundreds" of crashes and other incidents in the past five years, BuzzFeed News reports. The company has actively encouraged employees to quit their jobs and go start local delivery firms it can contract with. But although those ubiquitous gray-blue vans and uniformed drivers all have Amazon branding on them, at least 250 subcontracted companies around the country actually do all the heavy lifting-a system that allows Amazon to skirt liability when heavy pressure on drivers means disaster strikes, according to a new report. Amazon has seemingly been bringing shipping services in-house as rapidly as it can as the company ramps up efforts to get packages to Prime members in just one day.
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