Some Amazon Drivers Deal With Dog Bites and Peeing in Bottles
For its first 20 years, Amazon.com Inc. relied on UPS and other delivery companies to get packages to its customers’ doorsteps. Then a shipping disaster one Christmas made Jeff Bezos decide to build his own transportation network. Today, Amazon has hundreds of warehouses of all sizes, nestled around and inside major cities around the world. Its recognizable, grayish-blue vans navigate many neighborhoods, dropping off the stuff ordered online just a day or two before.
The fifth episode of Foundering: The Amazon Story chronicles the remarkable expansion of the Amazon supply chain into our cities and communities. It also tells the story of Amazon’s strained relationship with its new delivery contractors, the so-called delivery service partners. Those small businesses are at the mercy of Amazon’s shifting demands and unpredictable algorithms. Caught in the middle of it all are drivers, who wear Amazon uniforms but do not technically work for the technology giant. The challenges include unfriendly dogs and little time for bathroom breaks.
A deliveryman shot on Chicago’s South Side says the information would let drivers decide if $30 an hour is worth the risk.
(Bloomberg) George Hunt took two bullets in a botched carjacking while delivering packages for Amazon.com Inc. in Chicago. Now he’s pushing the e-commerce giant to notify contract drivers in advance about the neighborhoods they’ll be traveling to so they can decide if $30 an hour is worth the risk.
Hunt left his 2015 Volkswagen Jetta running just before 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 23 to make a delivery on East 87th Place on Chicago’s South Side. While running up to the stoop to drop off a package, he was startled to hear his engine revving. He turned around to see a man emerge from
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