Throwaway because I have written some of the software behind this program.
The problem is that Amazon has set up a system where labor abuses are the only way to succeed, while keeping their hands clean.
Amazon hires Delivery Service Providers (DSPs) on contracts. These contracts are for a specific number of 'routes' on a given day. They have a handful of DSPs for each delivery station, and they even help people start DSP companies by giving them loans for vans, access to better deals, etc. But the DSP is an independent company that can operate however it wants to, on paper.
The DSPs then hire delivery drivers, each an independent contractor themselves typically. The drivers get a route of 200-ish packages and follow the step-by-step navigation Amazon's provided app tells them[0] to do. The drivers are supposed to work for up to 10 hours then bring back whatever is leftover.
Problem: Amazon rewards the DSPs that have the fewest missed deliveries, pay them more per route. The DSPs that get the most pay are the ones who have learned how to get their drivers to work longer without complaint, take no breaks, keep driving, keep delivering. The ones who abuse.
Amazon does not reward the abuses, they just reward the effects of the abuses. Amazon can say "We don't tolerate that", but they absolutely do. What they actually don't tolerate is DSPs whose drivers complain. Every DSP operator out there is telling their drivers: you keep your mouths shut or you're out.
This isn't an accidental design. The people in charge of this program are sociopaths. And Amazon's senior leadership has rewarded these sociopaths for building this very low-cost delivery system. There's a Leadership Principle called "Deliver Results", but there isn't one called "Be Ethical".
[0](And let's set aside the part about 'workers following step-by-step instructions Amazon gives them are somehow not actually employees', which is bullshit.)
The problem is that Amazon has set up a system where labor abuses are the only way to succeed, while keeping their hands clean.
Amazon hires Delivery Service Providers (DSPs) on contracts. These contracts are for a specific number of 'routes' on a given day. They have a handful of DSPs for each delivery station, and they even help people start DSP companies by giving them loans for vans, access to better deals, etc. But the DSP is an independent company that can operate however it wants to, on paper.
The DSPs then hire delivery drivers, each an independent contractor themselves typically. The drivers get a route of 200-ish packages and follow the step-by-step navigation Amazon's provided app tells them[0] to do. The drivers are supposed to work for up to 10 hours then bring back whatever is leftover.
Problem: Amazon rewards the DSPs that have the fewest missed deliveries, pay them more per route. The DSPs that get the most pay are the ones who have learned how to get their drivers to work longer without complaint, take no breaks, keep driving, keep delivering. The ones who abuse.
Amazon does not reward the abuses, they just reward the effects of the abuses. Amazon can say "We don't tolerate that", but they absolutely do. What they actually don't tolerate is DSPs whose drivers complain. Every DSP operator out there is telling their drivers: you keep your mouths shut or you're out.
This isn't an accidental design. The people in charge of this program are sociopaths. And Amazon's senior leadership has rewarded these sociopaths for building this very low-cost delivery system. There's a Leadership Principle called "Deliver Results", but there isn't one called "Be Ethical".
[0](And let's set aside the part about 'workers following step-by-step instructions Amazon gives them are somehow not actually employees', which is bullshit.)