Drive For Amazon Delivery
Drive For Amazon Delivery – Although subcontracted drivers have Amazon-branded vans and uniforms, they do not officially work for the e-commerce giant. Photo by Todd Van Hoosear, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Part 1 of a series on Amazon’s delivery drivers. Part 2, “Supervision, Stress, and Bathroom Free: The Life of an Amazon Driver” is here.
Drive For Amazon Delivery
While millions of people have lost their jobs and thousands of small businesses have gone out of business, at least one company has thrived during the pandemic: Amazon. The online retail giant commands 40% of online sales and is racking up record profits. The net worth of founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, jumped to $186 billion, up more than $70 billion since March.
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Amazon’s continued growth and dominance in e-commerce is due to its dominance of logistics, including investment in the world’s largest temporary (ie, non-permanent) last-mile delivery network, with more than 500,000 contract drivers worldwide. .
Last mile logistics workers complete the final steps of delivery to the customer’s home (or a nearby Amazon closet). While most packages in the United States are still delivered by the Big Four – UPS, FedEx, DHL, and the Postal Service (USPS), Amazon is expanding its own delivery network, posing a serious threat to the working conditions of these companies and industries.
This article is from The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in a Global Economy (Pluto Press, 2020). Read our review here.
Unlike major retailers, which rely heavily on warehouse workers hired through temporary employment agencies, Amazon employs hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers directly around the world (although it still regularly hires temporary workers during peak periods).
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But Amazon is taking a different approach in the last-mile delivery space: expanding its network of contingents and subcontractors.
The last mile is one of the most labor-intensive components of the e-commerce supply chain. Almost one third of the total cost of goods transport is incurred here. Logistics experts describe the challenge facing e-commerce companies as the “last mile problem,” since the final part of delivery often involves multiple stops for small packages.
In an effort to reduce its reliance on the Big Four, including unionized UPS and the USPS, Amazon has invested in package delivery. In 2019, about half of Amazon Prime packages in the United States were delivered by contractors or temporary workers.
Amazon Flex drivers are gig workers and are considered independent contractors, similar to Uber drivers. They pay based on the completed route rather than by the hour. Flexible drivers should provide their own vehicle or hire a van.
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Independent contractors do not have the legal right of employees to organize and enforce minimum wage protection. In 2019, a group of California-based Amazon Flex drivers sued Amazon, alleging that the company intentionally misclassified Flex drivers as independent contractors to avoid paying overtime and employee benefits.
In addition to Flex, the company increasingly relies on a delivery service partner program launched in 2018. DSPs are small subcontractors that use 20 to 40 trucks each to deliver packages to delivery companies — which Amazon considers “independent” even though they deliver packages exclusively to Amazon Prime customers.
The DSP fleet is limited to 40 vans, which complicates the union and increases Amazon’s flexibility and power over the price paid for each delivery. Limited scale makes it difficult for these small companies to gain leverage against Amazon. Each DSP manages 40-100 employees.
I live in Southern California and it’s one of Amazon’s largest markets in the world. Unmarked white vans carrying workers in reflective vests delivering Amazon Prime packages have been seen on the streets for years. Today, however, most DSPs rent grey-blue Amazon-branded vans and Amazon livery to drivers. However, despite appearances, these delivery driver subcontractors do not officially work for Amazon.
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In Southern California, most drivers work 8-10 hour shifts and earn about $15 an hour. Many do not receive health insurance benefits.
These workers are under a lot of pressure to meet Amazon’s strict delivery requirements. During the holiday peak period, the delivery volume per shift can reach 400 pieces. Drivers complained of unpaid overtime, poor working conditions and unrealistic expectations and pressure from Amazon.
Between Flex and DSP, Amazon’s growing market power has opened up new opportunities for thousands of delivery drivers, many of whom are people of color and immigrant workers.
Wal-Mart became the world’s largest corporation by developing a sophisticated logistics management program that reduced the efficiency of moving consumer goods over thousands of miles.
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However, Wal-Mart’s well-established supply chain approach in the hypermarket era has not adapted to the rapid changes brought about by the growth of e-commerce.
The big retailers struggled to compete because their infrastructure was built to accommodate long-distance shipping. E-commerce is based on a more localized and decentralized distribution and delivery system.
Consumers are increasingly demanding faster home delivery; Amazon’s Prime program continues to increase consumer demand for expedited free shipping. All of this puts pressure on warehouse and last-mile delivery workers to keep up.
Linked to this speed is technology that tracks the movement and speed of workers in real time. Amazon is the industry leader in monitoring workers in the global supply chain.
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Amazon’s logistics infrastructure is based on this kind of exploitation and increased surveillance of warehouse workers and for-hire delivery drivers. The amalgamation of these two groups plays a central role in the empowerment of workers in global labor organizations.
To compete with Amazon, FedEx began entering the e-commerce market by partnering with hybrid retailers (larger stores that combine offline and online sales) that offer in-store pickup.
About half of all online purchases are made after 4 p.m., according to FedEx. This prompted the company to introduce a new late-night option that allows retailers to offer next-day delivery on late-night orders.
FedEx drivers collect packages from retailers for delivery to sorting centers no later than 02:00. Local markets can be delivered the next day, and more distant destinations within two days.
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The Late Transit program started as a pilot in Los Angeles in 2017. Since then, it has entered 100 local markets. FedEx uses the physical infrastructure of large retail locations as a competitive advantage, providing speeds from distribution center to delivery in less than 24 hours.
The rivalry between Amazon and hybrid retail companies has also sparked a race to capture the system miles market in other ways. Amazon’s $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods has less to do with food and more to do with last-mile market share.
With the acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon immediately added 440 refrigerated locations to its delivery network within a 10-mile radius of 80% of the population. Since the acquisition, Amazon Flex drivers have frequently used Whole Foods stores to deliver and pick up packages at Amazon lockers. The acquisition also improves Amazon’s last-mile market position compared to hybrid store rivals Walmart and Target.
Jake Alimahomed-Wilson is a professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach. He co-edited The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in a Global Economy (Pluto Press, 2020) with Ellen Reese. This article is an edited excerpt from that book. Read reviews here.
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Since 1979, Labor Notes has been the voice of union activists seeking to reintegrate the movement into the labor movement. » Amazon is committed to decarbonizing its delivery fleet and has launched more than 3,000 unique electric vans in the US.
Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019 and is committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2040. As part of this commitment, Amazon has announced a partnership with Rivian to put 100,000 electric delivery vans on the road by 2030 and has begun designing a new electric van. Modern transport vehicles.
In just three years, a simple sketch turned into a unique electric transporter on the roads today. Amazon has pledged to put all 100,000 electric vans on the road by 2030, eliminating millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
Check out the Q&A below to learn more about Amazon’s custom vans and what Amazon is doing to decarbonize its delivery network.
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Amazon began rolling out its electric vans in the summer of 2022, and more than 3,000 of them are currently on the road to deliver packages to customers across the United States.
Amazon’s custom electric vans make the rounds in more than 500 cities and regions nationwide, including Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Madison, Nash Vail, New York, Newark, Oakland , Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Provo, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle and St. Louis. Amazon also drops off vans in Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Philadelphia, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Tampa and Toledo.
To date, Amazon’s Rivian vans have delivered more than 75 million packages to customers in the United States.
What are the van’s most innovative features? How can a custom electric van make delivery easier and safer for drivers?
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In addition to ordering 100,000 unique electric vans from Rivian, Amazon has installed more than 15 models.
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