I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon
Jeez. This article really highlights the abuses on which Amazon (and other similar jobs, think Uber, Foodora or whatever) are <i>built upon</i>:<p>&gt; feigning nonchalance as I handed a cup of urine to the attendant and bid him good day.<p>I consider mandatory drug tests a massive invasion of privacy that only persists because workers don&#x27;t (really) have the ability to shop around employers who don&#x27;t do them. Besides they&#x27;re only screening for illegal drugs but don&#x27;t care about the really dangerous things (a lack of decent sleep being the worst).<p>&gt; An honest recounting of this job must include my sometimes frantic searches for a place to answer nature’s call.<p>This is <i>dehumanizing</i>. This could be easily solved by requiring employers to provide e.g. these tiny camping toilets in the van - they don&#x27;t take up much space (one parcel, maybe), and a &quot;seat&quot; can easily be fitted by rearranging a couple of rack plates without losing storage space.<p>But the biggest issue is this:<p>&gt; Before it was taken out of service for repairs, I was often stuck with a ProMaster that had issues: Side-view mirrors spiderwebbed; the left mirror held fast to the body of the van by several layers of shrink-wrap. The headlights didn’t work unless flicked into “bright” mode, which means that when delivering after dark, I was blinding and infuriating oncoming motorists. [...] That’s when I heard a thud-thud-thud from the area of my right front tire, which was so old and bald that it had begun to shed four- and five-inch strips of rubber, which were thumping against the wheel well.<p>This is illegal and dangerous, both for the driver and for all people, animals and property around them.<p>All the &quot;cost cutting&quot; of Amazon doing deliveries instead of UPS, Fedex etc. does have to come from somewhere, and here it is done on public safety. I&#x27;m fine with competition, but not if public safety and worker&#x2F;human rights are sacrificed for short-term profits for Jeff Bezos.<p>And what&#x27;s the biggest issue: as a consumer, you do not have a choice when it comes to shipping - I&#x27;d gladly pay 1€ more a package if that would ensure that the delivery of my parcel is at least not outright exploitation, but Amazon (or any other web shop, food delivery service or whatever) do not offer this option, and are thus limiting the consumer power over where to shop based on moral ground.