Amazon Free Shipping has High Negative Costs

Amazon shipping costs have exploded, nearly doubling from 2015 -17 to $21.7 billion.

Amazon is launching a new “last-mile” shipping program this holiday season. For the first time, the company is planning to hire and manage thousands of full -time drivers to transport packages to customers from Amazon delivery outposts across the  US, the company confirmed to Business Insider earlier this week.

Amazon will manage these drivers directly, meaning the company will set their wages,  provide them delivery vehicles, and schedule their routes. The drivers are seasonal but allegedly will have the option to apply to continue their employment with Amazon following the holiday season.

Job postings for the new Amazon delivery jobs have hourly wages of $16.25 to  $17.25. This could put some pressure on Amazon’s deliver service partners, aka DSPs, to raise wages to at least $15. (soon to be know as SDSPs or screwed delivery service partners? as Amazon abandons them and their employees) Amazon also appears to be trying to create a more reasonable working environment for its own drivers.

The company’s move to hire its own drivers follows a recent push to expand its network of DSPs Amazon has been trying to grow its delivery options as the company’s shipping costs have exploded, nearly doubling from 2015 to 2017, to $21.7 billion.

At a training last week for new hires of the delivery program, an Amazon manager brought up Business Insider’s reporting on Amazon-affiliated drivers – who said they had urinated in bottles and skipped breaks on their delivery routes to keep up, according to an attendee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

“They said they didn’t want people peeing in bottles,” A said. “They also said that people weren’t taking lunch breaks, and they said we have to take those.”

The alarming accounts of Amazon delivery drivers may reveal the true human cost of ‘free’ shipping. Shifts could still be strenuous and long, with the potential to last up to 12 hours, according to job postings for the new roles.

A job posting describes an Amazon hire delivery role: “Under tight deadlines, drives a  delivery van up to 10,000 pounds to many customer residences and businesses, climbs in and out of van, and walks up and down stairs as required to deliver packages according to established procedures in all weather conditions.”

It adds that candidates must have the “ability to lift, bend, reach above the head, kneel, crouch, and/or stretch during shifts up to 12 hours long.”

Sounds like Amazon workers need a union.