Exhausted Amazon Drivers Are Working 11-Hour Shifts For Less Than Minimum Wage

[DamianTV]

https://slashdot.org/story/17/12/10/...n-minimum-wage

Drivers are being asked to deliver up to 200 parcels a day for Amazon while earning less than the minimum wage, a Sunday Mirror investigation reveals today... Many routinely exceed the legal maximum shift of 11 hours and finish their days dead on their feet. Yet they have so little time for food or toilet stops they snatch hurried meals on the run and urinate into plastic bottles they keep in their vans. They say they often break speed limits to meet targets that take no account of delays such as ice, traffic jams or road closures.

Many claim they are employed in a way that means they have no rights to holiday or sickness pay. And some say they take home as little as £160 for a five-day week amid conditions described by one lawyer as "almost Dickensian"... The Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency has vowed to investigate after drivers contacted them to complain about conditions.

This ought to be fun. Debate.

[euphemia]

I actually know someone whose husband delivers for Amazon. She was at her mangerial level job 15 years and her husband makes more money than she did.

That may be how things are in Britain, but I don't think it necessarily applies here.

[tod evans]

UPS drivers are union, over $20.00 hr, time and a half over 40 and so on....

[phill4paul]

UPS drivers are union, over $20.00 hr, time and a half over 40 and so on....

Exactly. If they want to change it they need to organize and collectively bargain. But, they should be prepared for scabs to take their place.

[Danke]

Exactly. If they want to change it they need to organize and collectively bargain. But, they should be prepared for scabs to take their place.

Exactly. The should probably wait for a while until they have the numbers to have that pull.

[specsaregood]

UPS drivers are union, over $20.00 hr, time and a half over 40 and so on....

ups drivers also don't park behind my driveway blasting rap music and proceed to organize their whole truck forcing me to tell them to move their ass so I can get out, nor dress like hoodlums or generally look like people I don't want in my neighborhood and I've never gotten package deliveries from UPS or fedex that was meant to go to my neighbors. The recent spate of amazon drivers however, have done all that on numerous occasions.

[sparebulb]

No one cared when airline pilots had 16 hour duty days.

Also, if the schedule was interrupted by mechanical or weather delays, the FAA and industry conspired to rule that there was no duty time limit to complete the original schedule.

Back in the old days, I had a few 20 hour days.

No one cares until someone dies.

And even then, Boobus wants the regulators to make a new law.

Any new law will do, to ease Boobus's conscience.

[Suzanimal]

Mr A laughs at their 11 hour days. He's 54 and puts in 15 to 16 hours ON HIS FEET. If they want more, negotiate for it or STFU and quit $#@!ting in street.

Seems like they're organizing delivery now:

[Danke]

Mr A laughs at their 11 hour days. He's 54 and puts in 15 to 16 hours ON HIS FEET. If they want more, negotiate for it or STFU and quit $#@!ting in street.

That’s quite a bar to be busy for 16 hours with no poop or meal breaks.

[timosman]

That’s quite a bar to be busy for 16 hours with no poop or meal breaks.

We should have a RPF party over there.

[DamianTV]

That’s quite a bar to be busy for 16 hours with no poop or meal breaks.

Amazon warehouse life ‘revealed with timed toilet breaks and workers sleeping on their feet’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/500423...ng-conditions/

If you are "allowed" to poop, it WILL be timed in order to maximize efficiency. But for the most part, no, youre not allowed to poop, at all.

Oh, and if you refuse to take this job, then you'll be called "lazy".

[Suzanimal]

That’s quite a bar to be busy for 16 hours with no poop or meal breaks.

He can $#@! and eat but there's a lot more to running a bar than pouring drinks. He spends a good part of his time dealing with health inspectors, taxes (sales, liquor BTD, property), orders, payroll, dealing with staff (scheduling and drama), and, not to mention, listening to people bitch. It's his job. Ya know what, I was a bartender for years and guess what? When it was busy, I didn't get to go to the bathroom or sit down and have a meal. I $#@!ing worked because it was my job and I didn't cry about it to customers, I went to my boss and asked for more money. I also worked longer shifts than 11 hours.

[Danke]

He can $#@! and eat but there's a lot more to running a bar than pouring drinks. He spends a good part of his time dealing with health inspectors, taxes (sales, liquor BTD, property), orders, payroll, dealing with staff (scheduling and drama), and, not to mention, listening to people bitch. It's his job. Ya know what, I was a bartender for years and guess what? When it was busy, I didn't get to go to the bathroom or sit down and have a meal. I $#@!ing worked because it was my job and I didn't cry about it to customers, I went to my boss and asked for more money. I also worked longer shifts than 11 hours.

You should get him a chair for Christmas for when he is in his office.

[loveshiscountry]

He can $#@! and eat but there's a lot more to running a bar than pouring drinks. He spends a good part of his time dealing with health inspectors, taxes (sales, liquor BTD, property), orders, payroll, dealing with staff (scheduling and drama), and, not to mention, listening to people bitch. It's his job. Ya know what, I was a bartender for years and guess what? When it was busy, I didn't get to go to the bathroom or sit down and have a meal. I $#@!ing worked because it was my job and I didn't cry about it to customers, I went to my boss and asked for more money. I also worked longer shifts than 11 hours.

We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

But you try and tell the young people today that, and they won't believe ya'.

[Danke]

No one cared when airline pilots had 16 hour duty days.

Also, if the schedule was interrupted by mechanical or weather delays, the FAA and industry conspired to rule that there was no duty time limit to complete the original schedule.

Back in the old days, I had a few 20 hour days.

No one cares until someone dies.

And even then, Boobus wants the regulators to make a new law.

Any new law will do, to ease Boobus's conscience.

There is no crying in baseball...

[Raginfridus]

Get a different job?

[Schifference]

Solution has been mentioned and is forthcoming. Automatic drone delivery.

[Suzanimal]

urinate into plastic bottles they keep in their vans

@ :37

[Suzanimal]

@Danke

Do pilots use piss jugs?

[Danke]

@Danke

Do pilots use piss jugs?

No comment.

[TheTexan]

If we had a UBI this wouldnt be a problem.

[DamianTV]

If we had a UBI this wouldnt be a problem.

This video went viral a couple days ago.

Universal Basic Income Explained - Free Money for Everybody?


Im also not expressing an opinion here either way, neither pro, nor con. I'll leave that up to you guys to rip it apart.

... and, there's this thread...

'We Could Fund a Universal Basic Income With the Data We Give Away To Facebook and Google'
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...ook-and-Google

The overall result of what we have today is that the money flows from the bottom to the top. For people that do not have any money, they also do not have the power to collectively say "No" to the type of jobs that are so bad that not a single person would accept it due to the working conditions. The power to SAY NO is a valuable commodity that has evaporated into the ether of "have you been to our website". So instead of saying No, people reluctantly accept terrible and often dangerous working conditions due to desperation and their collective voices are dismantled.

[jllundqu]

When the Amazon drone commercial fleet replaces all delivery drivers, we will see who is complaining then.

[DamianTV]

When the Amazon drone commercial fleet replaces all delivery drivers, we will see who is complaining then.

I think it is already here...

Amazon's 75,000 New Robots Are Your Answer To No Wage Inflation
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-1...wage-inflation

Amazons main shipping facility is here in my home town, so I meet people that have worked for Amazon all the time. I also see a saturation of job postings for warehouse workers as well. Thing is, most of the warehouse jobs for Amazon are temp jobs that are handled by a Temp Agency so Amazons reputation is protected. These are Temporary Jobs, and not even directly employed by Amazon.

Sadly, what this all confirms is that Amazon views the majority of its workforce to be disposable. When robots and drones replace the disposable human workforce, the true state of the economy will become visible. We dont produce anything here any more. A good portion of what we do produce is already handled by machines, and that has the potential to also be fully automated. The robots and drones will be manufactured overseas. Maintenance will be handled by very few people. Then we will truly see how far we have fallen.

[oyarde]

I do not even use amazon , and if I lived in the UK and I also would not . Interesting thing for you guys about UK minimum wage is there are age groups . Adult is considered 25 and over ( 7.5 pounds ). There is 21 - 24 age group ( 7.05 pounds ) , 18 - 20 (5.60 ) , under 18 ( 4.05 ) and apprentice at 3.50 . Raise next year puts top rate @ 7.83 , I think that would be around 10 1/2 dollars. So , if they are 25 and working 11 hours and currently making less than 103.50 US dollars a day then it would be under minimum wage best I can tell . If anyone does not like it they should not use the service .

[Zippyjuan]

In the US, Amazon subcontracts out a lot of their delivery. https://www.geekwire.com/2016/amazon...t-contractors/

[oyarde]

In the US, Amazon subcontracts out a lot of their delivery. https://www.geekwire.com/2016/amazon...t-contractors/

I just assumed they would everywhere . Most people do not employ drivers and own trucks to deliver .