
The cost of next-day delivery - jmsflknr
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolineodonovan/amazon-next-day-delivery-deaths
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cowsandmilk
> the Seattle-based giant dictates almost every aspect of that operation, down
> to what drivers wear, what vans they use, what routes they follow, and how
> many packages they must deliver each day.

This really isn’t true in my experience. I’ve seen plenty of Amazon packages
delivered by people in Uhaul vans, minivans, etc not wearing Amazon apparel.

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dx87
Same. I've seen them starting to use Amazon branded vans more often now, but
occasionally still get deliveries from people in jeans and a tshirt driving an
old sedan.

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z5h
If you get any group of people to run 5 million errands a week by car, won’t
some of them get into accidents, and do stupid things? How do Amazon’s drivers
compare to baseline expectations?

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cj
TLDR:

1) Amazon offers fast package delivery.

2) To meet customer delivery expectations, Amazon hires contract delivery vans
that are expected to deliver packages on schedule.

3) Sometimes, these vans get into car accidents that kill people.

4) When sued for wrongful death, Amazon denies responsibility for car accident
fatalities involving the delivery company they contract with.

is there anything new / interesting here that I'm missing?

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qrbLPHiKpiux
No. Nothing else.

I understand that "Faster, better, cheaper" is a mantra for businesses like
this, but there's a limit - you can only get so close. The public has forced
business to do this. Perhaps businesses should push back just a little...

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criddell
When you choose a later delivery option does Amazon actually treat the package
differently and their people better? I'm not convinced that the order doesn't
just sit in their system until ship date where it is blended in with all the
other orders for same day delivery.

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krapp
>When you choose a later delivery option does Amazon actually treat the
package differently and their people better?

No.

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KaoruAoiShiho
Sounds like a job for robots.

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grega_g
No need, they have biorobots

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KaoruAoiShiho
Bio robots are better off doing higher level, fulfilling, mental work instead
of dangerous grunt work.

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krapp
Bio robots are cheaper to procure, maintain and repurpose, and easier to
replace when damaged than actual robots in most cases, making them preferable
for menial and dangerous grunt work.

Also there aren't enough "higher level, fulfilling, mental work" jobs to go
around, and there will be even fewer once those begin to be automated as well.

~~~
grega_g
Plus, if Amazon unleashed a fleet of robots, every accident would be
scrutinized by press and possibly by authorities. With bio robots they can
literally cause carnage and no one cares.

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TheCraiggers
After reading this article, I'm happy to report that Capitalism is alive and
well everybody!

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cameronbrown
This isn't capitalism. This is a bug in capitalism which regulation _needs_ to
fix right now.

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TheCraiggers
Is the bug you're referring to coercing people of a lower caste into
overworking for next to nothing? Or escaping blame from what shell companies
are doing at your orders?

Sarcasm aside, both of these things have been an issue for centuries. And
while I'm not anti-regulation by any stretch, I think we've found that
regulation doesn't work too well when the company(ies) being regulated have
more money than god. We need a new weapon.

~~~
cameronbrown
Both of these.

It's a fact that capitalism is the only economic system that's not ended in
bloodshed. Having an underclass is a horrible outcome, it's just more
desirable than the alternative. We need to figure out how to fix the bugs, not
toss out the foundation of civilisation.

