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I’m against surveillance and draconian enforcement of rules. But in this case I understand Amazon. Can you blame them for wanting to make sure their drivers are

I’m against surveillance and draconian enforcement of rules. But in this case I understand Amazon. Can you blame them for wanting to make sure their drivers are not distracted and operating the trucks responsibly? They are in a logistics business. Distracted driving causes accidents and delays. A driver for them is equal parts an employee and a liability. Amazon gets all the heat in these topics simply because they nail to automate what has been a manual process so far. Monitoring trucks with video and GPS is something that many companies do and have been doing for years. Maybe the debate should be around how much monitoring is too much. Unfortunately for a company like Amazon there’s little choice here. They built a brand based on their reliability and customer service. Thousands of unmonitored truck drivers are something that could damage that trust.

MikeUt 6y ago
> Unfortunately for a company like Amazon there’s little choice here. They built a brand based on their reliability and customer service. Thousands of unmonitored truck drivers are something that could damage that trust. Every smallest remaining scrap of employee privacy or autonomy is "something that could damage that trust".
Lammy 6y ago
> A driver for them is equal parts an employee and a liability. This is the issue, yes. It is yet another symbol of the adversarial dehumanizing relationship inherent in “gig” work. If Amazon logistics workers weren’t constantly pushed to meet strict goals (to the point of skipping meals and bathroom breaks) there would be way fewer accidents to justify this surveillance system. This is another step in the wrong direction.
masonic 6y ago
The bigger safety issue is driving, (double) parking, and other driver actions. With the constant tracking and metrics gathering, drivers are incented to break traffic law and create safety hazards for others via actions like "double parking". Amazon wants to externalize the difficulties of modern urban delivery onto their drivers; package throughput would be greatly reduced if drivers obeyed driving and parking laws (and basic etiquette) in modern urban and suburban settings.
itisit 6y ago
That’s a very Amazonian view placing customer trust before employee rights... > Maybe the debate should be around how much monitoring is too much. Yes! This is the debate, and this kind of monitoring is too much.
frombody 6y ago
They built a brand on the backs of replacement workers that are not valuable to the company. Rather than employ people by giving them a living wage and respect, this has been replaced with poverty wages and shackles to prevent retaliation.

MikeUt 6y ago

> Unfortunately for a company like Amazon there’s little choice here. They built a brand based on their reliability and customer service. Thousands of unmonitored truck drivers are something that could damage that trust. Every smallest remaining scrap of employee privacy or autonomy is "something that could damage that trust".

Lammy 6y ago

> A driver for them is equal parts an employee and a liability. This is the issue, yes. It is yet another symbol of the adversarial dehumanizing relationship inherent in “gig” work. If Amazon logistics workers weren’t constantly pushed to meet strict goals (to the point of skipping meals and bathroom breaks) there would be way fewer accidents to justify this surveillance system. This is another step in the wrong direction.

masonic 6y ago

The bigger safety issue is driving, (double) parking, and other driver actions. With the constant tracking and metrics gathering, drivers are incented to break traffic law and create safety hazards for others via actions like "double parking". Amazon wants to externalize the difficulties of modern urban delivery onto their drivers; package throughput would be greatly reduced if drivers obeyed driving and parking laws (and basic etiquette) in modern urban and suburban settings.

itisit 6y ago

That’s a very Amazonian view placing customer trust before employee rights... > Maybe the debate should be around how much monitoring is too much. Yes! This is the debate, and this kind of monitoring is too much.

frombody 6y ago

They built a brand on the backs of replacement workers that are not valuable to the company. Rather than employ people by giving them a living wage and respect, this has been replaced with poverty wages and shackles to prevent retaliation.