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My dad has been a letter carrier for over 40 years. I'm very aware that drivers very openly talk to one another about peeing in the back of their trucks into bo
by elicash 6y ago
My dad has been a letter carrier for over 40 years. I'm very aware that drivers very openly talk to one another about peeing in the back of their trucks into bottles. Like with Amazon, the only policy is that you'll get a good talking to (not formal reprimand) if you accidentally leave a bottle of piss in the truck for the next person who drives the truck. Nobody wants to drive a car after a bottle of piss has been baking in hot Florida temperatures for 24 hours with the windows closed.
But, all that ignores a few things:
1) Look at that original tweet. So dismissive of the POSSIBILITY that anybody would EVER do such a thing. "Amazon is such a great place to work! Who could ever believe such an absurd claim!" The people who work in corporate clearly are so disconnected from the lives of their drivers that they have no idea how this is a weekly occurrence for a large percentage of drivers. Imagine what being so disconnected means in terms of setting policy for those drivers! Now apply that to a million other policies. People who do office work have no idea what it's like to do the job.
2) There were level of managers out in the field that were very aware of this. The official policy, if you read the emails, was (a) stop pooping in the Amazon bags, they'll trace you if you do, and (b) don't leave your piss bottles behind for other drivers to find. This is related to the first point, but what does it say about communication that something so commonplace didn't spread up the chain of command as a problem?
3) Amazon is saying they don't know the solution, but they'll try to come up with one. This scares me. The most likely scenario is a crackdown on drivers, as opposed to giving paid time for this purpose. Keep in mind, it could be that a driver is half an hour from a public restroom. This is expensive to solve. But what's not expensive is a crackdown on drivers. Look out for "zero tolerance" policies for those who get caught. It won't have an effect on occurrences of it happening, but could at least stop people from leaving their piss bottles behind as frequently.
- shadowgovt 6y agoIt's a technology company. My assumption is that they're going to look for a way to "disrupt" peeing in bottles. Perhaps some kind of easy to install Amazon branded micro bathroom for the delivery trucks.
- elicash 6y agoThey are not going to make their official policy that everybody should just shit in the trucks because they improved the user experience.
- aaron-santos 6y agoFunnily enough, Amazon already sells such products under the search term "Portable Wearable Urinal".
- fastball 6y agoAmazon didn't start this spat though, so I'm gonna give them more leeway than you apparently want to. It's pretty ridiculous that all the journos/politicians are only focusing on Amazon "doing this" when it's literally (by your own admission) done by anyone who drives all day long.
- elicash 6y agoThat it's so widespread in the industry should make this a BIGGER problem deserving of MORE attention. It shouldn't be used to dismiss this as a non-issue. I don't know why you're focused on whether Amazon should be given "leeway." Even if you only care about corporate Amazon, then maybe it's not in their best interest to have no idea how their company actually functions in the real world? There were stories before, just like there had been about UPS, Uber, etc (helpfully linked in this "apology") -- but this only super blew up when they issued their snarky denial to a member of Congress that anybody would ever pee into a bottle, and implying that the Congressman was a fool for believing such a tall tale.
- totalZero 6y agoI think we have to put the tweet in the context of Amazon having already spent years defending itself from claims that people in its warehouses aren't allowed to go to the bathroom. Also, the fact that the tweet was snarky is irrelevant. Twitter is a place for snark. If a delivery driver wants to use a restroom they ought to have the liberty/permission/time to do so. But if a delivery driver prefers to take a leak in a bottle and use some hand sanitizer afterwards, that doesn't strike me as a problem. Call me crazy.
- elicash 6y agoI didn't fault Amazon for being snarky. I noted that when you snark and get the facts wrong, that it'll get more attention.
- csunbird 6y agoIt is also probable that the drivers are unable to find public restrooms to use, even if they had time to have bathroom breaks. For example, I live in a very big city, at the city center but there are not any public restrooms nearby. People with emergencies are have to do their business in the public.