Amazon’s Prime Day sale has ended but many delivery drivers are still working extended hours to deliver packages. Before its major annual sale, the internet giant gave drivers tips to “keep in top shape,” and assured them that “endorphins are your friend.”
Motherboard reports that although Amazon’s signature Prime Day sales event has finished, many of the orders placed during the sale are still being delivered. In the UK, Amazon gave delivery drivers a set of five tips for “keeping in top shape” while delivering Prime Day purchases.
The tips included eat breakfast, drink water, take breaks, stay positive, and stop for lunch. However, for many Amazon drivers, these tips are simply not possible. Amazon drivers face extreme pressure from their employers, known as Amazon Delivery Partners, who are in turn paid and evaluated by Amazon.
Essentially, they have to finish their delivery routes as quickly as possible and are often under pressure to break safety rules, traffic laws, and skip legally mandated breaks to hit delivery targets.
“Keep it positive: Endorphins are your friend! Keep them flowing by staying on the move, and striking up a conversation,” one of the driver tips states.
On Facebook forums where Amazon drivers regularly discuss their workdays, drivers joked about Amazon’s tips. “Take your lunch and breaks. Sure, if you want [your dispatcher] on your ass saying you’re 20 or so stops behind,” one Amazon delivery driver in Los Angeles wrote.
An Amazon delivery driver in London who received the flyer told Motherboard: “I don’t take a break. I eat and drink as I go, as I like to get back to see my kids before they go to bed.”
An Amazon delivery driver in Virginia told Motherboard: “As for striking up conversations, sometimes customers wanna chat, but we always kinda respond like, ‘Haha that’s great—anyway we gotta go.'”
An Amazon delivery driver in North Carolina who quit earlier this year told Motherboard: “I got a lot of routes in the mountains, so I opened a black trash bag in the back of the van and peed over that. I’m dehydrated and exhausted, and that’s led to my resignation. People are killing their bodies to keep up with the demand, and it has to stop.”
Read more at Motherboard here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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