this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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The District of Columbia sued Amazon on Wednesday, alleging the company secretly stopped providing its fastest delivery service to residents of two predominantly Black neighborhoods while still charging millions of dollars for a membership that promises the benefit. 

The complaint filed in District of Columbia Superior Court revolves around Amazon’s Prime membership, which costs consumers $139 per year or $14.99 per month for fast deliveries — including one-day, two-day and same-day shipments — along with other enhancements

In mid-2022, the lawsuit alleges, the Seattle-based online retailer imposed what it called a delivery “exclusion” on two low-income ZIP codes in the district — 20019 and 20020 — and began relying exclusively on third-party delivery services such as UPS and the U.S. Postal Service, rather than its own delivery systems.

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[–] carl_dungeon 42 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Listen, fuck Amazon, and fuck racism, and I’m not doing a hail corporate here- but did they really stop delivering because residents were black? Or for other reasons? Because making something a race issue that is instead a liability or crime issue hurts everyone.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Even if it is higher crime there it doesn't seem fair that they pay for fast delivery but don't get it. If you pay for prime you should get 2 day shipping.

From the article:

The district says that in 2021, before Amazon implemented its delivery “exclusion,” more than 72% of Prime packages in the impacted ZIP codes were delivered within two days. But last year, it was only 24%, according to the complaint.

Meanwhile, the district’s lawsuit says Prime members who lived in other parts of the city received two-day deliveries 75% of the time. Amazon was also improving its delivery speeds nationwide.

When some customers in the city complained about the slower deliveries, Amazon concealed the true reason for the delays and “deceptively implied” that the delays “were simply due to natural fluctuations in shipping circumstances, rather than an affirmative decision by Amazon,” the lawsuit says.

[–] carl_dungeon 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah that’s a good point- at minimum they should just stop offering prime there then. I’d be pretty pissed :/

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice 1 points 1 week ago

Some of it has to do with facilities, but yeah it's a bitch. I put something in my cart and it says same day if I'm on Orlando, 6 days where I am in Tennessee, 2 days in Syracuse. Same paid service though no matter where you reside.

[–] MutilationWave 13 points 1 week ago

I'd guess at least half the time a company or politician says a problem with a city or neighborhood is its crime rate they're talking about black people living there.

The people of the US (and the majority of the world) are currently enjoying the lowest rates of violent crime in recorded history. Yep even in those scary cities.

[–] capital 36 points 1 week ago (26 children)

They had attacks on their drivers.

DC wants them to warn customers that that can’t get the full service depending on zip but imagine what the next headline reads. Probably something like: “Amazon’s racist policy disproportionately excludes black zip codes from Prime delivery service”.

Fucked if they do, fucked if they don’t.

[–] FooBarrington 43 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Did they refund the Prime subscription of these residents, or otherwise make up for unfulfilled promises?

They'd certainly be less fucked if they stopped stealing from their minority customers.

[–] capital 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

True. And they should.

Doesn’t change the next headline. “Amazon refuses to sell Prime delivery to black people”.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

If only there was something a multibillion dollar company could do to improve the situation... nothing?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That would be best, but you can have multiple addresses in your acct. So say, if you happily used your acct at other addresses, then input an address in a risky zone, what should they do? Fractionally discount you at the end of the year maybe for that purchase vs all other purchases? Offer you to cancel at a prorate?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago (4 children)

They mention targeted attacks against drivers in these zip codes. If it's really about race, why stop at those 2?

Not that they should hold out on their promise to subscribers but I don't buy the race angle

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yeah, to me this reads less like a specifically racist choice and more so a tangent of POC being left/forced to live in impoverished areas, the latter of which will go hand in hand with higher crime rates. I sympathize with the frustration to the decision, but I can't think of a good argument for forcing Amazon to put it's employees at risk.

[–] Arbiter 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The thing is they shouldn’t be selling prime subscriptions to people in those zip codes then, since they advertise the fast shipping as a reason to subscribe.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

I certainly agree with that - if the service can't be provided, they shouldn't be taking money for it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

There should definitely be a notification to people in those areas that rush delivery will not be available. There are other reasons to buy prime, so I don't think it should be completely unavailable, but residents should be able to make an informed decision.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

This is exactly it, and this is the point that is often missed in a great many discussions on modern racism and discrimination. Amazon is not refusing to deliver there because those people are black. They refusing to deliver because their drivers got attacked. The fact that those neighborhoods are mostly black has nothing to do with it. It is a correlation, not a causation. The root causes the same though, it was probably a red line neighborhood back in the mid-1900s and never recovered.

Amazon should make it clear to people buying prime in those areas though, that rush delivery will not be available and if they want to buy prime they will get all of the other benefits but not fast delivery.

[–] FlyingSquid 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why would slower deliveries stop targeted attacks?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I may have read it wrong but my understanding was Amazon pulled back their own drivers from those zipcodes and delegated their packages to other carriers

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, I didn't read and I should have.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Should've spent more time with my kid instead of the computer.

[–] FlyingSquid 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm sorry... are you saying I'm not parenting my child? Because I posted that yesterday in the morning. You know, when kids are doing school?

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[–] drunkpostdisaster 3 points 1 week ago

Amazon won't even deliver to my apartment. They just leave shit out in front of the building

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

for reference, the affected areas are most of the district on the other side of the anacostia; pretty much everything east of the green line on that side of the river.

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