Amazon Told Drivers Not to Worry About In-Van Surveillance Cameras. Now Footage Is Leaking Online::undefined

141 points

It’s astounding how much money they will spend to not pay and treat their employees fairly.

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26 points

Now, NOT DEFENDING AMAZONS BEHAVIOR OR THEIR DATA HANDLING PRACTICES.

However I do work for a company that has in vehicle cameras and DEAR GOD does it cut down on incidents. We kept having issues with drivers just doing dumb little things to try and save time. like knocking the shifter into neutral and pulling on the handbrake instead of pressing the button on the shifter and moving it into park. Just to be clear, the company has a really lax time/delivery expectation. If you work at a safe, reasonable pace and dont fuck up nobody gets upset with you. But senior management did the math that each driver had to drag out an extra 2 hours a day for it to cost us more than what we spent on compo/vehicle repairs the year before. Once the van had a camera, we saw a 70% reduction in incidents in the following 12 months.

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15 points
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You’re downvoted, but honestly, I understand what you’re saying.

My friends all think it’s fine to text and drive, even in their employers vehicles. If there was a camera, guaranteed they’d stop texting and driving and become way safer.

People don’t like it, obviously. I’d hate being watched. But there’s no doubt it cuts down on accidents.

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6 points

Yeah thats all I’m saying, that even IF your only goal is to improve safety they absolutely work. If you’re also looking to micromanage, slavedrive and violate your staffs privacy you can use them for that too, but thats on you not to be evil.

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13 points

Yeah, I work at a company that makes these kinds of cameras. Drivers hate them, but it really does enforce safe driving habits. This makes the roads a safer place, like it or not.

Brings insurance down a lottt too.

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6 points

Someone I know is a dispatcher for a company that delivers for Amazon. He says that the management there piles on the deliveries in a way that he doesn’t think it’s possible for any of their drivers to do the full thing in the time allotted. Every day drivers come in 30-90 minutes late not being paid overtime, and he also has to stay because he has to stay until the last van is back.

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5 points

Curious.

What are the incentives for the drivers to pull this time saving maneuver rather than doing it the right way?

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3 points

No fucking idea, we’re all paid hourly. Some people like to flex on the others “I did 200 in 6 hours” and some really dont want to do overtime. Some also want to smash through their work and go grab a coffee and play with their phone for 2 hours.

I can jump on anyones route, go do their workload slowly and methodically and get back within an hour of clock off. You have to properly take the piss to get dragged into the bosses office.

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22 points

That’s true, but Amazon pays above the national average, which itself desperately needs to rise.

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35 points

This is a stronger indictment of the national work landscape than a boon for Amazon, who has a over 100% turnover rate…

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6 points

how can you have a turnover rate over 100%?

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6 points

Again, I agree.

I’m not an executive, if I could raise the national average for all of us believe me I would.

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6 points

Amazon pays pretty decently but it’s just god awful work. I worked in a warehouse briefly and made more than I had anywhere else entry level, but sorting boxes for 9 hours straight on night shifts isn’t worth it

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4 points

Above the national average of what?

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2 points

For that job, obviously

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2 points

The nation

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2 points

The average reported salary for delivery drivers.

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1 point

Shit

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6 points
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Ribbit

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128 points
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Removed by mod
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58 points

Amazon insisted that the program was about safety only, and that workers shouldn’t be worried about their privacy: “Don’t believe the self-interested critics who claim these cameras are intended for anything other than safety,”

Someone needs to punch this spokesperson in the face. It’s one thing to lie, but lying in such a smug, smarmy way to paint critics as overreacting and ignorant makes it so much more infuriating.

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8 points

You know spokespeople don’t come up with what needs to be communicated? They just word the announcement. Someone tells them what to say and they just write it.

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20 points

Yeah yeah. More outsourcing so nobody can be held responsible for anything. What do you think the purpose of a spokesperson is? They speak for the company.

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7 points
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Removed by mod
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64 points

I’m sorry, who’s surprised the company notorious for tracking employee bathroom breaks is actively monitoring their employees?

Amazon is the absolute scum of the earth when it comes to how they demand and expect productivity from their workers. Being harassed because you took 10 minutes to shit in a 10 hour shift that wasn’t your break or lunch is an every day occurrence.

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47 points

It’s odd, the words “employee” and “employees” gets used here pretty often, but Amazon itself goes through a lot of effort to have people as contractors. I know, employees of the contractor…but still. These gig jobs are just a great way to shift liability and evade responsibility by the company itself. “We tell you exactly what, where, and how you do everything you do…but you’re not one of us”

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16 points

Shocking /s

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