Do we have reason to think that the ecosystems involved in the plausible alternatives are better? Or is Amazon just a large target such that customer activism like this has a potential to make a big difference at Amazon itself, such that if they changed it would make sense to go back to them? Or both?
I think there's evidence Amazon cares a great deal (more than most retailers) about customer satisfaction. I think they know their success is due in large part to their fulfillment reliability and customer service both being so good. So I think they are likely to respond to customer activism more than, say, Walmart might.As to competitors, I do think retailers that use unionized courier companies or postal services for delivery are better in key respects. However, I think that as a society we need to pressure our governments to hold all employers to a higher standard. There are clearly powerful incentives for all companies to subcontract out manual labour to increase profit and avoid liability, and we can't rely on altruistic capitalism.
Based on the reports that have been published this year, I think Amazon is somewhat uniquely bad among online retailers now, and it is my belief that it has become ethically dubious to continue using and supporting Prime membership. The most extreme evidence that I've read — that resulted in the actual death of a person — is here: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolineodonovan/amazon-next-day-delivery-deaths.
In order to make Prime delivery windows reliable, Amazon put a lot of energy into building a massive subcontractor delivery network, and reports like this suggest the way they run that network comes at real expense to the people who operate it. They put extreme pressure on the contractors to meet aggressive and arguably dangerous delivery goals. They control every aspect of operations, down to the routes drivers take. They cease working with contractors whose employees threaten to unionize, but they do not punish contractors for shoddy labour practices. They refuse to accept any legal responsibility when things go wrong.The large courier companies and postal services are almost all unionized, and treat and pay their workers far better than the small subcontractors Amazon uses to make next-day and same-day delivery work reliably.
Other retailers, who have not built out the same kind of delivery network as Amazon, typically ship products using one of the conventional companies.On top of all that, there is an awful lot of evidence that Amazon warehouses are hellish places and not getting better. Amazon warehouse pay starts at $15/hour (above minimum wage in many places in the USA, which is good), but working conditions and termination practices seem very harsh.
Based on the reports that have been published this year, I think Amazon is somewhat uniquely bad among online retailers now, and it is my belief that it has become ethically dubious to continue using and supporting Prime membership. The most extreme evidence that I've read — that resulted in the actual death of a person — is here: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolineodonovan/amazon-next-day-delivery-deaths.
In order to make Prime delivery windows reliable, Amazon put a lot of energy into building a massive subcontractor delivery network, and reports like this suggest the way they run that network comes at real expense to the people who operate it. They put extreme pressure on the contractors to meet aggressive and arguably dangerous delivery goals. They control every aspect of operations, down to the routes drivers take. They cease working with contractors whose employees threaten to unionize, but they do not punish contractors for shoddy labour practices. They refuse to accept any legal responsibility when things go wrong.The large courier companies and postal services are almost all unionized, and treat and pay their workers far better than the small subcontractors Amazon uses to make next-day and same-day delivery work reliably.
Other retailers, who have not built out the same kind of delivery network as Amazon, typically ship products using one of the conventional companies.On top of all that, there is an awful lot of evidence that Amazon warehouses are hellish places and not getting better. Amazon warehouse pay starts at $15/hour (above minimum wage in many places in the USA, which is good), but working conditions and termination practices seem very harsh.
Today's Toronto Star article points out how in Ontario, the rate of worker injury in Amazon warehouses was at or below average up to 2016, but increased 50% and went above industry average since the launch of same-day delivery in 2017. https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2019/12/19/i-went-undercover-as-an-amazon-delivery-driver-heres-what-i-learned-about-the-hidden-costs-of-free-shipping.html