D.C. is suing Amazon, saying the company secretly stopped providing its fastest delivery service to residents who live in two predominantly Black Washington neighborhoods but is still charging residents millions of dollars for a service that provides speedy deliveries.

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.

  • capital
    12•7 days ago

    And if they ignored the problem you’d be criticizing Amazon for failing to care for their employees (contractors).

    A private company isn’t well positioned to actually solve the root issue here. All they can do is remove their employees (contractors) from danger.

    Amazon’s shitty for other reasons. But I don’t think this is one of them.

    • Flying Squid
      4•7 days ago

      And if they ignored the problem you’d be criticizing Amazon for failing to care for their employees (contractors).

      You’re right. Because failing to take care of their employees and putting other people’s employees at risk in order to stop their employees from getting attacked are both reprehensible.

      Do USPS employees deserve to be attacked but Amazon employees don’t?

      If Dominos drivers kept getting attacked so Dominos just contracted out to Doordash to let them get attacked instead, I would hope you would think that neither situation was acceptable.

      • wanderingmagus
        6•7 days ago

        So is the solution then to be “Amazon withdraws all shipping services for <neighborhood>”? “Amazon sends armed PMCs to <neighborhood>, terrorizing locals”? What’s the solution?

        • Flying Squid
          2•7 days ago

          Why do I have to have a solution to find either solution, which puts someone in danger, unacceptable?

          Why is putting USPS employees in danger acceptable to you?

          • wanderingmagus
            1•6 days ago

            It’s not, I’m just trying to figure out what the path out of what appears to be a no-win scenario according to that standard. Just stop all deliveries altogether?