Aaron Ringgenberg

Something currently missing from the debate around the @NYCMayor & @tiffany_caban's Delivery Protection Act is that it isn't just good or nice for workers. It breaks two specific, deliberate choices that Amazon has made that makes last mile delivery wildly dangerous. 1) First, people need to understand just how dangerous driving for Amazon is. The national average injury rate is 2.4 per 100 workers; Amazon last-mile facilities are looking at an injury rate of 8.3 for their employees; the "subcontractor" drivers who wear Amazon vests and drive Amazon vans with directions from an Amazon app and deliver packages in Amazon boxes had an injury rate of 9.2 in 2023/2024. (See the 2025 NYC Comptroller's report from @bradlander: comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/…) 2) Why is it that dangerous? Is it because Amazon is cruel or indifferent to its workers? Maybe that's part of it. But the deeper problem, I think, is two choices. First, like many other employers, they decided to fissure their workplace, and pretend that their driving workforce does not work for them, but rather smaller companies called Delivery Service Providers, or DSPs. To be clear, those DSPs effectively can *only* work for Amazon; they hire, fire, and pay people at Amazon's direction -- the control is such that New Jersey AG Davenport alleged in a recent lawsuit that Amazon has effectively created a captive workforce. 3) The other choice that Amazon makes is to embrace employee churn. They're *not* trying to retain drivers, to help them gain experience -- unlike their competitor UPS. No, they apply the same principle that they apply in warehouses, which is to drive workers as fast as humanly possible. Look at their pay scale, pasted below from a recent Harvard study (Schneider & Weil et al, 2025). Compare it to that of UPS or FedEx. More seniority does NOT equal more pay at Amazon. The message couldn't be clearer: We'll push you as fast as we want, even if it is dangerous and hurts you. If you want to leave, be our guest. 4) End result? Just 2% of UPS drivers have less than a year of experience. Meanwhile, 46% of Amazon workers have not hit 365 days on the job. (Red circles below.) 5) This is where Amazon's choices hit a simple fact of workplace accidents. Across industries, including driving, the newest workers have the highest injury rates. The authors of the Harvard study put it this way: "Amazon workers can’t get off the bottom rung, because that’s effectively where the ladder ends" -- and that is universally acknowledged as the most dangerous rung. (For more on the impact of driving tenure & accidents, see: vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/server…) 6) ...and Amazon has no incentive to fix this. This is where the Delivery Protection Act comes in. It forces Amazon to be responsible for its last-mile drivers, and it forces them to train those drivers. That's how it makes things safer for drivers and NYC pedestrians alike. Amazon is opposing it tooth and nail because it knows that if this passes, similar legislation will pass in Chicago and elsewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if, when it passes, Amazon makes an example of New York by performatively punishing New York customers. But make no mistake -- this is a problem of Amazon's deliberate creation. And it is time to fix it.