‘You basically have to be running whenever you are not inside the van’: Former Amazon driver shares why he quit after 5 days

12.10.2022 22:23

The Daily Dot

A former Amazon delivery driver is sharing the story of why he quit the job after only five days on TikTok.

The driver, named Jacob (@moneyhoopla) posted a video detailing his experience by stitching another TikToker (@707mitchell) who went viral after sharing why he quit his four-year job at Amazon.

In his video, Jacob shares that he worked as an Amazon delivery driver in 2021 for five days. He says it's a "miracle" that user @707mitchell lasted at Amazon as long as he did because the company is "straight-up horrific."

Jacob explains that Amazon doesn't have its own delivery drivers—instead they work with delivery service partners, independent companies that deliver Amazon's packages for them. He claims that Amazon partners with the companies so that they won't be liable if a driver gets injured or even dies while on the job.

The TikToker says Amazon attracts new workers by offering good pay and benefits. Where he works in Nebraska, Jacob was offered $16 per hour, which he says was "actually pretty generous" in 2021. He says he was told that even if he finished his shift early, he'd still get paid for his full 10-hour shift.

But he says that offer was a "trap" because drivers who finish their work early are "almost always" sent to rescue other drivers who aren't working as quickly and take some of their packages to deliver.

@moneyhoopla #capcut #9to5 #amazondeliverydriver #amazonworker #amazon #jeffbezos #osha #fyp ♬ original sound - Jacob

Jacob says he was given only one full day of training with a trainer, then three days by himself with fewer packages than an experienced driver. On the fifth day, he says he was given a normal delivery route with the usual amount of packages.

"And that is when shit gets crazy," the TikToker says in his video. "During the training days, I had around 150 stops. On the fifth day, I had 300-plus stops. At this point, you basically have to be running whenever you are not inside the van. Imagine running from the bottom of your driveway to the front door and back around 300 times a day. It is horrible on your body."

In addition, many of those 300 stops aren't houses, Jacob says. A lot of them are apartments, which entails running up and down stairs and down hallways looking for the right apartments.

"Basically, I think every Amazon warehouse and delivery station needs to be unionized ASAP," Jacob says at the end of his video.

Viewers largely sympathized with Jacob's "horrible" experience at Amazon and said the company expected too much of its drivers.

"150 STOPS?!?! JEEEZZZZ!!!! I do 25-40 for Flex, and that takes a toll on my body," one viewer commented.

"There needs to be laws against this so big companies like Amazon don’t get away with this," a second viewer commented.

A third wrote, "for real flex is stressful here in LA at 45packages I cant imagine 350."

One viewer wasn't fazed by Jacob's story, though. "Talk about playing a victim. Jesus y’all never had to work hard in y’all lives and it shows," they commented.

But other Amazon drivers included their own experiences in comments on the video.

"Yeah I worked there too and it was terrible," one user said.

Another viewer wrote, "I currently work in an Amazon warehouse. I don’t mind physical work but the fact that we only get two 30 min breaks to rest is starting to get old."

The Daily Dot reached out to Jacob via TikTok comment and to Amazon via email.

The post ‘You basically have to be running whenever you are not inside the van’: Former Amazon driver shares why he quit after 5 days appeared first on The Daily Dot.