So here's a great story of how tech perpetuates injustice. And the whacky things workers have to do to stay alive in the time of @amazon [thread]

We get a lot of stuff through Amazon subscribe and save because @rocza doesn't drive, we live in a food desert, and I've got only got 24 hours in a day and higher ed isn't exactly a time-free occupation.

(Also, in our neighbourhood, it's Amazon, Whole Foods (Amazon), or Walmart. Not a huge range of good extra options. That's another story of America, for another night.)

So tonight I get a bloop on my phone that there's a package arrived. After hours the front office to our building is locked so it's Amazon lockers or just… leaving it around. And stuff can, and does get stolen from our building. So I head down to get it.

Nothing there. Give it a good while for the lockers to issue a code, etc. Nothing. Come back upstairs to figure out tracking and call @AmazonHelp to talk to someone (who is perfectly nice—and as a former call center worker, I don't scream at workers).

Turns out, if a driver for @amazon Logistics can't make a delivery, they'll scan early & leave it in the truck. Why would that be, I ask? I ask a couple of people on the phone, and the picture is painted in parts, but if you know the story of Amazon shipping centers you'll guess.

It's because they get pinged for failed deliveries! And so if you fail a delivery that's on the driver, as opposed to the *snow outside and corresponding terrible driving conditions*. So either you drive like I ride (as my shoulder attests) or you stay safe and get disciplined.

Wonderful form of management totally consistent with Amazon. Make failure untenable; workers find workarounds; inconvenience of tracking it all down falls to the customer. When all you'd need to do is not penalize drivers for refusing to dump packages in unsecured areas.

But then you wouldn't be able to squeeze people, and Bezos wouldn't make a gagillion extra dollars in a pandemic. Capitalism at its best/worst.