Amazon has been sued by the District of Columbia for offering slower supply service to prospects in two low-income neighborhoods — together with buyers who pay $139 a yr for Prime memberships.
Prospects in zip codes 20019 and 20020 pay the stiff Prime membership payment for supply service that ordinarily takes 1 to 2 days.
However for the previous two years, most of their Amazon Prime packages have taken as much as every week to reach, in accordance with the criticism.
That’s as a result of the Seattle-based e-commerce big made a strategic resolution in 2022 to yank its Prime supply vans from these zip codes, in accordance with the swimsuit filed Wednesday filed by the legal professional common for the District of Columbia
As an alternative, Amazon — in what the corporate dubs internally as a “delivery exclusion” — depends totally on slower, third-party supply providers in these neighborhoods – together with UPS and the US Postal Service, in accordance with the swimsuit.
In 2021, earlier than Amazon’s “exclusion” coverage, greater than 72% of Prime packages have been delivered inside two days within the zip codes. However final yr, it was solely 24%, in accordance with the criticism.
“Why are my Prime deliveries taking up to seven days when I use 20020 for the address. when I use 21403 for the address delivery is 2 days,” one offended buyer wrote to Amazon, in accordance with the criticism.
Amazon didn’t dispute that its packages take longer to reach in these neighborhoods, however stated it modified its coverage after crime spiked in these areas, together with carjacking, car theft, armed theft, assault and gun violence.
“In the ZIP codes in question, there have been specific and targeted acts against drivers delivering Amazon packages,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel stated in a press release. “We made the deliberate choice to adjust our operations, including delivery routes and times, for the sole reason of protecting the safety of drivers.”
“The claims made by the Attorney General, that our business practices are somehow discriminatory or deceptive, are categorically false. We want to be able to deliver as fast as we possibly can to every ZIP code across the country, however, at the same time we must put the safety of delivery drivers first,” Nantel added.
Most of the prospects in these “excluded” zip codes depend on Amazon Prime for primary requirements together with groceries and baby care wants, the AG criticism alleges.
Different fed-up prospects accused Amazon of discrimination: “So it has nothing to do with the racial/socioeconomic divide that just so happens to coincide with your delivery divide.”
The median earnings in these neighborhoods is $48,106.
“Amazon is charging tens of thousands of hard-working Ward 7 and 8 residents for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide. While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one ZIP code is worth less than a dollar in another,” Lawyer Common Brian Schwalb stated in a press release.
Schwalb additionally calls out Amazon for “doubling down on its deception” and blaming slower deliveries on “other circumstances” when its prospects complained.
In a press release, Nantel stated Amazon is “always transparent” throughout the checkout course of on when packages will arrive.
