"In August of 2022, just after Prime Day, Leah Cross started working as an Amazon delivery driver in Colorado. She took the job because she had long heard that it was a decent and paid well. She thought it would be a way to get her foot in with a reputable company that offered good benefits. But in the end, "It was kind of the complete opposite of my experience there," she said."
"What Cross found soon after starting was "shocking," she said. The company gave her quotas so high that she was making over 200 stops a day; each stop could include delivering to a dozen homes. She was closely monitored by video cameras, and if she started to lag behind the company's targets, a supervisor would call her. She was working 10-to-12-hour days, but the quotas meant that she didn't have any time for necessary breaks."
"The inability to take bathroom breaks became a particular problem. If she stopped at a bathroom along her route, she would receive calls from supervisors asking where she had gone and if she was lost. Higher-ups told her that in order to meet the company's quotas, she would have to buy "devices," she recalled-she ended up getting a funnel that facilitated urinating into a water bottle."
An enforcement agency stopped pursuing disparate-impact claims, removing a regulatory check on employer practices. A Colorado Amazon delivery driver, Leah Cross, experienced extreme operational demands: quotas exceeding 200 stops per day, constant video surveillance, and supervisors calling when performance lagged. The demands produced 10–12-hour shifts with no time for necessary breaks. Disciplinary calls followed brief stops for menstrual products. Management suggested buying 'devices' to keep pace; Cross used a funnel and urinated into bottles while avoiding cameras. She carried supplies to store and dispose of urine. These practices produced unsafe, degrading conditions for drivers.
Read at The Nation
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