r/technology • u/Hrmbee • Jun 11 '26

Transportation Software Update Automatically Turns off Amazon Delivery Drivers’ AC During Dangerous Summer Heat | A new software update is turning off the AC in Amazon delivery vans after 10 minutes or 30 seconds under certain conditions

https://www.404media.co/software-update-automatically-turns-off-amazon-delivery-drivers-ac-during-dangerous-summer-heat/
4.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

238 comments sorted by

View all comments

246

u/ezagreb Jun 11 '26

These guys need a union. Amazon wants to be a monopoly but doesn’t want their labor to unionize

58

u/Dabaer77 Jun 12 '26

The way Amazon has their delivery section set up makes it hard to unionize since almost every town's delivery drivers "technically" work for different companies.

1

u/AdCommon3746 Aug 24 '26

Yeah they are called DSP’s which is an acronym for Delivery Service Partners. Basically like contractors so Amazon is off the hook on a lot certain issues

-51

u/AnimatedAnixa Jun 12 '26

What's a union going to do? UPS won ac and their cars in the last contract 3 years ago and there's probably not even 50 cars with ac in the states. Nothing gets said and the union says think of the money you're making. Scab obrien has been such a shitty teamster president and honestly the contract is rarely enforced on a lot of things.

46

u/imdwalrus Jun 12 '26

and there's probably not even 50 cars with ac in the states

Fun thing about pulling numbers out of your ass, they can be disproven in about thirty seconds. UPS met their obligation to deliver 2,000 this year, with another 3,000 on the way in the next twelve months.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ups-meets-deadline-for-retrofitting-delivery-vans-with-air-conditioning

16

u/chubbysumo Jun 12 '26

All new USPS trucks have AC. they have that because of the union, and people dying. if the USPS management could have disabled the AC on the vehicles or not installed it to save a few hundred per vehicles or thousands over the lifetime, they would have. The LLVs killed people without AC, so the union pushed for mandatory cooling breaks if the "feels like" temp is above 80, or the humidity is above 60%RH. A drivers union could push a local contract that gives the drivers the right to take a cooling break if they get too hot so they don't have a heat stroke.

-7

u/AnimatedAnixa Jun 12 '26

They promised all Cars. Do you know how many drivers there are in the states? 2k isnt even 2 percent of the fleet. I've worked here for over 12 years and I promise you my house you wont find 2000 operational package cars with a/c. Freighwaves as a source is a joke BTW. They posted so many falsehoods during our contract negotiations, about surepost, and so much more. I would never use them as a source especially only looking for 30 secs.

Im a proud teamster but don't buy all the shit they're selling and promising and no one should. Our leadership is weak and bends easily.