What's Up With Amazon Prime Movers

Interesting. I heard something similar from one of our drivers.

Based on a 65 MPH average? That right there is a red flag. Unless you hit the road with 400-600 miles of driving ahead of you in a truck that can do 70 MPH or more, on a route like I80, it will be highly improbable to average 65 MPH, wouldn't it?

It's because Amazon sets unrealistic delivery windows and penalizes them for being late. A guy that used to work here drove for one of their contractors, he said Amazon calculates the minimum run time with zero delay and being able to maintain like 65mph average. According to him and what I've seen online they will load you late then penalize you if you don't make delivery on time.

Plus they don't pay great either from what I hear, so they do not attract the best contractors. OD was supposed to do business with them but couldn't come to terms on a rate. According my terminals sales people what Amazon expects to pay is " laughably low" and " not sure how anyone can make money".

I haven't seen that story. I'll have to check it out.

Yep. ON I80 near Davenport, you can practically feel their headwind from 100 yards away before they ever get alongside you.

Wall Street journal had a story about a month ago that talked about Amazon contractors. At the time I read it free but just tried to pull it up again and you need a subscription for it. Other websites gave the basics if you search for it though including a driver that was pulled over and had their crack pipe fall out in feint of the officer. Amazon uses 50,000 different trucking companies and about 1300 of them have an unsatisfactory rating with the DOT. I've definitely seen Amazon contractors do a ton of really unsafe stuff but it makes me wonder if it's similiar to what we say about swift. With the amount of drivers on the road pulling their trailer you're bound to see stupid unsafe behavior. I've heard the same things Bobcat mentioned about Amazon demanding too much that possibly increases unsafe behavior. Most trucks I see pulling their freight have definitely seen better days. Oddly enough, last winter I didn't see as many Amazon in the ditch as previous years. Also for some reason I35 down to KC Amazon is usually doing 55 to 60 mph (overnight hours). I80 on the other hand out to Davenport they'll fly by me like I'm standing still even tho I'm doing 70.

It's all about space, isn't it? I never try to take space I don't need and I always make it when someone else needs it, even if I don't think they deserve it.

I had FedEx Ground drivers pulling doubles at night pass me on left and cut me off in right lane with very little if any safe distance.

This happened 3 times. I always backed off my speed 2-3 mph to let them pass quicker and they still cut me off.

I had to brake one time because the driver was moving into my lane before he had fully passed me.

When I do resume driving I’ll be extra vigilant for these guys giving them plenty of space.

Well, I know in a car, passing on the shoulder is what? a $1,000 ticket. So a big rig should be at least $5,000 ! The potential loss of life for anyone broke down on the shoulder is very likely......... SMH

Not even four wheelers make such stupid moves.

It's because Amazon sets unrealistic delivery windows and penalizes them for being late. A guy that used to work here drove for one of their contractors, he said Amazon calculates the minimum run time with zero delay and being able to maintain like 65mph average. According to him and what I've seen online they will load you late then penalize you if you don't make delivery on time.

I'm neither smart nor a lawyer, but I'm sure Amazon has people who are both. I'd like one of their smart lawyers to explain how this doesn't open them to a world of liability. If someone gets killed by an Amazon contractor driving like a lunatic, and it comes out at trial that Amazon effectively penalizes them for being safe, Jeff Bezos better get out his checkbook.

I'm neither smart nor a lawyer, but I'm sure Amazon has people who are both. I'd like one of their smart lawyers to explain how this doesn't open them to a world of liability. If someone gets killed by an Amazon contractor driving like a lunatic, and it comes out at trial that Amazon effectively penalizes them for being safe, Jeff Bezos better get out his checkbook.

If they were liable we'd have already heard about it. The article I mentioned also said since 2015 contractors pulling Amazon trailers have been involved in 75 fatal accidents. Who knows what percentage was their fault, or how that compares to other carriers. You could make an argument that by accepting that load you're agreeing to the delivery time. If enough drivers refuse to haul their freight they'd have no choice but to reevaluate the way they do things.

A "friend" signed up for one of those online mock jury trials where you review a real case before it goes to trial to help whichever side is hosting it know what a mock jury finds helpful or needs more evidence of to get the outcome they desire. Without giving out too much info due to terms and conditions of the site, the lawsuit was around a trucking company that was contracted to haul food products by an extremely large and powerful Corporation being the cause of a fatal accident. The plaintiff was seeking several millions of dollars because the contractor was hauling their freight. My friend failed to see how the major Corp was responsible. It'd be like Walmart being on the hook for something a Swift driver did while pulling their trailer. I've not seen what an actual outcome was to the mock trial I mentioned. Easy $50 for 20 minutes of my friends time.

2 days, 17 hours ago I've noticed an alarming trend on the road. I've seen it in videos. This week, I witnessed it while driving.

Drivers hauling Amazon Prime trailers are using the shoulder of the highway to pass other drivers. It's a disturbing trend and terrifying to witness first-hand.

Last Monday while driving the speed limit on route 90W in the Cleveland, Ohio area, a driver used the shoulder to pass me on the right. Not five minutes later another driver passed using the left shoulder to get around the already speeding 4-wheelers in the fast lane. Dust and debris were flying everywhere, cars were swerving and jamming on the brakes as they scrambled for their lives and to make room for the driver to get by them.

How and why in the world are they doing and getting away with this?

Tom's been seeing this and mentioning ... for quite awhile. Here's a 'backdoor' way to that article:

Amazon Hires Unsafe Trucking Firms; Per the WSJ.

It's a free tech publication, so no worries! (I'm a Geek in my spare time; yet I'll never catch up w/some of y'all !)

Maybe that's why Amazon is having many of their call center folks go to 'remote' working from home, to save money on real estate, to put towards their insurance/lawsuits(!?!)

Be safe, y'all . . . "As You Were..."

~ Anne ~

Delivery driver, used to drive a van. Amazon vans drive and park on the wrong side of he road horrifyingly often, drive reckless, no signals, speeding, ignore stop signs… have NEVER seen a cop behind them.

Cops use a lot of surveillance and data mining technology made/produced by Amazon. Same with ICE. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some backroom deal going on that makes Amazon drivers off limits to cops.

Cops use a lot of surveillance and data mining technology made/produced by Amazon. Same with ICE. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some backroom deal going on that makes Amazon drivers off limits to cops.

Yeah, I'm sure you're on to something legitimate with your erratic thought process. Do you have any proof to back up your statements?

I didn't think so.