Wildfires are some of the most dangerous calamities in the world. A wildfire is any unplanned or uncontrolled fire that happens within a forest, otherwise industrial or residential landscapes. While they’re not a major cause of death, they could be very destructive.
Did you know that the deadliest wildfire in the USA was the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin on October 8th, 1871, resulting in an estimated 1,152 deaths?
In this time where food deliveries are rampant, cars could just go on along roads, but with a wildfire on the horizon, will they even continue moving?
For Amazon, the deliveries must go on.
The company was recently lambasted over insisting that their driver deliver the customer’s order despite a wildfire along the way.
Ridesharing media shared the story of Johnny, an Amazon delivery driver using his small cargo van, plying through the wooded hills of Big Bear Lake in the rural outskirts of San Bernardino, California. California is infamous for frequent wildfires. His route is dangerously nearby the maw of a raging wildfire.
“Assessing his itinerary on the Amazon Flex app as smoke billowed around him, Johnny realized that his entire delivery route was ablaze. He radioed in to dispatch about the obvious dilemma, assuming they’d call him back to the warehouse,” ridesharing correspondents reported.
So yes, he couldn’t just stake his life only to deliver Amazon packages.
However, Amazon instructed him to… proceed. Like, seriously?!
“‘Amazon said, ‘I know it’s not safe, deliver what you can,’” the driver told Ridesharing Forum. “‘But [Amazon] still sent us to an active fire to deliver.’”
Perhaps, Amazon’s defense is that it has benefits for workers in case of times like this. But, are they enough?
Currently, it lays down various benefits for its workers, including offering “medical, dental, and vision coverage to all regular full-time employees, regardless of their level, tenure, or position.”
“Along with average hourly pay of over $23 for customer fulfillment and transportation, and pharmacy roles, Amazon offers a range of benefits that support employees and eligible family members, including domestic partners and their children. For many employees, the majority of these comprehensive benefits begin on day one and include health care coverage, paid parental leave, ways to save for the future, pre-paid college tuition, and other resources to improve health and well-being,” Amazon pointed out on its official website.
Nevertheless, these policies themselves are subject to a lengthy investigation investigation by the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), a research group led by former Google ethicist Timnit Gebru.
Right now, Amazon relies heavily on human labor, but this isn’t what experts want.
“Amazon is more interested in treating workers like automata rather than human beings,” a DAIR representative, Alex Hanna, noted. “Amazon would get rid of drivers altogether if they could.”
As to the fate of Amazon driver Johnny, he reportedly was eventually fired after this dilemma.