D.C. is suing Amazon, saying the company secretly stopped providing its fastest delivery service to residents who live in two predominantly Black Washington neighborhoods but is still charging residents millions of dollars for a service that provides speedy deliveries.

The District of Columbia sued Amazon on Wednesday, alleging the company secretly stopped providing its fastest delivery service to residents of two predominantly Black neighborhoods while still charging millions of dollars for a membership that promises the benefit.

The complaint filed in District of Columbia Superior Court revolves around Amazon’s Prime membership, which costs consumers $139 per year or $14.99 per month for fast deliveries — including one-day, two-day and same-day shipments — along with other enhancements.

In mid-2022, the lawsuit alleges, the Seattle-based online retailer imposed what it called a delivery “exclusion” on two low-income ZIP codes in the district — 20019 and 20020 — and began relying exclusively on third-party delivery services such as UPS and the U.S. Postal Service, rather than its own delivery systems.

  • carl_dungeon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    402·
    8 days ago

    Listen, fuck Amazon, and fuck racism, and I’m not doing a hail corporate here- but did they really stop delivering because residents were black? Or for other reasons? Because making something a race issue that is instead a liability or crime issue hurts everyone.

    • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      311·
      8 days ago

      Even if it is higher crime there it doesn’t seem fair that they pay for fast delivery but don’t get it. If you pay for prime you should get 2 day shipping.

      From the article:

      The district says that in 2021, before Amazon implemented its delivery “exclusion,” more than 72% of Prime packages in the impacted ZIP codes were delivered within two days. But last year, it was only 24%, according to the complaint.

      Meanwhile, the district’s lawsuit says Prime members who lived in other parts of the city received two-day deliveries 75% of the time. Amazon was also improving its delivery speeds nationwide.

      When some customers in the city complained about the slower deliveries, Amazon concealed the true reason for the delays and “deceptively implied” that the delays “were simply due to natural fluctuations in shipping circumstances, rather than an affirmative decision by Amazon,” the lawsuit says.

      • carl_dungeon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        17·
        8 days ago

        Yeah that’s a good point- at minimum they should just stop offering prime there then. I’d be pretty pissed :/

        • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
          1·
          7 days ago

          Some of it has to do with facilities, but yeah it’s a removed. I put something in my cart and it says same day if I’m on Orlando, 6 days where I am in Tennessee, 2 days in Syracuse. Same paid service though no matter where you reside.

    • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
      11·
      8 days ago

      I’d guess at least half the time a company or politician says a problem with a city or neighborhood is its crime rate they’re talking about black people living there.

      The people of the US (and the majority of the world) are currently enjoying the lowest rates of violent crime in recorded history. Yep even in those scary cities.