Amazon acknowledges issue of drivers urinating in bottles in apology to Rep. Pocan

[turbinetree]

Source: Reuters

REBOOT-LIVE
APRIL 3, 2021 9:16 AM UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

By Reuters Staff 2 MIN READ

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has apologized to U.S. Representative Mark Pocan, admitting to scoring an “own goal” in its initial denial of his suggestion that its drivers were sometimes forced to urinate in bottles during their delivery rounds.

"We know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been especially the case during Covid when many public restrooms have been closed," the company said in a blog post bit.ly/2PnoLKr.

Its admission came a week after the Democrat criticised Amazon’s working conditions, saying in a tweet: “Paying workers $15/hr doesn’t make you a ‘progressive workplace’ when you union-bust & make workers urinate in water bottles.”

Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by David Holmes





Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-workers-pocan/amazon-acknowledges-issue-of-drivers-urinating-in-bottles-in-apology-to-rep-pocan-idUSKBN2BQ0DC?il=0

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Apologized not accepted Amazon.............

[bucolic_frolic]

1. How could they have thought denial would be accepted for something so obviously true?

[PatrickforB]

2. And it isn't just drivers, either. Those warehouse workers - heck, those places

are so big, they can't even make it to the bathroom and back during their scheduled breaks.

[2naSalit]

3. So I'm sure that each delivery vehicle will now...

Be equipped with a funnel attached to a hose that leads outside to the ground for them to piss in.

[Budi]

4. Now do the rest of the Delivery Services.

What do all major corp delivery drivers do when nature calls?
USPS, UPS, FedEx etc.
They all push on-time deliveries, they all are competitive, & compete for business using the same promise in their advertising.

For comparison, just wondering what the others do? And is this issue across the board in a competitive corporate world?

That would be an interesting study!

[BComplex]

11. Because businesses refuse to hire enough people to make the work place a nice place to work.

They make sure every human being is pushed to the place of maximum burnout, all for an extra few bucks.

[Budi]

22. I didn't ask why, I asked what the other Corp Delivery Svcs do.

They all compete for the same users. It's business.

Keep digging. Out the rest of Amazon's Corp competitors.

When a driver is on a tight schedule & has to pee, it doesn't matter how much he gets paid or how many drivers are in the road..

What's the research on the other competitors say?

[Thunderbeast]

5. Finding restrooms is a problem for many drivers.

There is a construction project across the street from me with a porta-john on the curb. Three different USPS mail carriers make the trip daily to use it. They seem to track where construction sites keep the toilets unlocked.

What is wrong with western civilization? We can land an SUV on Mars within an eyelash of it's target, but can't figure out how to provide a place for people to pee!

[NH Ethylene]

6. How do women cope with urinating in bottles?

I tried it on a camping trip recently and wound up throwing away the device in disgust. (I concede I am not a particularly agile person, so maybe others have better luck). Does this mean women can't work these jobs?

[BComplex]

12. It's just another form of sexism. They don't care.

Women, because of our honored place on the human scale, are built differently. And for that, we get paid less, and in a capitalistic society, the measure of everything and everyone's value is based on how much $$ you can generate.

[George II]

7. Bu the point is drivers aren't urinating in bottles because they don't get bathroom breaks, which...

....was the claim of those bashing Amazon.

When in college my father got me a summer job making pickups and deliveries on Long Island for a company he worked for. He was middle management. I brought a jar with me because sometimes I couldn't wait to find a gas station with a working rest room.

Long haul truckers, INDEPENDENT truckers working for themselves do the same thing.

[NurseJackie]

10. So, in reality the DO get bathroom breaks. Right?

It's just that there isn't easy availability of public restrooms.

So why are people angry at Amazon for something that's not Amazon's fault?

[George II]

16. Yes. The stories of supervisors standing over them and refusing them breaks are either exaggerated..

...or even worse, false.

[The Jungle 1]

21. Because Amazon denied it's workers were doing it.

Of course they knew.

[DENVERPOPS]

15. The other part of this peeing in bottles

is that they try to make less times they have to pee in bottles, so they don't drink fluids and they become dehydrated.

[aocommunalpunch]

8. Whatever, bloodsuckers.

Been Amazon-free for two years now. Crazy addiction to break, but fuck those guys.

[CountAllVotes]

9. Good for you!

I do my best to avoid amaCon.com.

They really suck ... well we knew this already didn't we!

UNION YES.

[mackdaddy]

13. I am not sure I could ever work for the companies that have continuous monitoring.

So many of these jobs now have micro monitoring of every move you make.

How many boxes you pull orders and pack per minute, how long you go to the bathroom, or delivery drivers every delivery is logged and flagged if it took you too long.

And you get some sort of punishment for the delays even if it was out of your control. And what happens if you have an off day.

Screw that robot overlord crap.

[George II]

17. But those that presumably are urinating in bottles are drivers, not continuously monitored.

[mackdaddy]

25. Yes they are.

Their vehicles all have gps transmitter on or in them.

Every delivery is scanned in, and logged for location and time.

Ever notice why the UPS driver always acts like they are always hyper. It is if they spend too long at a customers location they get some sort of strike, or loose some kind of bonus which can ultimately be the same thing.

Everything is always quicker, faster with these corporations. Amazon is even more computer centered so it may be worse.

[HalfSleeves81]

14. Issue isn't an Amazon exclusive issue.

I had to do this years ago way before Amazon was around so not really something they created or is exclusive to them.

[appleannie1]

18. Why deny it. I have had trouble finding an open restroom between my house and PGH for an appt.

I can certainly commiserate with the drivers. I just wish I could have used a bottle.

[ornotna]

19. This is not a new thing

people on the road and under certain working situations have been dealing with this for years. There are solutions for when no restroom is available.

https://www.google.com/search?q=travel+urinal&newwindow=1&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ALeKk02kU0HYxe6GCVVWC1bnUBk-PCFgtA:1617469424936&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjgoiUx-LvAhX9SjABHVWSDK8Q_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1920&bih=1058

[Joinfortmill]

20. We need strong unions

[ripcord]

23. The Teamsters are a strong union

But truck drivers have been peeing in bottles for decades.

[jmowreader]

24. I think every long-haul trucker has a piss bottle

I know I had one when I drove.

Consider: you’re somewhere between Atlanta and Dallas with a load of car tires. You’re doing the hydration thing like you should, and you need to pee. If there’s a rest stop close by, you whip in there, go to the bathroom and get out on the road. No big problem; you’re dispatched at a lower speed than your truck will go so you have a little leeway for bathroom breaks, traffic jams etc. But if you’re 100 miles from the next place with a toilet? A piss bottle is the only solution.

As to what women do...there are female urination devices. One brand is “Go Girl!” (Seriously.) It is a rubber or polyurethane cup that fits over the vulva and has a nozzle to fit in a bottle.

This isn’t an Amazon problem so much as it is the nature of over-the-road trucking.