Many Latinos and immigrants live in low-income areas. Let’s put it this way, “it’s what it’s all about.” However, if it wasn’t enough to struggle every day to bring money and food into their home, they also have to face several acts of discrimination that affect them in other aspects of their lives. Something similar is happening with Amazon, a company that sued for failing to deliver on promise of fast deliveries to low-income neighborhoods.
According to a lawsuit filed in DC Superior Court, Amazon violated consumer protection laws by suspend its fastest delivery service in two historically lower-income neighborhoods. Additionally, the complaint alleges that Jeff Bezos’ company misled customers about why their packages were arriving later than advertised when they complained about their packages being delayed.
The problem with this situation lies in the fact that nearly 50,000 Prime members in these zip codes pay full price for their subscriptionwithout receiving one of the benefits of their membership.
According to the Amazon Prime subscription service policies, for a Prime membership of $139 per year or $14.99 per month, The online retail giant offers two-day shipping on millions of items, as well as next-day or same-day shipping for many other products. That was not true in at least two zip codes related to the lawsuit.
In June 2022, Amazon decided stop using its fleet of branded trucks to make Prime deliveries in the DC zip codes of 20019 and 20020. Instead, they would rely on third-party delivery services such as UPS and the US Postal Service to receive this alternative, the company was aware that deliveries would be significantly slower in those areas.
Amazon informed the Attorney General’s Office that the change came as a result of concerns about the safety of its executives, the Attorney General’s Office said. Although your security argument is valid, the company was legally obliged to inform customers of the change.
“Amazon is charging tens of thousands of hard-working residents of the 7th and 8th Wards for a fast delivery service it promises but fails to deliver. “While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot secretly decide that a dollar in one zip code is worth less than a dollar in another,” D.C. Attorney General Brian said in a press release. Schwalb. “We are suing to stop this fraudulent behavior. and make sure district residents get what they’re paying for.”
Among the arguments supporting the lawsuit, last year, Prime members in the city (Washington DC) received packages within two days of payment 75% of the time; instead, affected postcodes received their orders within two days in just 24% of cases.
Amazon dismissed it as “categorically false” claims that your business practices are discriminatory or deceptive.
“We want to be able to deliver as quickly as possible to every zip code in the country, however, at the same time we must prioritize the safety of delivery drivers,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement sent by email.
This spokesperson also assured that “in the postal codes in question There have been specific and selective acts against drivers of vehicles delivering Amazon packages. “We have made a deliberate decision to adjust our operations, including routes and delivery times, solely to protect driver safety.”
One of the company’s defense arguments is the fact that Amazon is clear with customers about expected delivery dates in your purchases.
“And we’re always transparent with customers during the checkout and checkout process about when, exactly, they can expect their orders to arrive.”the spokesperson assured.
The lawsuit does not represent the first time Amazon has been accused of providing a discriminatory service. A Bloomberg analysis in 2016 concluded that Amazon excluded predominantly black zip codes to varying degrees of same-day deliveries in six major cities. Amazon said at the time that the issue was not about race.
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