Have you ever been so fed up with work that you wish that you could just abandon shop and leave? That’s exactly what this Michigan Amazon delivery driver did. Derrick Lancaster, 22, abandoned his Amazon Prime truck full of packages in the middle of the road with gas in the tank and keys in the ignition.
Lancaster posted a Tweet the same day. As of June 29, the Tweet had 25,100 retweets and 217,000 likes. It read: “I quit amazon f–k that driving s–t i left the van on 12 miles and Southfield y’all can have that b—h and its full of gas wit the keys in the IGNITION .”
The exhausted worker reported that he was working from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and making approximately 200-300 stops a day and earning just $15.50 per hour—$6.05 above Michigan’s minimum wage.
Previous Allegations Against Amazon
Lancaster is not the only Amazon Prime worker that has experienced difficulty with his job recently. Nationwide closures due to Covid-19 resulted in an unprecedented surge in online shopping, even doubling in some areas. The US alone has as many as 69% of online shoppers, and experts expect the market to reach 4 trillion this year. This surge left delivery drivers and warehouse workers alike scrambling to meet impossible goals.
In February, the company cut ties with small delivery firms around the country who were not meeting its standard, resulting in 1,300 drivers out of work. Amazon again cut workers during the first months of the global pandemic who were speaking up about unsafe working conditions.
This is not the first time Amazon workers have complained about conditions. In 2019, allegations arose that the company was putting the speed of delivery above the safety of drivers and pedestrians. This debate came to a peak when an Amazon delivery van hit and killed a cyclist in San Francisco.
Moving Forward
Nonetheless, Lancaster said he regretted the way he went about quitting his job, calling it “immature and irresponsible.” Others, however, claim he is a working-class hero bringing light to the struggles of the modern-day worker.
Lancaster has continued to update his Twitter feed, making jokes about the press attention and defending himself against the barrage of criticism. Amazon assured its customers that it was taking appropriate action and that this was not something Prime users can typically expect.
