Amazon delivers billions of packages in the United States each year. The company uses contractors to make many of those deliveries – for example, through Amazon Relay for middle-mile deliveries and through Amazon Flex and the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program for last-mile deliveries.
These contractors handle a significant portion of deliveries, complementing Amazon’s in-house delivery operations. But an investigation has found that contractors used by the company have a much higher rate of safety violations.
A fatal accident that could have been prevented
CBS News conducted the analysis following the death of a 19-year-old college student on a Texas highway in a truck accident caused by a driver for an Amazon-contracted company.
On January 3, 2022, a car driven by college freshman Iliana Velez was forced off the road by a box truck driven by Jordan Sannicola, a driver for Take Flight with B trucking company. The car rolled multiple times, and Velez died at the scene.
Sannicola didn’t stop. He was arrested four weeks later. That’s when police discovered he had a suspended driver’s license and outstanding felony warrants. Sannicola also said he was using a hand-held mobile device at the time of the crash.
According to a lawsuit filed by the victim’s family, Amazon had rejected Sannicola’s application to deliver packages for their flex home delivery service. But he was somehow able to get a driving job with Take Flight with B, despite his criminal history and driving record.
A consistently higher rate of safety violations
CBS News analyzed data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) over a period of six years. Their investigation found that Amazon contractors in the “middle mile” delivery network had average rates of speeding, texting, and other unsafe driving violations that were at least 89 percent higher than other carriers in all 72 months examined.
The average unsafe driving rate of Amazon contractors was more than double that of other carriers in most months.
Jason Miller, an expert in supply chain management who is a professor at Michigan State University, said the large patchwork of contractors Amazon uses for “middle-mile” transport poses challenges to ensuring a uniform culture of safety.
“The more you are essentially having your freight hauled by hundreds, if not thousands of small young firms, that makes it much more difficult to ensure those firms are operating safely versus a more – what we call strategic procurement model, where you may have a few very large carriers that you work with that handle a lot of freight,” he said.
The response from Amazon
Tim Goodman, Amazon’s global legal director for road safety, said the company relies on the FMCSA to oversee “middle-mile” contractors. A spokeswoman for the FMCSA confirmed that contractors are required to conduct background checks on drivers’ safety performance history as a condition of employment.
Amazon said carriers found in violation of FMCSA guidelines can face consequences, including permanent suspension. The company said that Take Flight with B was permanently suspended, and the carrier has since gone out of business.
However, that doesn’t give a complete picture of Amazon’s responsibility for the actions of its contracted carriers.
Holding Amazon accountable
In September 2024, Fried Goldberg LLC secured a $16.2 million dollar verdict against Amazon Logistics in a case involving a crash that left an eight-year-old boy severely injured. Amazon tried to deny responsibility for what happened, claiming that the driver of the delivery van worked for an independent contractor.
Our attorneys, Michael Goldberg, Joseph Fried, and Nathan Gaffney, successfully argued that Amazon exerted so much control over their delivery service partners that they should be held accountable as an employer.
Truck accidents involving Amazon and other companies that rely on contractors for deliveries can be very complex. If you’ve been injured or a loved one has died, you need an experienced attorney on your side to help you demand justice and accountability.
At Fried Goldberg LLC, more than 95% of our practice is dedicated to trucking litigation. To see how we can help with your potential legal case, contact us to schedule a free consultation.
“Now that my case has been settled, I could not be more pleased by the results this firm has provided! My settlement was enough to cover all of my medical bills, replace my car, and more than compensate me for all the loss I suffered from the accident. I sincerely hope that no one reading this review has to undergo what I have, but if you do, please, do yourself a favor and call Fried Goldberg LLC!” – Robert B., ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐