Amazon sued by Washington DC over slow Prime deliveries in low-income ZIP codes
Amazon has been sued by the District of Columbia for providing slower delivery service to customers in two low-income neighborhoods — including shoppers who pay $139 a year for Prime memberships.
Customers in ZIP codes 20019 and 20020 pay the stiff Prime membership fee for delivery service that ordinarily takes 1 to 2 days.
But for the past two years, most of their Amazon Prime packages have taken up to a week to arrive, according to the complaint.
That’s because the Seattle-based e-commerce giant made a strategic decision in 2022 to yank its Prime delivery vans from those ZIP codes, according to the suit filed Wednesday filed by the Attorney General for the District of Columbia
Instead, Amazon — in what the company dubs internally as a “delivery exclusion” — relies mostly on slower, third-party delivery services in those neighborhoods – including UPS and the US Postal Service, according to the suit.
In 2021, before Amazon’s “exclusion,” policy more than 72% of Prime packages were delivered within two days in the ZIP codes. But last year, it was only 24%, according to the complaint.
“Why are my Prime deliveries taking up to seven days when I use 20020 for the address. when I use 21403 for the address delivery is 2 days,” one angry customer wrote to Amazon, according to the complaint.
Amazon did not dispute that its packages take longer to arrive in those neighborhoods, but said it changed its policy after crime spiked in those areas, including carjacking, vehicle theft, armed robbery, assault and gun violence.
“In the ZIP codes in question, there have been specific and targeted acts against drivers delivering Amazon packages,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “We made the deliberate choice to adjust our operations, including delivery routes and times, for the sole reason of protecting the safety of drivers.”
“The claims made by the Attorney General, that our business practices are somehow discriminatory or deceptive, are categorically false. We want to be able to deliver as fast as we possibly can to every ZIP code across the country, however, at the same time we must put the safety of delivery drivers first,” Nantel added.
Many of the customers in those “excluded” zip codes rely on Amazon Prime for basic necessities including groceries and childcare needs, the AG complaint alleges.
Other fed up customers accused Amazon of discrimination, “So it has nothing to do with the racial/socioeconomic divide that just so happens to coincide with your delivery divide.”
The median income in those neighborhoods is $48,106.
“Amazon is charging tens of thousands of hard-working Ward 7 and 8 residents for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide. While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one ZIP code is worth less than a dollar in another,” Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement.
Schwalb also calls out Amazon for “doubling down on its deception” and blaming slower speeds on “other circumstances” when its customers complained.
In a statement, Nantel said Amazon is “always transparent” during the checkout process on when packages will arrive.