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My editorial below this article...
Update 9/1/21:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-answer-delivery-driver-shortage-140023649.html
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(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. has a solution for a potentially crippling shortage of delivery drivers: Recruit pot smokers.
The company is advising its delivery partners -- the mom and pops that operate the ubiquitous blue Amazon vans -- to prominently advertise that they don’t screen applicants for marijuana use, according to correspondence reviewed by Bloomberg and interviews with four business owners.
Doing so can boost the number of job applicants by as much as 400%, Amazon says in one message, without explaining how it came up with the statistic. Conversely, the company says, screening for marijuana cuts the prospective worker pool by up to 30%.
One delivery partner, who stopped screening applicants at Amazon’s behest, says marijuana was the prevailing reason most people failed drug tests. Now that she’s only testing for drugs like opiates and amphetamines, more drivers pass.
Other delivery companies are continuing to screen applicants, concerned about the insurance and liability implications in the many states where weed use remains illegal. They also worry that ending drug testing might prompt some drivers to toke up before going out on a route.
“If one of my drivers crashes and kills someone and tests positive for marijuana, that’s my problem, not Amazon’s,” said one, who requested anonymity to discuss the issue because Amazon discourages delivery company owners from speaking to the media.
Employers are dangling a variety of recruiting incentives amid the post-pandemic labor crunch since hiring bonuses alone no longer stand out. Target Corp. this month announced it would pay college tuition for its employees. Applebee’s offered free appetizers to applicants in its push to recruit 10,000 workers.
Amazon, which is lobbying the federal government to legalize marijuana, in June announced it would no longer screen applicants for the drug. It wasn’t long before the company began urging its delivery partners to do the same.
In a statement, an Amazon spokeswoman said marijuana testing has disproportionately affected communities of color, stalling job growth. She also said the company has zero tolerance for employees working while impaired.
“If a delivery associate is impaired at work and tests positive post-accident or due to reasonable suspicion, that person would no longer be permitted to perform services for Amazon,” she said.
Hiring and recruiting drivers was a top concern among some 100 delivery business owners gathered this week in Las Vegas to brainstorm ideas to help their companies thrive. With the busy holiday shopping season looming, they’re struggling to stand out in the tight labor market. Amazon delivery contractors are often outbid by school bus companies, where drivers can make more than $20 an hour and are home for dinner. Amazon contract drivers typically earn $17 an hour and often work late into the night to keep up with demand.
One solution is to raise their wages. But that can happen only if Amazon agrees to pay its delivery partners more for their services, which the company can be slow to do.
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My editorial:
Considering the condition and demographic of workers, it's not surprise this is how they will handle employee retention, and likely start selling product. Amazon warehouses will soon become Amazon greenhouses, the site will become a major vendor and distributor. Our one-stop shop.
I recall reading that Amazon has been criticized for pushing employees to work in tight timelines, requiring them to pee in bottles, and I've seen them sprinting to my doorstep to deliver packages. Employees started to unionize but were somehow ultimately placated by Amazon, and did not, though I've continually read more employee rumblings about conditions.
Does anyone recall the Domino's pizza delivery guarantee of 30 minutes or less that resulted in enough fatalities to prompt a 78 million dollar lawsuit?
I've definitely noticed the music blasting from vehicles as they make their deliveries, clearly the policies are changing to placate workers, but I'm not sure I want to share the road with someone high and distracted, and under pressure such that they are pissing in bottles and sprinting to and from my door. Nor would I want them careening through my neighborhood amongst kids and foot traffic.
It's inevitable that weed will be legalized, but employers can test just like hospitals would, do we really want big rigs and forklift drivers high as the norm? Alcohol is legal but we don't (shouldn't) drive and go to work drunk. Why is it any different with weed?
Now, Amazon tells drivers that 'endorphins are your friend'. Maybe give those drivers the super human vaccine and we can move closer towards Brave New World's stratification of working class via genetic modification. Okay, Jeff, make up your mind, runner's high or weed?
Amazon Ends Testing Most Employees For Marijuana, Will Lobby For Legalization (npr.org)65
With the shift in policy, the only job candidates Amazon will screen for marijuana are those applying for positions regulated by the Department of Transportation -- a category that includes delivery truck drivers and operators of heavy machinery. The company says it will handle marijuana the same way it deals with alcohol -- and it will still test for all drugs and alcohol after any accidents or other incidents. Amazon is also acting on the political level, throwing its weight behind the push to legalize marijuana in the U.S. and expunge criminal records for nonviolent marijuana-related convictions.
The company says its public policy team "will be actively supporting" the MORE Act -- the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act -- a move that adds momentum to legislation that was reintroduced in Congress on Friday. The MORE Act would remove marijuana from the list of drugs in the federal Controlled Substances Act, making its status similar to alcohol and tobacco. It would also tax cannabis products, directing some of that money toward investments in communities that have been harmed by marijuana's criminalization. "We hope that other employers will join us, and that policymakers will act swiftly to pass this law," Amazon said in a statement about its support for legal marijuana.
