The lopsided power dynamic and captive nature of the DSP business gives Amazon a high degree of control over its contractors and their drivers.
In February, Ervin’s local congressman visited his delivery station to present a certificate of achievement for delivering 10 million packages to the local community. In August 2020, the company featured him in its DSP newsletter for National Black Business Month, trumpeting its commitment to “increasing the number of opportunities for Black entrepreneurs.” In 2022, it asked Ervin to become an ambassador for a program mentoring new DSP owners.
#Cam recorder amazon driver
If a driver’s Mentor score dipped too low, the AI camera caught what it interpreted as a safety violation, or the driver was simply too slow, Amazon would “offboard” (terminate) them, even if Ervin disagreed with the assessment and wanted to keep the worker.Īll the same, Ervin thrived and Amazon touted him as a success story.
#Cam recorder amazon drivers
The company scored drivers using an app called Mentor, which tracked behavior such as incidents of hard braking or rapid acceleration around a corner. If a driver veered off their prescribed route, even to use the bathroom, BTS would receive a call from Amazon. It dictated the vendors he could use to service and insure those vehicles and set the minimum pay for his employees. Amazon determined the number of routes he could run and which vans he leased. “I think you’ll be a great fit for this opportunity due to your proven leadership, strong performance, and clear commitment to keeping safety a top priority,” his Amazon business coach wrote to him.Īs Amazon awarded Ervin more routes, from the typical 20 to 40 range up north of 75, the limits to his autonomy became clear. You're experiencing different scenarios, having to get towed out, inclement weather, in our case, bad equipment.”Īfter a year running his DSP out of a busy facility in the east Los Angeles suburb of El Monte, Ervin was recruited by Amazon in 2020 to help open a new delivery station 60 miles north in Palmdale, a high desert town at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains. “You’ve got your drivers, who are your troops,” says Ervin. The company touts its support for veterans, pledging to directly hire 100,000 former service members and their spouses by 2024, on top of those it recruits to run DSPs. Many skills that service members learn-leadership, adaptability, technical know-how-translate well to Amazon’s fast-moving logistics operation. The program seemed an exciting opportunity to apply his skill set at a disruptive company “on the tip of the spear of technology,” he thought.
Amazon was looking for veterans to launch small package-delivery businesses, and Ervin was clocking the midnight shift and hankering for a change. In 2018, he was working as a field engineer, testing military equipment for the defense contractor Raytheon, when he saw an online ad for the DSP program. Ervin joined the Air Force straight out of high school as a ticket out of his hometown of Flint, Michigan, spending 10 years on active duty before transitioning to the Reserves, where he rose to the highest rank of Chief Master Sergeant.
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