District of Columbia Sues Amazon Over Alleged Delivery Discrimination to Two Predominately Black Zip Codes | WATCH

DC Sues Amazon for Halting Fast Delivery in Black Neighborhood // Amazon
Amazon.com logo on the modern building facade.

*The District of Columbia and Amazon are not seeing eye to eye when it comes to the company’s fastest delivery service.

AP News reports the city sued the company on Dec. 4 under allegations Amazon secretly stopped providing the service to people living in two predominantly Black neighborhoods while still charging millions of dollars for a membership that promises the service.

Filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, the location’s lawsuit centers around Amazon’s Prime membership, which costs consumers $139 per year or $14.99 per month for fast deliveries and includes one-day, two-day and same-day shipments — along with other enhancements.

The suit goes on to reference mid-2022 when Amazon imposed what it called a delivery “exclusion” on two low-income zip codes in the city — 20019 and 20020 — and began relying exclusively on third-party delivery services such as UPS and the U.S. Postal Service, instead of its own delivery systems.

According to Amazon, driver safety concerns were the reason behind the change.

DC Sues Amazon for Halting Fast Delivery in Black Neighborhood // Amazon Prime van - screenshot
Amazon Prime van – screenshot

“There have been specific and targeted acts against drivers delivering Amazon packages” in the two zip codes and the company made the change to “put the safety of delivery drivers first,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a prepared 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,” Nantel said. “The claims made by the attorney general, that our business practices are somehow discriminatory or deceptive, are categorically false.”

The attorney general’s office for the District of Columbia alleged Amazon failed to inform Prime members in the two zip codes about the change despite slower deliveries coming to resident as a result. The lawsuit revealed that new customers were not told by Amazon about the exclusions when they signed up for Prime memberships.

“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,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement, referencing the two city locations where Amazon is accused of excluding its speediest deliveries.

“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,” Schwalb told the AP.

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Information from the suit mentioned that Amazon has nearly 50,000 Prime members who live in the two zip codes. For Prime members in those neighborhoods, more than 4.5 million packages have been ordered in the past four years.

The city pointed out that Amazon is a go-to outlet for residents who do not have more delivery services and retail stores nearby, the city said.

In 2021, before Amazon implemented its delivery “exclusion,” more than 72% of Prime packages in the affected zip codes were delivered within two days. Last year, it was only 24%, according to the complaint.

Prime members living in other parts of the city received two-day deliveries 75% of the time as Amazon worked on improving its delivery speeds nationwide, the lawsuit stated.

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Although it received complaints from some customers in the city about the slower deliveries, the lawsuit goes on to state that Amazon hid the true reason for the delays and “deceptively implied” that the delays “were simply due to natural fluctuations in shipping circumstances, rather than an affirmative decision by Amazon.”

Armed with its claims and allegations against Amazon, District officials request from the court that prohibits Amazon from “engaging in unfair or deceptive practices.” In addition, the city is asking for Amazon to pay restitution or damages to affected Prime members, as well as civil penalties.

The drama with the zip codes marks the latest development surrounding Amazon and accusations of it offering slower deliveries to some places where Black people make up most of the households.

For more about the District of Columbia’s lawsuit against Amazon, click here.

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