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Viral TikToks highlight the lengths some Amazon drivers go to deliver packages, from plowing through flooded roads to driving over a highway median

Aug 26, 2021, 22:28 IST
Business Insider
Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
  • Popular TikToks show Amazon drivers plowing through flooded streets and across a highway median.
  • The videos are set to comedian Bo Burnham's popular song, "Jeff Bezos."
  • Amazon drivers are often pushed to meet intense deadlines, which can come at the expense of safety.
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From driving through flooded streets to making deliveries in a neighborhood hit by a tornado, a series of viral TikTok videos show the lengths that Amazon drivers can go to in order to fulfill the delivery quotas that the company expects them to meet.

Although the National Weather Service urges people not to drive in flooded areas since even a relatively small amount of water can cause a car to lose control or be swept away, two TikTok videos show drivers splashing through flooded areas that look more like rivers than streets. Amazon didn't immediately respond to request for comment.

The TikToks are set to Bo Burnham's song "Jeff Bezos," which has explicit lyrics. This video, which garnered almost a million likes, shows a delivery truck barreling through a flooded street.

Managers at delivery companies contracted by Amazon have reportedly told drivers to ignore safety issues, like broken mirrors and damaged seatbelts, and have instructed workers to ignore the mandatory vehicle checklist that employees have to go through to make sure the automobile is working well.

This video, which has 100,000 views, shows an Amazon van rushing over a speed bump at a high speed, which caused the back of the van to shake.

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Other common complaints about working conditions as an Amazon driver have been well documented.

In the face of high delivery quotas and little time to take breaks, Amazon drivers often pee in bottles, with one female employee noting that she'd change her pad in the back of the delivery van, Insider's Kate Taylor and Avery Hartmans previously reported. Amazon has stated that drivers are allowed to take breaks when needed, and has said the lack of available bathrooms while on the road is an industry-wide issue.

This video, which has 3 million likes, shows an Amazon truck driving over a highway median while traffic is backed up.

Some Amazon drivers told Insider's Aleeya Mayo that the huge amounts of packages they have to deliver leads them to drive with one hand and eat or drink with the other, which isn't safe. Workers also said they felt compelled to blow past stop signs and drive at dangerous speeds through residential areas in order to complete their delivery routes on time.

This video, which has 2 million likes on TikTok, shows an Amazon delivery van driving down a wet street where other cars have pulled to the side.

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Another video, which has a million likes, shows an Amazon driver walking through an area that had recently been hit by a tornado to deliver packages, according to the user who posted it.

The videos are often posted to TikTok with the hashtag #JeffBezos, which has 1.2 billion total views.

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