As it turns out, Amazon’s attempt to add AI-powered cameras to its fleet of delivery vehicles was just the latest in a long string of efforts to track workers along the way. Consider this: According to a new deep dive from CNBC, Amazon has been using an app called Mentor for years to track how its contracted delivery drivers behave behind the wheel. As you’d expect, this service – which Amazon says is a means of ensuring the safety and efficiency of those drivers – isn’t without its flaws.
Amazon deliverers (who more often than not work for a third-party delivery fleet, rather than Amazon itself) are meant to log into the app at the start of their shifts, after which Mentor tries to keep track of issues like aggressive acceleration , hard braking, improper seat belt use, excessive idling and more. At the end of a seven-day trajectory, those factors are baked into what Mentor developer eDriving calls a FICO score, which is quite a bit like a traditional credit score: impeccable performance earns a full 800, while anything under 499 reasons for disciplinary action like loss of benefits and temporary suspensions.
Individual drivers aren’t the only ones who need to worry about maintaining FICO scores. CNBCs report confirms that Amazon uses those scores in aggregate to rank its delivery service partners and deny underperforming users access to benefits such as “ optimal routes. ”
The problem is, drivers sometimes find Mentor too arrogant to do his job properly. Like CNBC notes that some drivers who received incoming calls – even those who were not answered – were called because Mentor believed they were using their phones while driving. Others have carefully tucked their devices in glove boxes with Mentor, so the app doesn’t see typical on-the-road jostling as attempts to use those devices while driving.
Additionally, not all of Amazon’s nearly 1,300 delivery service partners supply their drivers with devices specifically for Mentor. As a result, those people have had to install the app on their personal phones and tablets and may have to deal with 24-hour GPS tracking by employers as the eDriving guide always mandates access to a device’s location. (Fortunately, this is an issue that may not be as problematic as before: iOS 14 and Android 11 make it harder for users to sign up for constant background location tracking.)
The idea that people are being watched almost every moment they are at work may seem chilling to some, but it’s normal as far as Amazon is concerned. Employees in the company’s fulfillment centers have long faced intense scrutiny of the business, albeit through apps that drive them to choose products within strict time limits, dedicated analysts watching for potential union activism, and more recently, cameras designed to Make sure employees follow social distance guidelines.
It’s not hard to see why Amazon is so obsessed with tracking its employees – the company’s endless pursuit of efficiency has helped it so uniquely penetrate the global retail industry. By building systems that give people exactly what they want in just a few days, the company has helped define a culture of convenience that can be difficult to move away from. However, that drive for efficiency also requires a degree of dehumanization of Amazon’s employees and partners at the line level, which continues to set a chilling precedent for industry – and society as a whole.