As it turns out, Amazon’s push to add AI-powered cameras to its fleet of delivery vehicles was just the latest in a long line of efforts to monitor employees on the go. Consider this: according to a new deep dive from CNBC, Amazon has been using an app called Mentor for years to monitor how its contracted delivery drivers behave behind the wheel. However, as you would expect, this service – which according to Amazon is a way to ensure the safety and efficiency of the drivers – is not without its flaws.
Amazon Delivery Managers (who regularly work for a third-party delivery fleet, rather than Amazon itself), are meant to sign in to the app at the beginning of their shifts, at which point Mentor seeks to keep a running track of issues such as aggressive acceleration, hard braking, improper use of seat belts, excessive diaper and more. At the end of a seven-day period, these factors are summed up in what Mentor developer calls eDriving a FICO score, which reads quite like a traditional credit point: flawless performance earns a full 800, while anything below 499 can be grounds for disciplinary action such as loss of fringe benefits and temporary suspensions.
Individual managers are also not the only ones who have to worry about maintaining FICO scores. CNBC’s report confirms that Amazon is using these scores together to rank its delivery service partners and reduce access to benefits such as ‘optimal routes’.
The problem is that Mentor executives sometimes found him to be too presumptuous to do his job well. As CNBC notes, some drivers who have received incoming calls – even unanswered – are tinted because Mentor believes they used their phones while driving. Others have carefully stored their devices with Mentor in glove cabinets, so the app does not view typical road riots as attempts to use the devices while driving.
What’s more, not all of Amazon’s nearly 1,300 delivery service partners provide their drivers with devices specifically designed to run Mentor. As a result, people had to install the app on their personal phones and tablets and possibly handle the employers’ GPS tracking around the clock because the eDriving guide always gives access to the location of a device. (Fortunately, this is one issue that may not be as problematic as before – iOS 14 and Android 11 make it harder for users to connect for constant background location detection.)
The idea that people can be monitored almost every moment when they do work seems cool to some, but it’s equivalent to the course as far as Amazon is concerned. Workers in the company’s fulfillment centers have long had to deal with intensive corporate investigations, whether through programs that put them under pressure to select products within strict time limits, dedicated analysts who monitor the possibility of union activism, and more recently cameras designed to ensure employees follow guidelines for social distance.
It’s not hard to understand why Amazon is so obsessed with locating its workers – the company’s endless pursuit of efficiency has made it so unique in global retail. By building systems that bring people exactly what they want within a few days, the company has helped define a culture of comfort that can be torturous to walk away from. However, the pursuit of efficiency also requires a certain degree of dehumanization of Amazon employees and partners, which continues to set icy precedents for the industry – and society at large.