The attorney general of Washington, DC sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing the corporate of secretly denying residents of certain ZIP codes within the nation's capital access to Prime's high-speed delivery.
AG Brian Schwalb's lawsuit alleges that since 2022, Amazon has “secretly” excluded two “historically underserved” D.C. zip codes from its express delivery service while charging Prime members living there the complete subscription price. Amazon's Prime membership program costs $139 per yr and includes perks like two-day shipping and access to streaming content.
“Amazon charges tens of thousands of hard-working residents of Wards 7 and 8 for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide,” Schwalb said in a press release. “While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot quietly decide that a dollar in one zip code is worth less than a dollar in another.”
In June 2022, Amazon reportedly stopped using its own delivery trucks to move packages within the 20019 and 20020 ZIP codes on account of driver safety concerns, the lawsuit says. Instead of its internal delivery network, the corporate relied on external carriers similar to: UPS and the U.S. Postal Service to make deliveries, based on the lawsuit filed in D.C. Superior Court.
The decision resulted in residents of those ZIP codes experiencing “significantly longer delivery times than their neighbors in other ZIP codes in the District, despite paying the exact same Prime membership price,” the lawsuit says.
AG data shows that before Amazon implemented the change, greater than 72% of Prime packages within the two ZIP codes were delivered inside two days of checkout. That number dropped to simply 24% after the move, while two-day delivery rates across the county rose to 74%.
Amazon has previously faced complaints about inequities in its Prime program. In 2016 the corporate said it could expand Access same-day delivery in cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Washington a Bloomberg investigation found that black residents are “about half as likely” to receive a same-day delivery as white residents.
The ZIP codes in Schwalb's grievance are in areas with large Black populations, based on 2022 Census data based on the American Community Survey.
The Federal Trade Commission also sued Amazon in June 2023, accusing the corporate of tricking consumers into signing up for Prime and “sabotaging” their attempts to cancel through the use of so-called dark patterns, or deceptive design tactics designed to steer users toward a selected selection ” to have . Amazon said the complaint was “wrong as to the facts and the law.” The case is scheduled to go to trial in June 2025.
According to Scwalb's complaint, Amazon never communicated the delivery exclusion to Prime members in the region. When consumers in the affected ZIP codes complained to Amazon about slower delivery speeds, the company said it was due to circumstances beyond its control, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit accuses Amazon of violating the county's consumer protection laws. It also calls on the court to “put an end to Amazon’s fraudulent behavior” and to seek damages and penalties.
To deliver packages to customers' doorsteps, Amazon uses a combination of its own contract delivery companies, typically characterized by Amazon-branded vans, as well as carriers such as USPS, UPS, and FedExand a network of gig workers who make deliveries using their own vehicles as part of the Flex program.
Amazon has rapidly expanded its in-house logistics army in recent years, cutting deliveries from two days to a day or even a few hours. In July the company said In the first half of the year, the company recorded the “fastest Prime delivery speeds ever,” delivering more than 5 billion items in one day.
By using its own workforce, Amazon has gained greater control over its delivery operations.
In his complaint, Schwalb cites an internal company policy that says Amazon may decide to exclude certain areas from delivery through its in-house delivery network if a driver is subjected to “violence, intimidation or harassment.” The Company relies on UPS or USPS to deliver packages to excluded areas.
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