seems like amazon is trying to have their cake and eat it too. Fuel surcharges only make sense if you own a fleet, but amazon drivers are independent contractors. Similarly, an "inflation" surcharge doesnt make a lot of sense when every other industry just raises prices. Do Amazon sellers see any of this 5% when they have already likely raised their prices in response to inflation? i suspect not. inflation has been unbearable for nearly a year now, so why 5% now?
It might be a tentative connection, but i think this has to do more with the unionization of an Amazon warehouse. Jeff knows tides are turning, and 5% would help to bolster quarterly earnings reports if and when healthcare, retirement, and a living wage is offered to union warehouse workers during contract negotiation. It would also help weather the storm if workers did choose to strike. This parlour trick only pans out if organized labor remains restricted to a single warehouse; its not scalable or repeatable. If the union boss is to be believed, then Amazon is looking at massive unionization across its warehouses and a potential precipitous decline in revenue in the coming years.
The arrangement described there is convoluted, but it's misleading to say they own the fleet. They (or an affiliate) do own the vehicles, but lease them to "independent contractors" who happen to exclusively work with Amazon and drive Amazon branded vehicles, but are responsible for things like paying for gas. Of course, Amazon won't let them maintain any sort of margins, so they certainly don't have much room to absorb additional costs.
It might be a tentative connection, but i think this has to do more with the unionization of an Amazon warehouse. Jeff knows tides are turning, and 5% would help to bolster quarterly earnings reports if and when healthcare, retirement, and a living wage is offered to union warehouse workers during contract negotiation. It would also help weather the storm if workers did choose to strike. This parlour trick only pans out if organized labor remains restricted to a single warehouse; its not scalable or repeatable. If the union boss is to be believed, then Amazon is looking at massive unionization across its warehouses and a potential precipitous decline in revenue in the coming years.