Amazon plants fake packages in delivery trucks as part of an undercover ploy to 'trap' drivers who are stealing
Amazon plants fake packages in delivery trucks as part of
an undercover ploy to 'trap' drivers who are stealing
By Hayley Peterson September 20, 2018
Amazon plants empty packages with fake labels in the
trucks of delivery drivers, sources told Business Insider.
If a driver fails to return the package to Amazon, then
they are suspected of swiping the package, sources said.
"It's meant to be a trap ... to check the integrity
of the driver," a former Amazon logistics manager told Business Insider.
This story follows an earlier investigation: Missing
wages, grueling shifts, and bottles of urine: The disturbing accounts of Amazon
delivery drivers may reveal the true human cost of "free" shipping.
Amazon uses fake packages to catch delivery drivers who
are stealing, according to sources with knowledge of the practice.
The company plants the packages — internally referred to
as "dummy" packages — in the trucks of drivers at random. The dummy
packages have fake labels and are often empty.
"We might pull something out of our pocket and put
it in there" to give it some weight, a former Amazon logistics manager
told Business Insider. This person, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of
retribution, said instructions for the practice came from Amazon's corporate
offices in Seattle.
"It's meant to be a trap ... to check the integrity
of the driver," he said.
In response to this story, Amazon said, "Checks and
audits are part of overall quality programs and are administered at
random."
Here's how the practice works, according to the sources:
During deliveries, drivers scan the labels of every
package they deliver. When they scan a fake label on a dummy package, an error
message will pop up.
When this happens, drivers might call their supervisors
to address the problem, or keep the package in their truck and return it to an
Amazon warehouse at the end of their shift.
Drivers, in theory, could also choose to steal the
package. The error message means the package isn't detected in Amazon's system.
As a result, it could go unnoticed if the package were to go missing.
"If you bring the package back, you are innocent. If
you don't, you're a thug," said Sid Shah, a former manager for DeliverOL,
a courier company that delivers packages for Amazon.
Dummy packages are just one way that Amazon is trying to
control theft, which is a giant problem for the company — and all retailers,
for that matter.
Shrinkage — the industry's term for losses attributable
to theft, error, or fraud — cost retailers nearly $47 billion last year,
according to the National Retail Federation.
Amazon recently started delivering packages in customers'
cars and homes. Both programs are designed to give customers more options for
delivery, as well as reduce theft rates.
The company has also been known to deter potential
thieves by showing its warehouse workers videos of colleagues being caught
stealing, according to a 2016 Bloomberg report.
Amazon doesn't say how many packages it loses to theft
each year. The company delivered more than 5 billion packages to Prime
customers worldwide last year.
In a 2017 survey conducted by the packaging company
Shorr, 31% of respondents said they had experienced package theft.
According to the former Amazon logistics manager, the
"dummy" traps could be effective at catching thieves.
"We caught people not being honest," he said.
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