A day after an Amazon driver was found dead on a customer’s front lawn in Missouri after being attacked by dogs, some Amazon delivery drivers say they received the following message from the company, which lightheartedly refers to dogs as “our four-legged customers” and “Fido”:
Sheriff Scott Childers, who was on the scene in Missouri, told Motherboard Tuesday that the “Deceased male had a tremendous amount of trauma to his body consistent with canine bites. I can’t say the cause of death was the dogs until we have an official autopsy report tomorrow, but it’s a possibility, we knew it was a possibility.” He said that the driver delivered the package, and was found dead inside the customer’s fenced-in yard: “There was an Amazon package. The Amazon driver did deliver the package. It was sitting at the front door.” The dogs that attacked the driver were a German shepherd and a mastiff, Childers said.
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The fact that one of their colleagues died on the job after being attacked by a dog has become the main topic of conversation on Amazon driver groups and subreddits. Multiple people have posted the message that Amazon sent to drivers, while other thread titles include “Best thing(s) to carry for protection against dogs?” “If you’re delivering in the dark you can’t see dogs!” and “Tip for encounter with aggressive dog.” Another thread is called “Dog mauling.”
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The top post, however, is a thread calling for a “NATIONWIDE NO-SHOW OCTOBER 31st” because of Amazon’s response to the driver’s death. Users on the subreddit said the message was tone deaf. “Amazon’s response to this has been nothing short of insulting,” one user wrote. An Amazon Flex delivery worker confirmed to Motherboard that they received the message Wednesday morning.
While the overwhelming majority of dogs do not bother people who deliver packages, there’s a pop culture trope of the “dog biting the mailman” for a reason: there is a real-life problem in which dogs intimidate and attack people who deliver mail and packages. The USPS reports that thousands of letter carriers are bitten by dogs every year, and the USPS has developed a system where mail workers are warned about houses that have aggressive dogs. Amazon has a system that allows drivers to “report a dog on your route,” and asks drivers to contact customers if they need help with a dog.
The issue with this, of course, is that many Amazon drivers say they don’t even have time to stop to pee on their routes to meet the company’s quotas, let alone wait for a customer to answer their messages and control their dog.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment for this article. When reached for comment Tuesday, an Amazon spokesperson said “we are still working with police to learn more, so we do not have any additional information” and sent an earlier statement: “We’re deeply saddened by tonight’s tragic incident involving a member of our Amazon family and will be providing support to the team and the driver’s loved ones. We are assisting law enforcement in their investigation.”
