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Comment by cletus | Hacker News Reader

My understanding is that this is pretty common for every courier including UPS and FedEx.

Why? Because the driver will have a set of deliveries. Once they’re finished those they’re done for the day.

In NYC at least finding a restroom and finding parking (even double parking) beat it takes valuable time. It saves time to pee in a bottle.

This just isn’t unique to Amazon is all I’m saying.

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I think any organization that actually incentivizes employees to complete small, objectively-measurable tasks quickly will have stories like this once you've got enough employees. Unless you keep cameras on them at all times, I guess.

These stories are always framed this way as if only someone truly desperate would stoop to peeing in bottles. But to many people, peeing in a bottle is actually not a big deal and is, in fact, preferable to getting home fifteen minutes later.

> Unless you keep cameras on them at all times…

Funny you should mention that.

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-55938494

"These stories are always framed this way as if only someone truly desperate would stoop to peeing in bottles."

Now if they still paid people for their urine (referring to the origin of the phrase 'doesnt have a pot to piss in')... Easy money.

Exactly. Especially this year--I put a pee bottle in the car specifically to avoid having to go into restrooms. Or long-standing stories of trucker bombs when they dispose of pee bottles on the side of the road rather than emptying them and reusing them.

If the nature of your job permits converting going-to-the-restroom time into time at home and you have adequate privacy it's a very sensible thing to do.

"Actually workers want to piss in bottles instead of being given fair breaks" is a wild take.

It is, but it’s not what I said.

“Trucker Bombs” are well known - and “professional” improvements on the milk jug are sold (as are adapters for women).

I could save time at work by peeing in a bottle at my desk.

But my employer (and the law here) doesn't expect me to do this, even if the nearest toilet is several minutes walk away.

You're not considered a low grade commodity like these companies consider their workers.

Yes surely if these truckers were valued more Amazon would... install bathrooms in every van? Add a series of Amazon only toilets all over the country for drivers?

> Add a series of Amazon only toilets all over the country for drivers?

Why not? Every Amazon Locker could have an Amazon Pooper.

Heck, most Amazon Lockers are at businesses with restrooms. Negotiate with these businesses to require them to allow Amazon employee access to the restrooms. And build bio-break time into the schedule.

Why not work with other companies that are everywhere and have toilets ? (e.g.: Fast-foods). Of course, it will cost money, but that's better than nothing.

I was not aware of this behavior prior to reading this article, but I can absolutely understand the difficulty in finding a parking spot with an available restroom nearby. At the same time, I am surprised that the problem exists in the way that it does on a personal-level: when nature calls me, it is very difficult for me to think of doing anything else.

I can see there being a need for legislation here as this example with Amazon shows that companies will ignore basic human needs if given the chance.

In addition, the problem is possible to solve provided the delivery drivers are given adequate time to do so. Technology can definitely assist the decision-making process: finding public restrooms with available parking along the path of a delivery route and maybe altering the route as required. However, I definitely see there being a need to build additional public restroom facilities and hire staff to maintain them.

Another argument that could be made is that these delivery companies are shifting/not bearing the full burden of hiring employees. An office worker will usually have access to a restroom that is paid for by employer paying rent for their place of business.

I grew up in a rural area, and sometimes find 'city logic' amusing.

Need to urinate? Pull over, get out, and water the grass. This is older than time, and a non-issue. Really. It isn't an issue to me.

Defecation is obviously in another category.

Peeing in a bottle is also a non-issue. As far as I am concerned, if a woman can breast-feed in public, why can people not urinate into a container inside a car?

(Both are body parts with sexual, and non-sexual purposes)

And women can do so too, with the aid of such things as this;

https://www.amazon.com/Standing-Resistant-Urination-Portable...

To take a step back, are astronauts the next "put out" class? Tank drivers on patrol? Park rangers? Long haul truckers? Virtually all outdoor, in the country type jobs?

And more oddly, at first all I heard about was urination in bottles. Then massive outrage did not appear. Now defecation seems to be added?

Note: Amazon sucks donkey balls, but let's address the true suckage, not what I see as a non-issue.

"Need to urinate? Pull over, get out, and water the grass."

Yet even many rural places have laws against it (usually at the state level). It's just enforced less strictly outside of the towns and cities.

It's often unenforceable, due to rural driving distances, with potentially zero alternatives.

(eg, are you just going to do it in your pants, over the car's seat??)

I'd even call it a human rights issue, when no alternative exists.

Here, the key is to leave the passenger door open, and do it concealed. Then, silly usages of public exposure law attempts cannot be deployed.

Other method are to hike into the bushes, but with ticks and mosquitoes, many refuse to.

I looked at the law on this locally--there is a necessity defense, if you gotta go and are as discreet as practical you're in the clear.

Ticks and mosquitoes are basically a non-issue here, but finding a bush isn't always the easiest.

It won't stop them from trying to enforce it and you ending up in court.

I know a guy who took a leak in an alley on his walk home from the bar at 1am. He's now a registered sex offender because that alley was across from a playground, even though no children were present and it was dark out.

The only thing my experiences have taught me is that the 'justice' system will do everything it can to win, even when it makes no sense. Eventually they will screw over enough people that nobody will be left to support it.

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