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Comment by calcifer | Hacker News Reader

> I am of the opinion that all truckers (or people in the delivery profession) pee in bottles to save time, not just Amazon drivers.

What is your opinion based on? A hunch? Random number generator? Your star sign? Maybe your horoscope?

> Why is Amazon being singled out here?

That's a strawman, nobody is singling out this company. Everyone is talking about Amazon because they publicly denied this ever happens from an official account.

> How would you even change the compensation or penalty structure to account for this?

Oh I don't know, maybe... and I realize this idea is so far out there so please bear with me for a second, maybe institute mandatory 15 minute breaks every 2-3 hours into the delivery schedule? Crazy, I know.

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My opinion is based on this generally being a thing that delivery drivers choose to do. It has been true of long-haul truckers for quite some time (many of them would even take Meth just so they could drive longer and log more miles).

My father did local delivery for UPS for 30 years. According to him, this is not something he or anyone he knew did, ever (including the long haulers). UPS is unionized, so maybe that has something to do with it. My uncle worked for USPS for 35 years and he has reported the same. So I don't think you can hold up examples of drivers peeing in bottles and taking meth as the status quo when both UPS and USPS don't drive under these conditions. Fedex I'm not sure about because they are all contractors, so they may be under the same pressures as Amazon. But that's all the more reason for Amazon drivers to unionize. I'm sure your could find some horror stories, but this is a pressure the union works explicitly against and it seems effective.

> My opinion is based on this generally being a thing that delivery drivers choose to do.

This sentence says nothing. How do you know this is something that people choose to do?

I’ve heard about it while living my life? I don’t know what you want me to say. It’s just something I have been aware of happening long before now. And honestly, I’m not really interested in trying to convince anyone else. If you don’t believe me, that’s cool, but I know what I know. And since you’re too contrarian to even bother looking it up yourself, here is the literal first google result:

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/47231

Oh, and here is a literal company that sells a product meant to alleviate the need to urinate in bottles. They speak about such bottle urination near the bottom of the page:

https://www.roadreliefsystem.com/

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