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Comment by lotsofpulp | Hacker News Reader

Amazon does not employ delivery drivers. They recently suggested to the delivery companies they pay to deliver packages to homes not drug test in order to find drivers.

I assume the drivers Amazon employs are actual truck drivers under the purview of the Department of Transportion, and are probably still drug tested to satisfy whatever federal requirements they have to satisfy.

> We will no longer include marijuana in our comprehensive drug screening program for any positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, and will instead treat it the same as alcohol use.

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> Amazon does not employ delivery drivers.

Right, they have a pass-through setup where they dodge liability by employing them through nominally independent companies. They're still in full control over their employment conditions in practice.

I kind of don't think local van delivery drivers are DOT regulated.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=do+you+need+a+cdl+to+drive+for+Ama...

The people under Amazon's purview that are DOT regulated would be CDL holders driving semi trucks and similar. Those are strictly drug and alcohol regulated, with fed mandated preemployment and ongoing random tests.

That is what I wrote, but I specified that the local van delivery drivers are not employed by Amazon, so Amazon not testing them for marijuana is a moot point.

Yep, I misread.

The policy applies to employees and contractors.

Most of their drivers are not long-haul, but last mile delivery.

According to this article, the last mile deliveries are made by drivers employed by what they Amazon calls Delivery Service Partners:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-05/amazon-wo...

According to this article, Amazon is suggesting the companies they pay to make the home deliveries to skip marijuana testing in order to find more drivers:

https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2021-09-01...

The distinction is important because Amazon seems to be wanting the companies they pay to make the home deliveries to pick up possible liabilities from not testing drivers for marijuana use, but it is not clear if Amazon has chosen to accept that liability as well.

The people driving vans painted with Amazon logos, who are working hours dictated by Amazon, who are delivering parcels at Amazon's instruction, and who are not delivering parcels for anyone else, are not Amazon employees? I guess the IRS rules on "contractor or employee" must have changed.

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