Amazon Denies Workers Pee in Bottles. Here Are the Pee Bottles | Hacker News Reader

Amazon Denies Workers Pee in Bottles. Here Are the Pee Bottles

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38 pointsdonsupreme13 comments

Pee bottles are hardly new nor are they unique to Amazon drivers. I actually don't think they're the issue. It's when you're overworked day-in-day-out and getting grilled on your numbers, urinating into a bottle becomes a slight to your dignity instead of a nasty, but necessary part of the job.

Putting a lavatory in the vehicle would suffice. Not grinding your workforce to the bone is better.

The point of the article is not whether or not it's normal. It's that amazon lied about whether it was happening within their walls.

And my point is the company lying about a necessary evil of logistics is not much of an issue when compared to their corrosive employment practices.

I've noticed this trend on reddit a lot.

Essentially creating a strawman argument that says "the symptom is not the problem, the problem is the problem"

Everyone ends up upvoting them because they're not technically wrong, but all they've done is derail the conversation by restating the obvious.

Pee bottles put a nice sordid spin on how oppressive an employer is, but again, they're not the issue. Where has the outrage been for the many decades of delivery drivers and truckers having to relieve themselves on the road in order to meet a deadline or quota? Perhaps it's lost on the genteel, but this is not a new phenomenon whatsoever. I'd invite people to ask why Amazon is getting heat here and not their competition, be they in logistics, retail, or both.

I suspect that most women would feel differently than you

The girls just need a GoGirl. They sell them on Amazon's site for $13. It's a stand-up tool for women.

Amazon needs to shop their site more:

https://www.amazon.com/Thetford-White-92820-Porta-Potti/dp/B...

$150 seems like a pretty easy fix to this problem, though I know it will slightly cut down on the extent they can pack a van. I'm not saying they should keep putting the squeeze on their drivers, but finding an "open to the public" toilet is difficult these days as others have mentioned.

Even with a toilet on board, I'm guessing men would still pee in a bottle because it's easier, faster, and potentially cleaner (no splashing). But it'd be good for women, good for #2, and eliminate a legitimate worker complaint.

A vented closet would be in order. Pretty sure management and customers don’t want packages sharing the same airspace as a toilet.

When the cameras go live in the trucks, will they have anyplace to pee? Do they just have to go to (in) the back with the cargo?

I honestly don't see why this is a problem for drivers. I always thought the complaint was they made distro center workers pee in bottles. Finding a restroom while driving is tough whether you're on the clock or not. I don't really drive any more, but I almost always carried a bottle with me when I did. This was also about the only way to do it being on a tank crew, but I'll grant it's not reasonable to expect people with normal jobs to work under military conditions.

This seems as much a problem with the dearth of public restrooms in cities. There is almost nowhere you can go that doesn't require you to be a customer. I noticed this when I used to play Pokemon Go a few years back walking around downtown Dallas, even the restrooms in the parks are chained shut, presumably as one of those hostile to the homeless measures like spikes on sidewalks, but it affects everyone that needs to take a piss, not just the homeless (not that they deserve it, either).

I can’t believe I’m asking this but does Walmart treat their driving staff better? I see Walmart contracting this out a lot so not sure if they’re being paid accordingly. I’ve been trying really hard buying from the vendor directly and/or using smaller businesses but the fast delivery has got me hooked...

Amazon really thought denying that one would go down well???

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