Amazon.com Inc.

04/02/2021 | News release | Archived content

Our recent response to Representative Pocan

On Wednesday last week, the @amazonnews Twitter account tweeted the following back to Representative Mark Pocan:

1/2 You don't really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do, and have great wages and health care from day one.

- Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 25, 2021

This was an own-goal, we're unhappy about it, and we owe an apology to Representative Pocan.

First, the tweet was incorrect. It did not contemplate our large driver population and instead wrongly focused only on our fulfillment centers. A typical Amazon fulfillment center has dozens of restrooms, and employees are able to step away from their work station at any time. If any employee in a fulfillment center has a different experience, we encourage them to speak to their manager and we'll work to fix it.

Second, our process was flawed. The tweet did not receive proper scrutiny. We need to hold ourselves to an extremely high accuracy bar at all times, and that is especially so when we are criticizing the comments of others.

Third, we know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been especially the case during Covid when many public restrooms have been closed.

This is a long-standing, industry-wide issue and is not specific to Amazon. We've included just a few links below that discuss the issue.

Regardless of the fact that this is industry-wide, we would like to solve it. We don't yet know how, but will look for solutions.

We will continue to speak out when misrepresented, but we will also work hard to always be accurate.

We apologize to Representative Pocan.

More information:

Pew Trust: The pandemic has closed public restrooms and many have nowhere to go
Cosmopolitan UK: Uber drivers so busy they pee in cars
RideGuru: Do Uber and taxi drivers really pee in bottles
Fox Business: Ex-UPS driver says Amazon's pee-in-water-bottles problem isn't unique
Vice: Gig workers have nowhere to pee
Daily Mail: CCTV catches the shocking moment a DPD delivery driver leaves a bottle of URINE on customer's drive as he drops off fresh food box to horrified couple
WCNC: Charlotte family makes disgusting discovery in UPS delivery
LA Times: Full bladders, closed bathrooms. Strategies for peeing while out during coronavirus
Patch: Uber driver 'bathroom crisis' has turned JFK parking lot into wasteland Of pee bottles

When I was training, my trainer peed in bottles in the back of the truck (UPS). Covid made it more difficult because places to use the bathroom were closed. Typically drivers pee in bottles because it adds too much time to the day to leave route and find a bathroom.

- KV (@K_Verde90) April 2, 2021

Its also the case for ups/ usps/ fedex home delivery drivers. Not a lot of restrooms open to drivers when you're deep in the burbs or in the middle of a city with no place to park. Business owners also don't want drivers using their restrooms.

- Atheist (2008) (@atheist2008) March 28, 2021

Actually all drivers do it. My Dad was a trucker. He always said, 'don't drink the apple juice'. All professional drivers (well at least the males).

- Mike Dancy (@MikeDancy) March 27, 2021

Meh. I'm a field photographer/artist and I piss into bottles and into the wind all the time. @theintercept is a clickbait scam site. Move along.

- Payphone Project (@projectpayphone) March 28, 2021

@ups and @fedex drivers do the same thing...

- irnhot (@rkfairshow) March 26, 2021

This is likely the same for FedEx, UPS and USPS. Especially during 2020 when it was harder to find a public restroom to use. pic.twitter.com/pPLwZWHlLS

- Lex (@HeartMomLife) March 26, 2021

I love it how people are just now figuring out that people in the work force that do 'delivery' type jobs pee in bottles / nature. This is what happens when public restrooms aren't abundant.

Imagen what you would do if your Office had no bathroom?

Welcome to a Drivers life.

- EvilEtho (@EvilEtho) March 28, 2021

This is all drivers, not exclusive to Amazon. Finding places to stop and park your vehicle that also have facilities to use along your route can be near impossible some days.

- Suzanne Scott (@SuzanneNotSue) March 27, 2021

So Amazon is gonna be the scapegoat here? Will this change a practice that has been going on for decades with other drivers throughout the country?

- christopheray (@christopheray) March 26, 2021