Amazon Trucking Contractors Have Higher Rates of Safety Violations, CBS News Investigation Finds

The death of a 19-year-old student on a Texas highway raises questions about the fleet of drivers Amazon uses to move packages between its facilities. College freshman Iliana Velez’s life was cut short in a crash with a contractor who was driving to pick up an Amazon load.

A freshman at the University of Texas, Velez worked nights sorting packages part-time at an Amazon fulfillment center.

In the early morning hours of January 3, 2022, Velez was on a break when she was forced off the road by a box truck driven by Jordan Sannicola, a contractor on his way to pick up an Amazon shipment. Velez’s car rolled several times. She died on the spot.

His mother, Trula Velez, received the news from the police that same evening.

“The policeman knocked on my door and he said she had been in an accident and didn’t make it,” she said. “I was in so much shock.”

When Sannicola was arrested four weeks later, investigators learned he had a history of traffic violations, a suspended driver’s license and outstanding arrest warrants, including one count for evading arrest with a vehicle. He told police he was using a mobile device when he collided with Iliana Velez’s car.

“A person with multiple arrest warrants should not have been hired,” Trula Velez said.

A lawsuit filed by Trula Velez alleges that Amazon previously rejected Sannicola’s request to deliver packages for the company’s “flexible” home delivery service after he failed a background check. Yet he was able to drive for a company contracted by Amazon. Despite his criminal history and driving record, Take Flight with B, a North Carolina trucking company, hired Sannicola to transport Amazon freight.

Missed warning signs?

The Velez family’s attorney, Alex Hilliard, claims that because of the background check, Amazon was “fully aware” of Sannicola’s poor driving record and criminal history when he began driving for Take Flight, which transported goods between Amazon facilities on part of the delivery. network known as the “middle mile”.

The lawsuit also alleges that tracking technology provided by the Relay phone app that Amazon uses to monitor driver location and performance had informed the company of Sannicola’s dangerous driving behavior, but that it had not not acted.

“Mr. Sannicola committed 70 different speeding violations [while working for Take Flight] that Amazon was aware of,” Hilliard said. “They didn’t do anything about it.”

A CBS News analysis of federal security data found that Amazon contractors, primarily in the company’s “middle mile” delivery network, had monthly violation rates — such as excessive speed and texting while driving – which were typically double those of carriers that didn’t transport for Amazon. The analysis examined six years of monthly reckless driving rates from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and found that the average rates for carriers that shipped for Amazon were at least 89% higher each month.

“I was stunned,” said Jason Miller, a Michigan State University professor and supply chain management expert. “I’ve published many papers using this data. Normally you don’t see effects like this, when you have one set of carriers that is almost twice as dangerous as another set of carriers. “

CBS News used roadside inspection reports in federal data to identify Amazon contractors. The reports, produced by law enforcement, indicate who the carrier claimed to be shipping for at the time of inspection. The analysis included carriers that shipped for Amazon at least once in the two years preceding each month examined.

Miller said the wide diversity of contractors Amazon uses for “middle mile” transportation poses challenges in ensuring a uniform culture of safety.

“The more your freight is carried by hundreds or even thousands of smaller companies, the more difficult it is to ensure that those companies operate safely compared to a strategic sourcing model, where you may have a few very large “The carriers you work with deal with a lot of freight,” Miller said.

Over the past two years, at least 57 people have died in more than four dozen accidents involving federally regulated carriers shipping for Amazon, according to FMCSA data, although the data does not indicate who was responsible for these incidents. The FMCSA produces a crash involvement score for carriers, but it is not public.

Amazon’s response

“Any death is heartbreaking,” said Tim Goodman, Amazon’s global legal director for traffic safety. “All the families who have been affected by this have our condolences and our thoughts are with them.”

As Amazon mandates background checks for contracted drivers who deliver directly to customers’ homes, Goodman said the company is turning to the FMCSA to supervise “middle mile” contractors who transport freight between facilities in larger vehicles.

An FMCSA spokeswoman confirmed that it requires contractors shipping commercial motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds to conduct driver background checks for safety performance as condition of employment.

Amazon said that when the company learns that a contracted carrier has violated FMCSA guidelines, the carrier may face consequences, including permanent suspension.

“We have taken disciplinary action against approximately 19,000 motor carriers for failure to comply with FMCSA safety requirements,” Goodman said.

Among those carriers is Take Flight with B, the entrepreneur who hired Jordan Sannicola. Amazon has confirmed that it has permanently suspended Take Flight with B from its contracted fleet. The trucking company has since gone bankrupt.

Goodman defended Amazon’s continued reliance on third-party trucking contractors to move its freight and deliver its packages.

“In the United States, trucking is done by independent companies, small businesses,” Goodman said. “It’s been this way since at least the Carter administration.”

“We are unique at Amazon in terms of size,” Goodman said. “But it’s a business model that has worked, and worked well, and we are committed to it being a catalyst to be able to improve road safety for all of us.”

Amazon disputes CBS News’ data findings. In a statement sent after the interview, a spokesperson said: “We have worked closely with CBS throughout this story and are disappointed that they continue to use data based on flawed methodology. We take security incredibly seriously and the truth is that overall. accident rates among the third-party carriers we work with have improved. Our standards are stricter than FMCSA requirements, and we will continue to work to ensure our partners are the safest carriers on the road.

Among other complaints, the company took issue with how CBS News identified Amazon contractors (it said inspection reports sometimes list the wrong shipper) and how CBS News measured the security of a carrier.

Amazon measures safety using the FMCSA’s “Unsafe Driving Score,” which is a number that applies different standards depending on the size of the carrier. This score is not made public by the government, but the underlying data is. Rather than ranking carriers by size, CBS News looked directly at the underlying rates of reckless driving violations, like texting and speeding.

CBS News consulted with several leading supply chain researchers, all of whom use the FMCSA measures in peer-reviewed studies. Alex Scott, a University of Tennessee professor and supply chain management expert, said he doesn’t use FMCSA scores in part because they give the impression that small carriers are safer than they are.

“I don’t think it makes sense,” Scott said. “If they’re less safe, then they’re less safe.”

What the justice system says

On October 11, a judge sentenced Jordan Sannicola to 40 years in prison for “failure to stop and render assistance – accident resulting in death” in the accident that claimed the life of Iliana Velez.

“One mistake cost someone’s life, and it was my daughter’s, and her life was just beginning,” Trula Valez said.

The court date for his lawsuit against Amazon is set for early 2025.