Residents of low-income communities are deprived of Prime delivery services, Amazon is sued by Washington D.C
Amazon is facing legal challenges after being sued by the Attorney General of Washington, D.C. The lawsuit claims that Amazon secretly excluded approximately 48,000 low-income community customers from its Prime fast delivery service while continuing to charge the full subscription fee. Attorney General Brian Schwalb stated that Amazon's actions are unfair and called for an end to such practices. Amazon responded that the adjustments were made for driver safety considerations and denied any discrimination or deceptive practices
According to Zhitong Finance APP, Amazon (AMZN.US) has been sued by the Attorney General of Washington, D.C. for secretly excluding approximately 48,000 customers from low-income communities from its fast delivery service Prime, while continuing to charge them the full subscription fee.
Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb claims that since 2022, Amazon has excluded Prime members in two zip code areas (20019, 20020) east of the Anacostia River—“historically underserved communities”—from its fast delivery service.
The lawsuit states that the e-commerce giant has been providing services to these zip code areas through third-party delivery services such as United Parcel Service (UPS.US) and the United States Postal Service, “but it knows that these services are generally slower than Amazon's.”
The lawsuit also mentions that Amazon claimed to have made “secret changes” to delivery options for the sake of driver safety. However, it is alleged that the company failed to disclose its decision.
Schwalb stated, “While Amazon has the right to make operational changes, it cannot secretly decide that a dollar in one zip code area is worth less than a dollar in another zip code area. We are filing this lawsuit to stop this deceptive practice and ensure that residents of the District receive what they have paid for.”
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel responded, “The Attorney General's claim that our business practices are discriminatory or deceptive in any way is absolutely false. There have been specific actions against Amazon drivers in the zip code areas involved. Our careful choice to adjust operations was solely to protect driver safety.”
“We have always been transparent with customers, informing them of the specific arrival times of their orders. What we want to do, and what we have already done, is to work with the Attorney General to improve safety in these areas.”