Simone Del Rosario:

Amazon is being accused of “secretly” excluding “historically underserved” areas of the nation’s capital from high-speed Prime delivery. That’s according to a lawsuit from the District’s Attorney General.

Washington, D.C. A.G. Brian Schwalb says the ecommerce giant is excluding two zip codes from getting the fastest delivery service promoted with Amazon Prime, while still charging those residents the full price fee. Meanwhile, the zip codes around them get 2-day packages, no problem.

Ok, the District is divided into eight wards, each with roughly 75,000 residents. Wards 7 and 8 consist of areas mostly east of the Anacostia river. Those two wards traditionally have the most violent crime of the city, according to DC government data analyzed by CrimedataDC.com.

This lawsuit claims the company stopped using its Amazon trucks to service Wards 7 and 8 in June 2022. Instead, the company used outside carriers like USPS and UPS.

Before Amazon made that decision, the lawsuit says more than 72% of Prime deliveries in the wards reached their destination within two days. That number fell to 24% after they started restricting drivers in the area. At the same time, the rest of Washington maintained a rate of 74% for two-day deliveries.

A big part of the complaint is that Amazon never told Prime members in the areas they were excluded from two-day deliveries. The suit says when users in the affected wards complained to Amazon about slow delivery times, representatives would say it was “‘never on purpose” or imply they are one-time occurrences caused by circumstances outside Amazon’s control.

The attorney general says in a statement, “Amazon is charging tens of thousands of hard-working Ward 7 and 8 residents for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide. While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one zip code is worth less than a dollar in another.”

In an emailed statement to Straight Arrow News, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel says it’s “categorically false” that its actions are “discriminatory or deceptive.”

Nantel says, “We want to be able to deliver as fast as we possibly can to every zip code across the country, however, at the same time we must put the safety of delivery drivers first. In the zip codes in question, there have been specific and targeted acts against drivers delivering Amazon packages. We made the deliberate choice to adjust our operations, including delivery routes and times, for the sole reason of protecting the safety of drivers.”

Nantel added… “What we’d like to do, and have offered, is to work together with the Attorney General and their office in an effort to reduce crime and improve safety in these areas.”

Wards 7 and 8 have large black populations. Back in 2016, a Bloomberg investigation found black residents were “about half as likely” to be eligible for Amazon same-day delivery. In response to that investigation, Amazon expanded same-day delivery in cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Washington.