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White tall Amazon vans

Old 09-02-19, 06:38 PM
  #1  
Joe Bikerider
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White tall Amazon vans

I've noticed recently that those unmarked white vans, the tall ones are clogging my neighborhood more than before. I now know that they are Amazon deliveries. Some are also dark colored. The drivers are looking at their screens and not paying much attention to the rest of us. This has happened quite suddenly, the vans used to be marked as subcontractors. It's the new way to do business. Make the subs buy the vehicles and don't take any responsibility. Similar to the plain white Google buses running up and down to Mountain View. When I see them blocking the road or wandering about I display my finger. I don't know what else to do, they are destroying my neighborhood and I don't like it.

Last edited by Joe Bikerider; 09-02-19 at 06:42 PM. Reason: not all white
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Old 09-02-19, 08:28 PM
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Remember the big media thing in the 90s about Domino's 30-minutes-or-less guarantee causing a fatal accident? Those vans are for Amazon same-day/next-day delivery and do the same thing (drive/park unsafely due to heavy time pressure), except since it's subcontracting, Amazon gets to dodge responsibility.

Giving them the finger is unnecessary, though. They're already getting that from their employer.
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Old 09-03-19, 03:51 AM
  #3  
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Originally Posted by sheddle
......... Giving them the finger is unnecessary, though. They're already getting that from their employer.
Thought it was more like the shaft.
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Old 09-03-19, 01:05 PM
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noticed the same. always speeding. parking wherever, and loud noise so they can hear it from the porch they are delivering
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Old 09-03-19, 03:56 PM
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Some of them drive like madmen around here. I mean driving like a sports car. I keep expecting to see one of those tall vans flipped over.

I'm not sure if delivery drivers get ticketed much if at all, I've never seen one pulled over yet.

UPS, FedEx, and DHL drivers are downright smooth and cool headed by comparison.
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Old 09-04-19, 07:22 AM
  #6  
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I've not noticed that the numerous Amazon vans are any different than UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc. Other than parking oddly, which I'm OK with because they don't stay long, they all seem fairly courteous and attentive. Maybe they haven't been trained yet! .
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Old 09-04-19, 02:59 PM
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https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...elivery-deaths

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Old 09-05-19, 07:34 AM
  #8  
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Co-published by The New York Times and ProPublica.

NYT's: The Human Cost of Amazon’s Fast, Free Shipping
ProPublica: THE DEADLY RACE How Amazon Hooked America on Fast Delivery While Avoiding Responsibility for Crashes

-mr. bill
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Old 09-05-19, 10:02 AM
  #9  
FiftySix
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So, should Amazon pass blame to all the Prime members?
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Old 09-06-19, 10:13 PM
  #10  
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White tall Amazon vans
Originally Posted by Joe Bikerider
I've noticed recently that those unmarked white vans, the tall ones are clogging my neighborhood more than before. I now know that they are Amazon deliveries. Some are also dark colored.

The drivers are looking at their screens and not paying much attention to the rest of us. This has happened quite suddenly, the vans used to be marked as subcontractors.

It's the new way to do business. Make the subs buy the vehicles and don't take any responsibility. Similar to the plain white Google buses running up and down to Mountain View. When I see them blocking the road or wandering about I display my finger.

I don't know what else to do, they are destroying my neighborhood and I don't like it.
Originally Posted by sheddle
Remember the big media thing in the 90s about Domino's 30-minutes-or-less guarantee causing a fatal accident?

Those vans are for Amazon same-day/next-day delivery and do the same thing (drive/park unsafely due to heavy time pressure), except since it's subcontracting, Amazon gets to dodge responsibility.
Thanks to @Joe Bikerider for starting this thread. Just minutes before reading this thread, I read an article very similar to the article cited by @mr.bill, a fellow Metro Bostonian. Indeed I was getting ready to cite it myself:

The human cost of Amazon's fast, free shipping

Previous critical articles I have read in the past few months concerned the relentless pressure on Amazon employees in the warehouses to fill the orders.

So before the cell phones became new distractions to drivers, were alcohol,sleepiness, inattention or whatever, and now a new class of hazards is emerging.

mr.bill’s article cites not only auto crashes, but also pedestrian incidents, as well as Amazon’s strategy to shift / diffuse liabilities on to the subcontractors, and even a blurred out photo of a white tall Amazon van involved in a crash.

How soon before we read of cyclists’ envelopment?




Photo of a typical white tall Amazon van.
Originally Posted by JoeyBike
Your life is in THEIR hands. People screw up all the time. There is no solution to fixing THEM...

Don't play in traffic, or go for it and take your chances. <--Here are your two choices.

Last edited by Jim from Boston; 09-06-19 at 10:54 PM. Reason: added photo
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Old 09-07-19, 08:32 AM
  #11  
FiftySix
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Originally Posted by Jim from Boston




Photo of a typical white tall Amazon van.
That's a normal height full size van made by Ford. Much like American vans have been since the 1970s. I rented that exact model from UHaul last weekend. That thing is surprisingly nimble, sure footed, and smooth driving. Sure, it has some truck bounce to it over bumps, but otherwise very easy to drive for someone used to driving small cars.

The tall vans are the ones a normal sized adult can stand fully upright inside. Pretty much the Mercedes/Freightliner/Dodge Sprinter class vehicle. https://topnewsgazette.com/business/...very-business/

By the way, Amazon vans and firetrucks don't mix.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/...h-13658939.php

Last edited by FiftySix; 09-07-19 at 08:36 AM.
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Old 09-07-19, 09:03 AM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
… Photo of a typical white tall Amazon van.
Originally Posted by FiftySix
That's a normal height full size van made by Ford. Much like American vans have been since the 1970s....

The tall vans are the ones a normal sized adult can stand fully upright inside. Pretty much the Mercedes/Freightliner/Dodge Sprinter class vehicle....
Thanks for the reply. The picture I used was from the article I cited, The human cost of Amazon's fast, free shipping

I did employ some "poetic license" in my reply, using the title of the OP of this thread, "white tall Amazon van" implying "non-descript."

Perhaps you may recall this sinister association with white vans:
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
The D.C. sniper attacks (also known as the Beltway sniper attacks) were a series of coordinated shootings that occurred during three weeks in October 2002, in the states of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Ten people were killed and three others were critically wounded in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and along Interstate 96 in Virginia…

Police had only a few pieces of evidence to work with; including one initial report that during the Silver Spring attack... someone had reportedly seen a white box truck. After the murder in Washington D.C., witnesses then began telling police that they had seen a blue Chevrolet Caprice instead of the white box truck…

Drivers of white vans and box trucks were viewed with suspicion from other motorists as initial media reports indicated the suspect may be driving such a vehicle
In the past I have replied to this thread, “Do you meet people on the street?”
Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
Over the years on my commute I have routinely encountered several people, and I like to give them nicknames …

There was a driver in a windowless white van often approaching in the opposite direction who would give me a friendly toot. This was during the time of the Washington DC sniper who also drove a windowless [white] van, so that driver became the “stalker.”

I eventually met him at a coffee shop I routinely stopped at near my destination…
He was very friendly.

Last edited by Jim from Boston; 09-07-19 at 11:06 AM. Reason: added quote by Wikipedia
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Old 09-07-19, 09:18 AM
  #13  
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I live not far from the Richmond Amazon facility, which is next to UPS. About 9:00 every day you you get a mass of white and brown Van's turned loose onto the roadways. You can sure tell the difference between the two sets of drivers. I'm not sure how Amazon trains their drivers, but they need to step it up some. I talked to one about his job and he was pretty frustrated. He was leaving for a delivery at 3:00 PM for a delivery in Santa Rosa. I'm guessing around a 3+ hour round trip.

Last edited by curbtender; 09-09-19 at 10:42 AM.
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Old 09-09-19, 10:20 AM
  #14  
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Around here FedEx ground is all contract drivers. They buy the vans and get paid by delivery. For FedEx and other companies it is a great way to shave expenses. Driver do get screwed in the process though as FedEx is always messing with them.
There is a slight difference in visibility. If a contract FedEx driver drives like a maniac, it reflects badly on FedEx and the contracting company can be easily identified. With white vans containing no identifying markings, the contracting company gets protection from that level of identification.
This bodes poorly for street safety.
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Old 09-09-19, 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Joe Bikerider
they are destroying my neighborhood and I don't like it.
A little over dramatic, but okay.
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Old 09-13-19, 05:03 AM
  #16  
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Originally Posted by tagaproject6
A little over dramatic, but okay.
This.
And I certainly hope he isn’t one of the anti LBS crew that only buys online
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Old 09-13-19, 07:13 AM
  #17  
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Originally Posted by tagaproject6
A little over dramatic, but okay.
What would A&S be without drama?
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