Amazon Drops More Logistics Providers, Citing Safety, Performance Issues
Thousands of delivery drivers across the country who work for small and medium-size logistics companies that contract with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) found out in mid-February they may lose their jobs in April, though Amazon said they will have opportunities for other positions with its partners.
On Friday, Transportation Brokerage Specialists Inc. (TBS), headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, became the latest company to file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice of a mass layoff. The brokerage has been operating since 2016.
According to the TBS letter, it will lay off more than 900 drivers and employees at offices in California, Washington, Arizona and Oregon, after losing its contract with Amazon.
Michael Owens, chief operations officer of TBS, declined FreightWaves' request for comment regarding the reasons its Amazon's contract was canceled.
Another logistics company, Express Parcel Service LLC, also known as Express Pack Service, headquartered in Doral, Florida, issued a WARN Act notice that it will permanently lay off nearly 270 drivers and office workers at its facilities in Fort Myers, Miami, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Palmetto, Florida.
According to its WARN notice, the layoff is "a result of the company ending its business relationship with Amazon," Pompey Mansilla, executive vice president of Express Parcel Services, said in the letter.
Prior to the company's contract cancellation, Express Parcel said it had more than 400 routes in three states.
Approximately 74 delivery drivers and employees will also be permanently laid off at Express Parcel's terminal in Smyrna, Georgia. An additional 51 delivery drivers and employees will lose their jobs at the company's terminal in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to WARN notices filed in those states.
Kent, Washington-based Logistics provider Delivery Force Corp., a last-mile provider, also recently announced layoffs. It will eliminate 24 delivery and employee positions at its facility in Charlotte. Approximately 23 delivery drivers and one operations manager will be eliminated at the company's Hebron, Kentucky, office, the company said in its WARN notice.
The logistics provider also announced it was laying off 272 drivers and office workers in Washington state.
An Amazon spokeswoman cited a range of issues in its decision to cut ties with some logistics providers.
"Prior to launching the Delivery Service Partner program to empower entrepreneurs to build their businesses with Amazon, we contracted with a number of small logistics companies," the spokeswoman said. "Some of these companies have not met our bar for safety, performance or working conditions, and we're in the process of exiting them from the program.
The spokeswoman said there will be little impact on the drivers, as they can move into other positions with Amazon partners.
"We are planning for there to be zero or very little net job loss in these communities because nearly all impacted employees of these companies will have an opportunity to move into other delivery driver roles with Amazon partners," she said.
FreightWaves' Eric Kulisch contributed to this report.
Read more articles by FreightWaves' Clarissa Hawes
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