An Amazon delivery truck carrying 8,000 pounds of packages caught fire while traveling north on Interstate 15 in North San Diego County.
Amazon has announced a new initiative for the holiday season that will allow users to tip their delivery drivers $5 — at no cost to the customer.
Starting this month, Amazon consumers will be able to use Alexa devices to send a thank you note to those who deliver their packages.
“Starting December 7, every time a customer says ‘Alexa, thank my driver,’ the driver who delivered their most recent package will be notified of the customer’s rating,” Amazon said in a press release. “And to celebrate this new feature, drivers will also receive an additional $5 with every customer thank you, at no cost to the customer.”
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This photo, taken on July 4, 2022, shows the logo of Amazon, a major online shopping company, displayed at the Amazon Amagasaki Fulfillment Center in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan. (Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The $5 free tip feature only applies to the first 1 million drivers thanked with the new technology.
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Amazon also announced that the feature will be used for a company-wide competition, where the drivers who receive the most thank-yous will win a small cash prize.
“The five drivers who receive the most thank yous from customers during the promotional period will also be awarded $10,000 and an additional $10,000 to the charity of their choice.”
AMAZON sued for stealing more than $1 million in tips from delivery drivers
Browsing the Amazon webpage on an iPad. (iStock/iStock)
The promotion follows a recently announced lawsuit alleging that Amazon siphoned off tips from its drivers.
Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is suing Amazon because the e-commerce juggernaut stole tips from delivery drivers over several years to subsidize its own labor costs.
The lawsuit, which also names Amazon Logistics as a defendant in the case, alleges that between 2016 and 2019, “Amazon misled consumers into believing that they paid tips directly to their delivery drivers through Amazon’s online delivery portal, and that those tips were increasingly pay the driver by the amounts designated by the consumer.”
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A package from the online retailer Amazon stands in a DHL parcel delivery transporter. (Sebastian Gollnow/photo alliance via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Instead, the company is accused of using them “to pay some of the amounts Amazon had already promised its drivers — subsidizing Amazon’s labor costs,” according to the 17-page lawsuit.
Daniella Genovese of FOX Business contributed to this report.