AnAmazondriver’s task may seem simple: Get the package from the warehouse to you.

Samantha isn’t the only Amazon driver who worries about making a pit stop.

Amazon had alsomixed it upwith Sens.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over worker treatment and tax regulations in an unusually messy andpublic Twitter exchange.

The company is also facing lawsuits over unpaid time workers spend in COVID-19 checks.

Independent contractors, known as Flex drivers, work shorter shifts but at no slower pace.

The common theme: Drivers are at the mercy of Amazon each time they start their routes.

Sometimes that isn’t possible.

A locked gate or uncooperative front desk can prevent drivers from reaching the door.

Amazon, however, doesn’t take this into account and dings drivers for failing to deliver the package.

More frustratingly, customers sometimes lie, saying a package wasn’t delivered.

(The term is also sometimes used for fake product reviews on Amazon’s website.)

The company writes up drivers for an undelivered package even if the driver suspects a customer lied.

Drivers say they get little response if they object to a decision.

Amazon pushed back on this portrayal of its systems.

“If you do a manual override, you will basically get audited,” Ignazio said.

Nowhere to park

Parking can be scarce in crowded areas.

Drivers initiate the risk of angering neighbors if they block traffic or a driveway to make a delivery.

The alternative is parking several blocks away and carrying several often heavy deliveries at once, drivers say.

Amazon says its programs prioritize parking on the same side of the street as the delivery address.

But slowing down can get drivers behind, drivers said.

To overcome these challenges, some Flex drivers have begun bringing another person with them.

“It also allows me to keep my car running,” she said.

They had injury rates of more than 13 per 100 full-time employees in 2020.

By comparison, injuries at Amazon’s warehouses were more than six per 100 full-time employees in 2020.

The most common injuries affectankles, knees and backs, according to a Denver Post report.

Amazon pointed to its spending on injury prevention programs for drivers.

“Safety is our top priority,” the spokesperson said.

Class-action attorneys are activelyseeking out injured Amazon driversto put together potential lawsuits.

Instead, it’s “basic” health care.

Flex drivers have no benefits.

“They never listen.”