Amazon Drivers Are at Risk of Dog Attacks. They’re Looking for Answers

David Taylor, a delivery driver in New York, was dropping off an Amazon package in late September when two dogs appeared and immediately approached him, growling. Feeling he had limited time to get to safety, he turned and ran, but one of the dogs bit him before he reached his delivery van. 

This wasn’t the first incident — another dog bit him earlier that month — but this one left a more lasting impression. Taylor sought emergency medical care, getting stitches as well as rabies, tetanus and antibiotic shots.

He’s fought off infection and is still waiting to find out if he’ll need surgery on his wound.  But he knows it could have been worse. Like many Amazon delivery drivers, Taylor was shaken after hearing last week about an Amazon driver in Missouri who was killed in a suspected dog attack.

The man was found dead hours after delivering a package to a house where two large dogs had access to the yard, according to law enforcement. “This incident has scared me,” Taylor said, “because that could’ve been me.” He wasn’t the only one.

A forum on Reddit for Amazon drivers lit up after the incident, with people talking about scary dog encounters and debating how to get Amazon to take the problem seriously. Some discussed a movement to call out sick on Monday, or to refuse to deliver packages to back porches. CNET talked with three Amazon drivers, who work for small companies called delivery service partners that contract with Amazon, who said they have faced down scary dogs.

While dogs can be aggressive to any postal carrier or delivery person, they said, Amazon’s policies and reporting tools can make a dangerous situation worse.  Add fear of a dog attack to the growing list of burdens weighing on Amazon delivery drivers, who already face a punishing pace of work and a heightened risk of injury on the job, according to worker advocates (Amazon contested one group’s estimate that one in five Amazon drivers were injured in 2021). The same system that penalizes drivers for falling behind prevents them from taking additional safety measures to protect themselves, they said, and flagging the issue with a customer ends up going nowhere.

The drivers say Amazon doesn’t give them the tools to avoid dangerous situations. Amazon says it provides drivers with information about safety at each delivery, such as whether there’s a dog at the residence. The company also says it offers live support to drivers who feel they’re in an unsafe situation or have an incident to report, and that it lets drivers send a push notification when they’re about to make a delivery to remind customers to secure pets, among other things.

Additionally, Amazon says it will direct future deliveries to alternative locations, such as Amazon lockers. But some of these services are inconsistent when it comes to reporting dangerous dogs, drivers said. Taylor said he struggled to get homes with dogs marked with warnings for other drivers, including the first home where a dog bit him last month.

His employer reported the issue to Amazon, he said, but there was still no warning a couple of weeks later when he had another delivery scheduled at the same property.  “Good thing I have a good memory,” he said. A different driver said Amazon added a feature to its delivery app on Wednesday that lets drivers directly mark homes as having a dog.

Amazon didn’t confirm the introduction of this tool.  Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti said in a statement that the company provides pet safety training for DSPs and their drivers.  “We’re committed to ensuring that Amazon’s delivery partners are prepared, feel safe, and know that we’re supporting them on their delivery routes, Boschetti said, adding that Amazon “will continue to reinforce that if a driver doesn’t feel safe, they don’t have to deliver the package and should reach out for immediate support.”

As a result of its business model, Amazon isn’t directly legally responsible for working conditions, but that doesn’t mean the company shouldn’t take responsibility, said Marissa Baker, a professor in the department of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington. “Any corporation should be ensuring that their workers are being kept safe,” Baker said. “Even if they’re not legally, regulatorily required to do so, it would benefit Amazon to look at how they could protect their drivers.”

Follow the rules, or stay safe?

Taylor said the second dog attack could have been much worse if he hadn’t broken a rule about taking vans onto driveways. The vehicle was much closer than it would have been on the curb. 

It’s scary to think what could have happened, he said, “if I’d had to run away from that dog farther, if it was parked on the street like it was supposed to have been.” Amazon confirmed it requires drivers to stay off driveways, except in situations where the driveway covers a long distance and there’s no other way of getting to the residence.  Other drivers said they’ve made decisions to break rules after facing down scary dogs.

Miguel, a Northern California-based driver, said he started carrying pepper spray after two dogs cornered him, one biting him before he leaped up onto the hood of his van to escape. Miguel asked to use a pseudonym because he feared losing his job for carrying pepper spray, a violation of his employer’s rules.  Amazon says it allows drivers to carry pepper spray in compliance with state and local laws, but that’s not the message Miguel got.

In comparison, the US Postal Service requires postal carriers keep dog repellant spray on them and allows them to use it when dogs attack, within limits. USPS runs a weeklong dog bite awareness campaign each year. The theme for National Dog Bite Awareness Week in 2022 was, “The USPS Delivers for America — Deliver for Us by Restraining Your Dog.” The agency, which employs over 334,000 mail carriers, says more than 5,400 postal employees were attacked by dogs in 2021.

“Carriers are also instructed and trained on how to use their mail satchel as a protective barrier in the event of a dog attack,” said David P. Coleman, a public relations representative with USPS.  Another driver, who didn’t want to use his name while publicly criticizing an employer, said Amazon’s policy of letting customers request back porch and garage deliveries puts drivers at extra risk.

“Amazon’s policy is, basically, make noise and hope for the best that there isn’t a doggy door when you get inside the back fence a few hundred feet from the safety of the van,” the driver said.

Speed over safety

Miguel said in addition to Amazon’s live support service for drivers, another option provided by Amazon and the delivery service providers is to call customers to ask for help with their dogs if they seem dangerous. But it slows him down, and that’s a threat to his job.  “They do put pressure on us to deliver quick,” he said, “so it can be easy to find yourself in bad situations.”

The other option drivers described is to not deliver the package and attempt to communicate to Amazon that there was a dangerous-looking dog on the premises. Miguel said he avoids that. There’s a risk of getting disciplined or fired for bringing back too many packages overall, drivers said.

Taylor, the driver in New York who’s still recovering from a dog bite, said customers will often complain if you don’t deliver a package because of a dog.  “Now it’s going to be a customer stating you didn’t drop their stuff off,” Taylor said. When he tells Amazon his side of the story about customer complaints, the company tends to err on the side of customers. 

“When I tell them,” he said, “it’s like they don’t believe me.”