It was just after New Years, when Jonathon Ervin started to feel that Amazon was playing tricks on him. Ervin owns one of 3,500 small businesses that exist solely to deliver packages for the retail giant. Since launching his company, Battle Tested Strategies, in 2019, the Air Force veteran and reservist has delivered more than 10 million packs and received positive performance ratings from Amazon. In a 2020 newsletter, Amazon defended Ervin as a face of its commitment to black entrepreneurs.
Last year, after a summer of sweltering heat, high package numbers and malfunctioning air conditioners, BTS drivers began to unionize with the Teamsters. He recognized the union — against Amazon’s wishes, according to Ervin — and negotiated a contract that went into effect in April, making his employees the first Amazon drivers in the US to ratify a union contract.
The vans that BTS leases are inspected by Amazon for their technical condition before each service. After this winter’s holiday rush, known as “peak,” had subsided, Ervin began to feel that these inspections had turned into hunts for reasons to keep his vehicles off the road. No offense seemed too small. A cracked taillight, an incorrectly fitted phone, a seatbelt that retracted too slowly – never before problems, were now suddenly excuses to ground his vans. Now Amazon is seeking to break its contract with Ervin by the end of this month, which would put him out of business and put his 84 drivers out of work.
“We made it through the peak in January, and boom. All these breaches piled up,” says Ervin, adding, “The breaches are made of fairy dust and punitively sprinkled.”
Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards writes that BTS has “a track record of failing to deliver,” and that the company was terminated for six breaches of contract related to failure to pay insurance companies and failure to complete vehicle safety audits. Five of those took place in January, she says. She also wrote that BTS had not been honest about the viability of her business, but refused to provide evidence. Ervin fights all infringements. He says those related to insurance were resolved last year, but they remained on his file.
Ervin’s dispute with Amazon shows how vulnerable the companies that operate his fleets of branded vans are to the exacting demands of their only customer.
“The amount of control they have is incredible,” says Ervin. “You’re basically just managing a function.”
BTS is part of Amazon’s Delivery Service Partners program, a network of small parcel delivery companies that the company launched in 2018 as part of an effort to break its dependency on FedEx and UPS. The program works much like a franchise model, but without the legal protection of one. Amazon offers training, support staff, and deals on van leases, handheld devices, insurance, and maintenance. It also controls how many routes DSPs receive. The DSPs bear most of the liabilities, including vehicle maintenance and repair, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance, and responsibility for any accidents.
Ervin joined the Air Force right out of high school as a ticket from his hometown of Flint, Michigan where he served 10 years on active duty before transferring to the Reserves where he rose to the highest rank of Chief Master Sergeant. In 2018, he was working as a field engineer testing military equipment for defense contractor Raytheon when he saw an online ad for the DSP program. Amazon was looking for veterans to start small parcel delivery businesses, and Ervin was clocking the night shift and yearning for a change. The program seemed like an exciting opportunity to apply his skills at a disruptive company “at the tip of the technology spearhead,” he thought.
