Internal Amazon documents show Amazon was aware of the practice of employees using pee bottles, identifying it as a “Tier 1” infraction that can lead to firing

The Intercept 2021-03-27 Ken Klippenstein

Context & Ripple Effects

The documents turn a widely reported driver complaint into an internal enforcement issue: Amazon had classified bottle use as a Tier 1 infraction, while drivers publicly supplied photos after the company questioned the practice. The account also sits alongside Amazon's earlier reported efforts to monitor labor and union activity, including its use of Pinkerton for warehouse surveillance.

Later coverage places the issue in a broader workplace-safety record: a Senate investigation examined Amazon warehouse practices, and a subsequent Senate inquiry said senior executives had disregarded internal injury warnings.

First-order effects

Workers found using bottles face possible firing under Amazon's Tier 1 disciplinary classification, even where the practice is associated with delivery conditions.
Amazon's public response is directly undermined by records showing the company had internally recognized the conduct it questioned.

Second-order effects

The contradiction gives worker advocates and lawmakers a more concrete basis to connect delivery performance expectations with health-and-safety complaints.
Amazon's labor-management practices face added scrutiny alongside the Senate investigation into warehouse safety, rather than being treated as an isolated public-relations dispute.

Third-order effects

Taken with later allegations that Amazon leaders ignored injury warnings, the records point toward workplace-safety oversight increasingly testing whether internal operational policies conflict with workers' basic conditions.
The pattern places Amazon's monitoring and discipline systems at the center of a longer contest over how high-throughput logistics operations are governed.

The trend: Amazon's labor controversy is part of a widening shift from anecdotal workplace complaints toward scrutiny of the internal policies and warnings behind them.

Discussion

@aoc Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on x
This you? https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kenklippenstein Ken Klippenstein on x
Amazon management knows its workers urinate in bottles and even defecate in bags in order to save time, internal company documents leaked to me reveal: https://theintercept.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Except to add, oh no, Warren reinforcements are here and Amazon better up its game: https://twitter.com/...
@henrymance Henry Mance on x
Amazon Sub-Prime https://twitter.com/...
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
@amazonnews you know what's extraordinary? Bottles of piss. https://www.theverge.com/...
@kasie Kasie Hunt on x
This PR strategy is extremely confusing to me, especially considering it's directed at a member of Congress who, you know, has at least some power? Maybe it just reflects the tech companies' disdain for Congress...which I get but which also seems dangerous for them? https://twitt…
@joluehmann Jo Luehmann on x
He's a billionaire because he's smart and he's worked so hard. It's not because he exploits people and has had a lot of privilege in his life. Duh! https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Not sure defecation and snotty tweets is how Amazon wanted to end its week. https://twitter.com/...
@theyelitsa Yelitsa Jean-Charles on x
This is the price of your 2 day delivery. https://twitter.com/...
@ketanj0 Ketan Joshi on x
Do these people really seem like allies in climate? This is what they think of their workers - what do they think of us? https://twitter.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
Literal shitposting https://twitter.com/...
@businessinsider @businessinsider on x
Amazon drivers say they had to poop in bags and struggled to change menstrual pads in addition to peeing in bottles https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
@_cingraham Christopher Ingraham on x
Incredible email from an Amazon logistics manager. “This is the 3rd occasion in the last 2 months when bags have been returned to station with poop inside.” https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kenbensinger Ken Bensinger on x
Amazon claims its workers don't pee in bottles; defenders say it's an urban legend. But these photos sent to me by a former driver for a former @amazon contractor called Synctruck in a California facility suggest strongly otherwise. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@ingridlunden Ingrid on x
That Amazon knew and then gaslit ppl over these accusations makes an already awful situation even worse. The circumstances are atrocious. https://twitter.com/...
@kateconger O...K on x
seems like that Amazon tweet wasn't the best idea https://theintercept.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@doctorow Cory Doctorow on x
There's always a leaked memo. https://theintercept.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@joshsternberg Josh Sternberg on x
Amazon brought a spoon to a knife fight, and @kenklippenstein shows us how sharp knives are. Also, great header image game. https://theintercept.com/...
@dakami Dan Kaminsky on x
A rather different take: There are no public restrooms and private industry in the states is increasingly locking up the bathrooms. It ain't just the homeless that have nowhere to go. There's a city I will never go to again because of this. Ever. Black zone. https://twitter.com/.…
@liamyoung Liam Young on x
Amazing work as always from detective @kenklippenstein. Hours after Amazon PR deny that their workers ever have to degradingly piss in bottles, he comes up with Amazon's own receipts showing that their workers do have to degradingly piss in bottles: https://theintercept.com/...
@karengeier @karengeier on x
I feel like if someone at my job discovered one jar of urine we'd have to have an all hands meeting about it and they would probably call in a counselor https://twitter.com/...
@kenklippenstein Ken Klippenstein on x
Email from Amazon logistics manager: “This evening, an associate discovered human feces in an Amazon bag that was returned to the station by a driver. This is the 3rd occasion in the last 2 months when bags have been returned to the station with poop...” https://theintercept.com/…
@bernieupstateny @bernieupstateny on x
“None of us should have to deal with these kinds of messes” say the people who force drivers to create & deal with these messes. Where are drivers supposed to urinate & defecate? Then where are they to dispose of that stuff? In a trash can? Seems like that would spread diseases? …
@nausjcaa Nausicaa Renner on x
They even made it a fireable offense! https://twitter.com/...
@everywhereist Geraldine on x
They are so aware of this that if you get caught doing it, you don't get fired, you just get written up. https://twitter.com/...
@thekarami Arash on x
she's more irritated than concerned that workers are pooping in bags https://twitter.com/...
@bobpickard Bob Pickard on x
There is no doubt that @amazon is a convenient company, but is it a good company? It is a high capability brand, but this makes one wonder about their corporate character. https://twitter.com/...
@brandon_mckoy Brandon J. McKoy on x
This is dystopia personified to me, especially the “by scanning the QR code on the bag we know who had it last” piece. Yet, Amazon execs were denying the mere reality of workers not getting basic breaks to address bio needs just a day or so ago. https://twitter.com/...
@attackerman Spencer Ackerman on x
“Halie Marie Brown, a 26-year old...who worked as a delivery driver for an Amazon delivery contractor...told The Intercept that the practice “happens because we are literally implicitly forced to do so, otherwise we will end up losing our jobs for too many ‘undelivered packages’”…
@repmarkpocan Rep. Mark Pocan on x
Wait, so the company with a well-documented history of poor workplace conditions & union-busting actually knew about its awful workplace conditions and did nothing to help its workers? And here I thought @amazon was a “progressive workplace.” https://twitter.com/...
@juliacarmel__ Julia Salazar on x
“They give us 30 minutes of paid breaks, but you will not finish your work if you take it, no matter how fast you are.” Amazon's treatment of their workers is horrendous. https://twitter.com/...
@people4bernie @people4bernie on x
“We've noticed an uptick recently of all kinds of unsanitary garbage being left inside bags: used masks, gloves, bottles of urine” internal @amazon email #BAmazonUnion https://theintercept.com/...
@ryangrim Ryan Grim on x
Fact check: https://twitter.com/...
@mims Christopher Mims on x
Amazon #peegate is just such a perfect, perfect encapsulation of how this company operates and (spoiler alert) what I learned about how it operates in the course of researching my book. I can't resist, here's a brief thread. 🧵 https://twitter.com/...
@alexnpress Alex Press on x
my first response to this was to laugh because it's such a ridiculous tweet but honestly, this is infuriating. here are the type of texts Amazon workers send me https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@ositanwanevu Osita Nwanevu on x
https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@bigblackjacobin Edward Ongweso Jr on x
Can someone figure out tomorrow if this tweet increased searches about Amazon workers pissing in bottles meaningfully? Because if it did, then we need to protect this person's job and get them to keep doing it https://twitter.com/...
@juliacarriew Julia Carrie Wong on x
What I love about this tweet is that it in no way contains a denial that Amazon workers have to pee in bottles. https://twitter.com/...
@jaynooch Honest Jabe on x
Gotta say I'd be less likely to believe in the pee bottles if Amazon hadn't produced a commercial with the line “I love working at Amazon, we can pee literally whenever we want!” https://twitter.com/...
@tristandross @tristandross on x
had to double-check i didn't hallucinate the ‘amazon fc ambassador’ scheme, where they had a load of their employees come on here to boast about how they were allowed to use ‘real bathrooms’ and that their depression had nothing to do with amazon and was entireely their own fault…
@fshakir Faiz on x
While we're on the subject, bathroom breaks are a serious concern raised by workers. Listen to Linda, who works at the Bessemer plant, explain. “We want to go to the bathroom!” (Via @GrimKim) https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

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