In a survey of 1,242 US residents completed March 29th – April 5th, 2021, the GammaWire research team found that the majority of consumers say they would accept longer delivery wait times in exchange for guaranteed better working conditions for Amazon delivery drivers and warehouse employees.
Overall study findings:
- 67.4% of US consumers who regularly use Amazon say they would accept slower delivery timelines if they knew Amazon would improve the working conditions for drivers and warehouse employees.
- 50.9% say they would accept 1-2 days added to delivery times.
- 16.5% say they would accept 3+ days added to delivery times.
- 32.6% say they would not accept any additional time added to delivery times.
Survey demographic findings:
- 77.4% of women are willing to accept slower delivery times in exchange for improved working conditions for Amazon staff.
- 57% of men are willing to accept slower delivery times in exchange for improved working conditions for Amazon staff.
- Age demographics did not affect survey response trends in any significant manner.
There have been multiple news cycles over the past several years focused on the working conditions of Amazon delivery drivers and warehouse employees. Over the last month, an increasing number of US politicians are now heavily involved in the public conversation, and Amazon itself has chosen to adopt an aggressive response strategy on social media to control the narrative (Editor’s note: Amazon has since apologized for some of their response).
The survey conducted by the GammaWire team found that most people are willing to add an additional day (or several) if it is guaranteed that working conditions would be improved. A significant number of people responded that at least one day extra waiting for their delivery would be acceptable in exchange for these improvements.
“I rarely need things as fast as Amazon ships them. Totally fine if they delay it a day or two if it means giving their drivers or warehouse people more breaks,” one person said regarding their feelings on increased delivery times.
“That’s Amazon’s job to figure out, not mine,” another said, opposed to increasing delivery timelines.
One thing to note is that Amazon does offer consumers the choice currently to select a slower shipping speed in exchange for a small discount on other services like movie rentals, etc. When the research team asked a number of regular Amazon customers how often they actually select the slower option the small sample said they never did so.
It’s also important to make sure it’s clear that what people say they will do and actually do, especially in a survey, often times do not align. While it can feel good to reply to a survey with a morally superior answer, actually committing to it in practice might be a bigger ask.
“I rarely need things as fast as Amazon ships them. Totally fine if they delay it a day or two if it means giving their drivers or warehouse people more breaks.”
Survey demographic trends
Men are 20 points less likely to tolerate any delays in their shipping even if it means improved conditions for the Amazon workforce. Especially noted is that on top of this unwillingness to slow down shipping times, anything beyond a day of extra waiting time is virtually off the table.
Women are far more likely to be willing to wait extra time for package delivery, with over 40% saying they’re willing to wait two or more days.
Surprisingly, age played little factor in how people responded to the survey questions. Voting trends by age followed the more general trend, with no statistically significant variance generation-to-generation.
Survey methodology
- 1,242 US residents responded to the survey, conducted online
- The poll focused on people who used Amazon “regularly,” defined by at least once a month
- The survey ran March 29th – April 5th, 2021
