The endless fleets of delivery vans crisscrossing American neighborhoods have made modern shopping easier than ever, but the convenience factor hasn’t attracted just stay-at-home shoppers. Opportunistic criminals, organized and otherwise, increasingly see the unsecured Amazon, FedEx and UPS trucks, with their predictable routes and lone drivers, as easy prey.
Delivery drivers and their family members across the country say the work has always carried an element of risk. Some neighborhoods have been plagued by crime for decades, but the situation has worsened in the past months.
“It’s still a nightmare,” said Nikolay Kubay, whose younger brother, Sergey, was fatally shot on his Amazon delivery route in the Seattle area on Jan. 24. “The loss comes suddenly, and people never prepare for that. It’s not asking for any permission or approval. It leaves behind only broken hearts.”
Authorities said Sergey Kubay, 50, was gunned down at an apartment complex in Renton while making a late-night delivery.
He was involved in some kind of argument, police said.
Authorities suspect a targeted killing because Sergey was a delivery driver. No one has been arrested in connection with his slaying.
Mr. Kubay said his brother never complained about having issues with anyone in the four years he worked on behalf of Amazon.
He said he was upset that none of the apartment residents bothered to report Sergey’s killing to police until hours later.
“We’re deeply saddened by this terrible crime and are working to support the King County Sheriff’s Office as they investigate,” Amazon said in a statement to The Washington Times. “We’ve been in touch with Mr. Kubay’s family and are providing support during this difficult time.”
Easy pickings
Crooks increasingly view the highly visible trucks as prime targets. The vans are often loaded with pricey consumer goods, and drivers are usually alone and unarmed. News stories about attacks on delivery drivers and their vehicles have increased in recent months.
• A FedEx driver in Denver was rushed to a hospital after he was shot in a November carjacking, police said.
• A UPS driver had her truck taken at gunpoint in Prince George’s County, Maryland, just weeks before Thanksgiving.
• Over the summer, an Amazon driver was shot in San Francisco in what police described as an attempted robbery.
One Amazon delivery driver told The Times that it can be unnerving to pull into a sketchy neighborhood behind the wheel of a “big goodie box.”
The Boston-area driver, who asked to remain anonymous because Amazon is hawkish about outspoken employees, said his routes have taken him to unfriendly parts of the city.
He was once assaulted on the job by a man who accused the package handler of trespassing on his property. The man got in front of the driver’s truck and tried to yank him out of the vehicle. The assailant relented only when the driver threatened to call the police.
The driver considered that interaction minor compared with what colleagues have experienced, including one threatened with a knife during a robbery.
He said he now carries a legally owned gun, even though it violates Amazon’s rules.
Drivers technically aren’t employees of the retail giant.
Drivers are hired by a small company that “rents” the rights to use the commercial retail giant’s name. It’s similar to the franchise model established by McDonald’s and other fast-food chains.
Amazon determines service areas, but the drivers report to a “delivery service provider” — the small-time employer — and the dispatcher assigns routes to each driver.
The driver said Amazon usually directs couriers’ safety concerns to their dispatch service providers. Some dispatchers cut hours of employees who refuse to deliver on risky routes.
Amazon said in a statement that drivers should never make a delivery if they feel unsafe. The drivers receive de-escalation training, and the company offers a 24/7 helpline for couriers who find themselves in trouble.
Whether drivers are allowed to carry pepper spray on their routes is up to the legal counsel of the delivery partner, Amazon said.
Dropped off, ripped off
Violent actors also target droves of food delivery and ride-share workers.
Car thieves took an Instacart driver’s vehicle in January when she stepped out to make a drop in Northeast Washington. The thieves were surprised to find the delivery woman’s two teenage sons in the back seat. Police said the boys fought until the thieves bailed from the car.
That same month, three teens were accused of gunning down a pizza delivery driver in Milwaukee. Police said the teens ordered the pizza with the intent to steal it.
A Seattle-area Uber driver was killed in a hail of bullets just after the new year. Police said he got into a confrontation with a man who walked in front of his car.
Union representatives say the perils associated with transporting people from point A to point B are often overlooked.
“For as long as people have been in private vehicles driving folks around, it’s been one of the most dangerous occupations in the country,” said Kerry Harwin, a spokesperson for the Drivers Union, which represents app-based workers in Washington state. “The fatality rate is about twice that of some other occupations that we tend to think of as being very dangerous, like being a police officer.”
Mr. Harwin said most extreme violence against ride-share drivers isn’t from passengers but from criminals who notice the vehicle idling alone.
That doesn’t mean drivers aren’t watching for passengers with bad intentions.
Mr. Harwin said one of the most common names for ride-share customers is “Mickey Mouse.” He said some people using this name and other aliases fund their trips with prepaid debit cards, so they aren’t required to verify their identities on the apps.
Because the drivers often make split-second decisions about pickups, they could end up agreeing to drive one of these unverified customers without much thought.
Ensuring better protections for ride-share drivers has been a legislative priority for the union.
Mr. Harwin said Washington state lawmakers are reviewing a bill that would extend death benefits to ride-share drivers killed while waiting for their next customer.
The union representative said the current workers’ compensation law extends those benefits only to drivers who are killed while a passenger is in the car.
Mr. Harwin said he is “extremely optimistic” about the bill’s passage, in part because Uber and Lyft are aware that leaving workers killed on the job out in the cold is not a good look.
The Kubays know firsthand how hard a sudden death can be.
The family was struggling to pay for Sergey’s funeral. A family friend set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the expenses and provide some relief for Anna Kubay, who is now raising the couple’s two young children alone.
Mr. Kubay wants his brother to be remembered as the sweet and helpful guy he was, but he said Sergey’s children are having difficulty accepting the loss.
“The kids came home after school and just asked, ‘Where is Dad? Where is Dad?’ It’s really hard,” Mr. Kubay said. “The daughter, she’s 5 years old, and the son is 10 years old. The son is a bit more understanding, but the daughter, she’s always asking her mom about when her dad is coming back.”
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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