‘Cheaper than a postcard’: DVD shows Amazon Japan delivery workers’ harsh labor conditions

TOKYO — As the purchase of goods and services via internet platforms takes root in our daily lives, the harsh realities of delivery workers in Japan are often overlooked. A local filmmaker has just completed a documentary DVD that depicts the harsh labor conditions of delivery staff who support our convenient lifestyles.

The work is titled “Amazon haitatsu-in — soryo muryo no ura de” (lit. Amazon delivery personnel: Behind the scenes of free shipping). A preview event was held in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on Nov. 20 and it was observed by 100 people, including those who had donated to support the making of the DVD as well as online participants.

It was directed and recorded by Tokachi Tsuchiya, a filmmaker who has covered the reality of meal delivery platform businesses and exploitative “black” companies. He spent about two years interviewing people who deliver products for online retail giant Amazon Japan G.K. and followed the harshness of their daily work and the problems they face.

In his film, Tsuchiya closely followed drivers in the cities of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Nagasaki, who signed individual subcontract agreements with transportation companies that were commissioned by Amazon to deliver goods. Drivers engage in their work under the direction of Amazon’s app. However, because they are independent subcontractors, they are not treated as employees, and even if they are injured, they are not covered by workers’ compensation insurance and are sometimes not paid for overtime work.

While depicting such working conditions, Tsuchiya followed the drivers as they asserted that “we are laborers” and formed a union to discuss working conditions with the companies.

Through filming them closely, the director elicited testimonies from the drivers such as, “I was demanded to deliver more than 200 packages a day,” and, “I’m paid 67 yen (about 45 cents) for carrying one heavy package. It’s cheaper than a postcard (85 yen, or approx. 55 cents).”

A union member in his 60s in Yokosuka suffered a lumbar compression fracture — a serious injury — after falling while making a delivery. When he applied for workers’ compensation over the accident while working for a transportation company, the labor standards inspection office recognized the nature of the work as that of employees and accepted his application for compensation in October 2023.

At the screening event on Nov. 20, people involved in the matter took the stage to talk about the current situation.

A union member said, “Behind free shipping is a terrible labor situation. We are not robots. We want to work like human beings.”

Lawyer Shunji Suga said, “We must break through the barrier that is not treating workers as employees. This is a problem that is happening all over the country, and we want to respond to it by growing the labor union.”

The DVD will go on sale before the end of 2024. For inquiries, contact the Pacific Asia Resource Center.

(Japanese original by Satoshi Tokairin, Tokyo City News Department)