#Amazon delivery driver quits mid-shift, abandons truck and packages

A Michigan Amazon delivery driver quit mid-shift this week — ditching a truck full of packages behind.

“I quit amazon f–k that driving s–t i left the van on 12 mile and Southfield y’all can have that bitch and it’s full of gas wit the keys in the IGNITION,” Derick Lancaster, 22, wrote in a stunning tweet Monday that had racked up more than 26,500 retweets by Thursday afternoon.

Lancaster said that he was frustrated with the grueling work and long hours for barely minimum wage, but he that he regrets how he handled his rather unconventional resignation, local ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV reported.

“It was immature and irresponsible on my end. At the same time enough is enough,” Lancaster told the station after abandoning his delivery van in a Detroit suburb.

Amazon drivers across the country have long complained of poor working conditions, a ProPublica investigation revealed last year.

The e-commerce giant also drew complaints from factory workers nationwide this year over their handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lancaster said he would deliver more than 100 packages over the course of a 12-hour shift for about $15.50 an hour. He was constantly under pressure to deliver packages faster, he said.

“It was days I had to deliver 158, 212, and it just kept going up and up,” he said.

Missing his sister’s birthday party was the final straw that primed Lancaster to quit.

“She was real upset with me,” he told the station. “There is no set schedule.”

Since his viral resignation, Lancaster has inspired both admiration and scorn online — viewed as a working-class hero to some and wildly irresponsible to others who criticized him for inviting people to take others’ property.

“I can’t imagine how selfish someone has to be to abandon a van full of other people’s property,” one person on Twitter wrote. “This is not OK.”

But another added, “That’s some funny s–t though. Way to stick it to Jeff Bezos.”

Lancaster has kept his spirits high though, joking on Twitter about the press he’s gotten and defending himself against backlash he’s received.

“Why is white people so mad at me ?” Lancaster tweeted as he invoked the response to the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd and Charleston, South Carolina church shooting in 2015.

“[Y]’all wasn’t mad when that officer was stepping on bro neck , i don’t think y’all was mad when that white n—- shot up the church killing them black people but y’all mad that a n—- quit his job ?”

Amazon assured it was “taking appropriate action,” but did not offer any elaboration.

“This does not reflect the high standards we have for delivery partners,” Amazon said in a statement.

“We are taking this matter seriously, and have investigated the matter and are taking appropriate action.”