Amazon's delivery service partner (DSP) model, which uses independent contractors rather than direct employees, represents an example of capitalism getting too clever that may require correction to prevent socialist narratives from gaining traction.
Amazon's use of subcontractors for delivery drivers, while efficient, creates a vulnerability to socialist criticism that could have broader political implications. ✦ AI generated
Chamath Palihapitiya · All-In Podcast · 2026-08-14 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 126:00
This was created explicitly to benefit Amazon and to take the burden of these employees and put it onto the American taxpayer. And they are getting called out on it rightfully so by New Jersey and New York. And I believe, you know, and I'm a long-term uh Amazon customer. I've been, you know, a a prime subscriber since the beginning. It would be a dimminimous cost for them to make these employees full-time employees. And you'd still have some DSPs to scale up and down. Sure. But this is an opportunity for them to make those frontline workers part of the Amazon family. It would cost but 25 cents per delivery in New York to move them from this $189 an hour to give them a slightly higher pay raise, maybe 21, 22 bucks, and give them benefits.
verbatim transcript · starts at 126:00
(01:19:24) what Amazon does that he now is going to tell them how to run their business. It's insane. If you look at what Starbucks did when Schultz was running it, he gave people a job worth having and he took pride in taking the lowest paid people in the organization and give them a giving them a living wage. And that living wage is somewhere around 20 bucks, 22 bucks in these cities. These
(01:19:47) DSP drivers are actually paid quite well. 18 bucks, 19 bucks, 20 bucks. But this was not created uh in the free market as you're sort of saying Sachs and it was just what everybody wanted. No, this was created explicitly to benefit Amazon and to take the burden of these employees and put it onto the American taxpayer. And they are getting called out on it rightfully so by New
(01:20:12) Jersey and New York. And I believe, you know, and I'm a long-term uh Amazon customer. I've been, you know, a a prime subscriber since the beginning. It would be a dimminimous cost for them to make these employees full-time employees. And you'd still have some DSPs to scale up and down. Sure. But this is an opportunity for them to make those frontline workers part of the Amazon family. It would cost
(01:20:36) but 25 cents per delivery in New York to move them from this $189 an hour to give them a slightly higher pay raise, maybe 21, 22 bucks, and give them benefits. This is an easy thing to do. And what our industry what our industry has a crazy blind spot for is that they look for efficiencies and Amazon is the most efficient company in the world to the