**You Ordered It, But At What Cost?

A new investigation from student journalists at the CUNY Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism exposes the dangers facing last-mile delivery workers and why only student reporters were willing to follow the story to its uncomfortable truths.

We’re deep into the season of impulse buying, the time of year when “Add to Cart” feels less like a choice and more like a reflex. Every day, New Yorkers receive 2.5 million packages, and most of us never stop to ask: Who is actually delivering all this stuff?

The student journalists at the CUNY Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism uncovered the answer as part of their WBAI Radio Show and podcast, Audiofiles. What they discovered is far more troubling than the smiling Amazon vest at your door could ever suggest.

Most of the drivers that deliver our impulsively bought packages are not Amazon or FedEx employees at all, instead they’re subcontracted “last-mile” workers. In more honest, less propagandized terms, they’re the people performing some of the most essential, most dangerous work in the city with the least amount of protection.

What makes this story unique (aside from the astronomical shame deflecting blinders most of us are guilty of donning to ignore this issue) is the fact that it didn’t come from a major newsroom, or an investigative unit, or a well-funded nonprofit.
It came from a student journalists, because sometimes the only people still listening closely enough to working people are students learning what journalism should be.

“We start our day with vans they already know are unsafe.”

Last mile delivery worker Latrice Johnson was interviewed for the piece, and she didn’t sugarcoat the job.

“We start our day with vans that management already knows are unsafe and overloaded. Vans packed so tightly that we were tripping, falling, or even getting hit in the head by a heavy box.”

These are not small inconveniences, they are work-stopping, injury-inducing hazards. And they’re widespread.

A new report from the NYC Comptroller’s Office reveals that last-mile workers are injured at triple the rate of average private-sector workers nationwide.

“The injury rate was 8.3 per 100 workers… and even higher among subcontracted drivers.”

Policy analyst Matan Diner, who helped produce the Comptroller’s report, told Audio Files that he found the numbers to be startling:

“The injury rate in 2022–2024 was 8.3 injuries per 100 workers. The average private-sector worker is at 2.4. So about triple the size.”

And among Amazon’s subcontracted Delivery Service Partners?

“They had an even higher rate, about 9.2 injuries per 100 workers.”

The dangers don’t stop there.

Inside a half-mile radius of these warehouse facilities, traffic crashes rose 78%, and truck-related crashes rose 146% after facilities opened.

When you flood neighborhoods with overloaded vans pushed to the brink, the public pays a price too.

Passing the Buck, Passing the Blame

Amazon does provide some safety training, Diner acknowledges, but the underlying structure of the industry is built to shift liability down the chain.

“Amazon sets the routes and the metrics, but they’re not responsible for the safety issues that come from that. The legal and financial liability is passed to third-party contractors.”

The result is predictable:
Workers carry all the risk.
Small subcontractors carry all the blame.
Amazon carries… none of it.

“There’s so much more to be told, because it’s not resolved.”

For Steve Kastenbaum, a graduate journalism student who helped bring this story forward, the reporting was eye-opening.

“To me, that story has a lot more to be told because it’s not resolved.”

The Amazon vest is a costume.
The workers are subcontracted.
The protections? Practically nonexistent.

“These folks have even less protection than full-time Amazon employees who themselves don’t have great protections.”

During the holiday crunch, the pressure grows unbearable:

“They don’t get to take breaks. They rush. Their vans are overloaded.”

And as Kastenbaum points out, city government might be one of the only avenues for relief.

A Possible Legislative Fix and a Legal Battle Brewing

The NYC Council is considering legislation that would effectively require companies like Amazon to classify these drivers as full-time employees, granting them benefits, protections, and a living wage.

But the move is controversial.

“You can imagine how that would be challenged in the courts, whether it’s even constitutional to require them to do that.”

Still, the fact that student journalists uncovered this story and elevated it into public conversation could help shape whether the city finally steps in.

Why This Story Could Only Come From Students

Major outlets cover Amazon’s business moves, its CEO statements, and its philanthropy.
But a student newsroom listened to the workers themselves.

Students still have the bandwidth and frankly the idealism to sit with communities that aren’t usually heard. They follow threads that don’t promise clicks, but do promise the truth.

In a media ecosystem obsessed with speed, students created something rare: careful listening.

They found:

• The human stakes behind our impulsive holiday shopping

• The policy gaps enabling worker harm

• And the structural evasion letting global corporations off the hook

This is exactly the kind of journalism that reminds all of us what the profession is supposed to be about.

The Next Time You Hit “Order Now,” Remember Who Pays the Price

Delivery workers are not just part of the convenience economy, they are the backbone of it. And many are operating out of unsafe vans, under unmanageable quotas, with no job security, for companies that refuse legal responsibility.

New York City could change that.
Student journalists already have.

But real change requires public pressure, political will, and a refusal to accept the idea that workers are disposable simply because we like our packages delivered yetersday.

The hard truth is very simple:

We don’t just order products.
We order people’s labor and right now, they’re paying the cost.

Listen to a portion of Audiofiles on WBAI here:

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