Amazon says it will expand same-day delivery to Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood less than a week after a Bloomberg report highlighted the community as a striking example of the exclusion of some predominately black areas from the same-day delivery program.
Bloomberg’s analysis found that Amazon Prime Free Same-Day Delivery doesn’t serve predominantly black neighborhoods as well as it serves white ones in some cities. The report found no evidence that Amazon makes decisions on where to deliver based on race. Amazon said that when drawing up its free-delivery maps, the initial focus is on ZIP codes where there’s a high concentration of Prime members, not ethnic composition.
However, according to the report, in six major cities, “the service area excludes predominantly black ZIP codes to varying degrees.”
Amazon spokesman Scott Stanzel provided this statement to GeekWire today.
Amazon Prime members in every residential zip code across the lower 48 states receive unlimited Free Two-Day shipping on a massive selection at incredibly low prices. Last year, we launched Prime Free Same-Day Delivery in 12 metropolitan areas and have since expanded to 27 areas, serving more than 1000 cities and towns – and we are not done. We are always looking to expand the benefits our Prime members receive and that’s exactly what we are doing. We are actively working with our local carrier to enable service to the Roxbury neighborhood in the coming weeks. Once completed, Prime members in every zip code in Boston, including the Roxbury neighborhood, will receive Prime Free Same-Day Delivery, in addition to existing Free Two-Day and One-Day shipping options.
