Frustrated Michigan Amazon Driver Quits, Abandons Loaded Delivery Truck At Gas Station

A tweet from an Amazon delivery driver caused a furore on social media after he posted he was quitting his job and had abandoned a fully loaded delivery truck at a gas station in Southfield, Michigan.

Derick Lancaster, who goes by the Twitter username @_lilderick, tweeted Monday (June 29): “I quit amazon f--- that driving s--- i left the van on 12 mile and Southfield y’all can have that b---- and it’s full of gas wit the keys in the IGNITION.”

He left the van at the gas station around 2 p.m. ET and took an Uber back home. When Fox 2 Detroit asked him how he felt about what he did, Lancaster answered: "It felt great."

According to reports, he quit because he was overstrained. Lancaster had been working at Amazon for five months and was based out of their Hazel Park delivery station. The 22-year-old started with a position in the warehouse and later switched to delivery, and his route included stops in Royal Oak, Southfield, and Troy.

“I was making 200-300 stops a day, and I just couldn’t do it anymore,” Lancaster told local media. “I was working from 9 in the morning to about 10 at night, and I couldn’t do it anymore.”

However, the company did not respond to Fox 2 Detroit's request for a comment on the incident.

He said the money for warehouse work was good, but “you work for every penny when you're delivering.”

According to Lancaster, warehouse workers have to work on a fixed schedule and can go home when their shifts are over, but delivery drivers can’t do the same until the truck is empty. The delivery driver has to personally ensure the packages reach the assigned destination safely.

Meanwhile, the 22-year-old’s tweet has since gone viral with thousands of retweets and millions of interactions.

“Ayo!! My packages might be in there you gotta chill,” a commenter responded to the tweet.

“This is why you're broke, kid,” another wrote.

“I would complete the day then quit. I’m old school though. My reputation as a business man is important. That’s just me,” a commenter wrote.

Various reports claimed the retailer was treating its employees like robots. Amazon was also accused of undercutting pricing and forcing sellers on its marketplace to raise the prices of products on the websites of its competitors.

Workers initiated a protest March 8 at an Amazon fulfillment center in Minnesota, holding placards that read: “We are Humans, not Robots!”

Lancaster said he wasn’t worried about the customers not getting their orders or getting them late as he knew “they’re going to get them regardless.”

“They have trackers on the trucks, so it’s not like someone could just take off with it,” he said.

According to reports, the truck was eventually picked up by Amazon. It was not known whether any of the packages were missing.

"I'm going to see where life takes me," Lancaster said. "I'm 22, I just enrolled in school and I will focus on that."