Amazon offers $1,000 PR prizes
Amazon is offering $1,000 prizes to delivery drivers who share positive job stories — a corporate PR play designed to counter organizing momentum and shape public narratives about working conditions. Labor strategists warn these tactics can blunt worker storytelling unless organizers build their own platforms. (latimes.com)
Bloomberg reported the program is called “My Why,” and the company told workers that 100 participants will receive cash awards while the top 10 winners will each get a VIP experience for themselves and a guest; submissions were due March 28, 2026. (bloomberg.com) The outreach was sent specifically to drivers employed by Amazon’s Delivery Service Partners (DSP) — the network of small businesses Amazon contracts with to manage “hundreds of thousands” of last‑mile workers who deliver packages. (bloomberg.com) Company materials reviewed by reporters show Amazon suggested narrative prompts such as describing “what makes you proud to wear the uniform each day,” and asked entrants to consent to having their words and images used in external and internal communications and to participate in any required media activity, with an option to withdraw consent. (bloomberg.com) Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly provided an emailed statement framing the initiative as a nationwide effort to “spotlight the drivers employed by our partners and celebrate the diverse motivations” for the work. (bloomberg.com) The contest follows prior customer‑facing appreciation programs: Amazon’s “Thank My Driver” initiative paid $5 to drivers during the December 2025 promotion, Amazon says the feature has generated tens of millions of “thank yous” since 2022, and past holiday promotions included additional $100 awards for the most‑thanked drivers. (flex.amazon.com) Recent labor‑board work and filings provide the legal backdrop to responses: NLRB prosecutors and judges have found Amazon exerted “overwhelming control” over subcontracted delivery drivers and treated DSP drivers as joint employees, a line of rulings organizers have cited when critiquing corporate PR efforts that aim to shape worker narratives. (bloomberg.com)
