New Jersey files antitrust suit over Amazon delivery contractor controls

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NJ Amazon antitrust lawsuit

Highlights

New Jersey sues Amazon in U.S. District Court, alleging abuse of power over third-party delivery contractors and anticompetitive labor practices.
The complaint asserts Amazon holds a labor monopsony, preventing contractor competitors from poaching drivers and maintaining low delivery worker wages.
The lawsuit amplifies regulatory scrutiny of Amazon's delivery service partner model, intensifying debate over labor practices and competition in the U.S. logistics sector.

Complaint targets delivery labor market practices

As reported by CNBC, citing New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport's office, the state sues Amazon in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging the company abuses its power over third-party delivery contractors to restrain competition in the market for delivery driver services.

Davenport says Amazon prevents delivery workers from unionizing, restricts contractors in its delivery network from hiring each other's drivers and limits competition for labor. In a statement, she says the company uses its overwhelming power in the labor market to keep pay artificially low and impose punishing working conditions.

The complaint describes Amazon as holding a monopsony in delivery driver services, a form of market power on the buying side of labor rather than a traditional monopoly over consumers or rivals. The state argues that delivery service partners are so economically dependent on Amazon that they cannot operate independently or compete for drivers by offering higher wages or better conditions.

Delivery model faces broader regulatory scrutiny

Since 2018, Amazon operates its delivery service partner program through thousands of small contracted companies that handle last-mile deliveries from warehouses to customers' homes. The model helps the company reduce reliance on major carriers such as UPS and FedEx while speeding up deliveries.

The contractor system faces growing scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators and labor advocates, who argue Amazon uses the third-party structure to avoid direct responsibility for the workforce while still exerting control over wages, schedules and uniforms. Amazon maintains that delivery partners retain full control over their own operations.

Amazon representatives do not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit adds to regulatory pressure on how large platform companies structure outsourced labor in logistics and could sharpen debate over competition and employment conditions in the U.S. delivery sector.

In our earlier article on Jeff Bezos’ planned multibillion-dollar Amazon share sale, we covered how a Rule 10b5-1 filing for roughly $4.07 billion in stock sales triggered a pullback after the shares hit a record high. We also noted that strong headline results and market reactions can be amplified around major disclosures, especially when investors focus on signals about Amazon’s outlook and governance.

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