Amazon’s Roads to Nowhere

And similar snafus have occurred with trucks headed to at least three other Amazon facilities in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts, The Information has learned. “Something is telling these drivers to turn in there…but there’s no outlet, and it’s really not meant for trucks at all,” Rob Chambers, the pastor of Garden Memorial, said in a phone interview, referring to Margo Drive.

Amazon itself, in some cases, has sent truck drivers on these misbegotten routes. In public records and recorded meetings, town officials in Massachusetts and New York said Amazon representatives blamed the snafus on errors in the navigation software that the internet retailer requires its drivers to use. Amazon also confirmed in a statement to The Information that it had received formal complaints about routing issues in Charlotte and Massachusetts.

Tens of thousands of truck drivers use an Amazon app called Relay to complete jobs moving Amazon cargo between warehouses and follow routes on digital maps. The app relies on mapping and location data from Here Technologies for navigation. In some cases Amazon has fixed glitches in Relay’s maps, but in others the problems remain. And in the case of Margo Drive, it says any lingering issues are due to truck drivers using independent map apps.

The navigation foul-ups are perplexing, as Amazon is known for its legendary prowess in logistics. Ordinary consumer-mapping apps from Google and Apple don’t make the same mistakes when plotting routes to the Amazon facilities in question.

Serious errors aren’t uncommon with digital map software. Even Apple, when it first released Apple Maps on iPhones in 2012, was pilloried for embarrassing mistakes like locating Berlin in Antarctica and providing an incorrect address for Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

An Amazon spokesperson said navigation problems akin to what has happened on Margo Drive are rare, saying the company receives a single traffic-related complaint for every 5 million miles that are “successfully navigated using Relay.”

“The Relay navigation system has been used by thousands of drivers who have driven over 1.2 billion miles since it was introduced in 2019,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement to The Information. “We are always looking for ways to improve our technology and strive to prevent any negative impact on the community. Our dedicated operations and tech teams conduct thorough investigations when routing issues do occur and continually improve the service to help solve the challenges.”

Routing Rows

Other towns have experienced similar situations.

Residents of the Birchwood neighborhood in Castleton, N.Y., have complained about Amazon tractor-trailers turning onto a narrow dead-end residential road north of an Amazon fulfillment center that opened last September. Birchwood residents say the trucks have caused property damage and have blamed the problems on “GPS issues” in letters to the board and public forums.

The Amazon spokesperson said the company has “not yet received any formal complaints” concerning the Castleton warehouse but is looking into the issues.

Milford, Mass., has seen similar problems with trucks getting stuck on small roads. Officials in the town—which was the subject of a previous story by The Information—have said Amazon representatives told them the company’s navigation software for drivers was the source of the problems.

Meanwhile, resident complaints have prompted the town council of Robbinsville, N.J., to work with the state to restrict tractor-trailer access to two roads that have received an influx of truck traffic since an Amazon fulfillment center opened in the area in 2014.

‘Something is telling these drivers to turn in there.’

In a January 2020 town meeting, town council president Michael Cipriano told residents that Amazon was experiencing a “GPS problem,” which has caused Amazon trucks to take improper routes, according to meeting minutes. In August 2020, the town adopted an ordinance designed to curb Amazon truck traffic and minimize its impact on the surrounding area.

Driving Over Orange Barricades

For the residents of Margo Drive in Charlotte, the truck mishaps began almost immediately after the nearby Amazon sortation center—known inside Amazon, which assigns four-character codes to its facilities, as CLT9—opened in late 2020.

At first, residents and local news organizations couldn’t figure out why so many Amazon trucks had begun to show up on Margo Drive, a tiny tree-lined road with a handful of modest detached homes on it. In July, the problems had become regular enough that a local television news station located near Margo Drive, Fox 46 Charlotte, did a segment on the situation, with footage of Amazon trucks stuck on the street. Residents told the station some of the truck drivers said their GPS app had directed them down the road.

After neighbors complained, a sign appeared at the entrance to Margo Drive that stated “No Amazon Access,” according to Chambers, the pastor at the church on the road. But when that didn’t deter some trucks from forging ahead, Garden Memorial’s deacon, who lives nearby, installed orange traffic drums at the entrance to Margo Drive as a further warning sign to the truck drivers, Chambers said.

Still, some drivers moved the drums or drove over them to enter Margo Drive, Chambers said.

An Amazon spokesperson said the company “deployed a tech fix for the routing issue” that was directing trucks down Margo Drive “within one week of being notified of this issue.” But residents say the smiley-faced trucks keep coming.

Last Sunday, before Garden Memorial’s morning service began, Chambers said he spotted an Amazon truck preparing to turn onto Margo Drive. While he didn’t talk to the driver, he said he saw the driver’s gaze darting back and forth between his phone, the orange traffic drums and the sign barring Amazon trucks. The driver ultimately didn’t go down Margo Drive.

“I would say apparently from the driver’s actions this Sunday, [the map’s] not fixed,” Chambers said with a chuckle.

An Amazon spokesperson blamed third-party map apps. “While we have been able to fix this navigation issue in Relay, we know that drivers who choose to use other mapping software may still experience challenges in this area, which have caused disruptions to the community,” said the spokesperson, referring to Margo Drive. “We deeply care about the communities where we operate, and are actively working to encourage all of our carriers operating in this area [to] use our Relay navigation software so that we can eliminate these disruptions.”

Amazon and its partners could be considering a different solution to the problem. Chambers said he had been approached multiple times by representatives of Foundry Commercial—the developer leasing the warehouse property to Amazon—about selling a section of the church’s property so the company could build an entrance to its facility through Margo Drive.

So far, he has declined.