Signs of Environmental Discrimination

Limited Business Services

Front Porch Delivery Option

Amazon, a multi-billion dollar company provides a Front Porch Delivery Option for safe areas based on zip codes. But what defines a neighborhood as a “safe area?” Who gets to define a particular space as a “safe area?“ Is Amazon doing advocacy work or lobbying to create more “safe areas”? Companies like Amazon are profiting from low-income minority areas after classifying an area as “safe” to make their service-users feel more comfortable to purchase and deliver their product with greater security.

Amazon’s Front Porch Delivery Option explains, “if you choose Front Porch delivery, the carrier will deliver your order to the first dry, safe area immediately outside your front door. You aren't required to be present for delivery. However, if you live in an apartment complex or gated community, your presence may be required at the time of delivery for access to your front porch (first area immediately outside your individual unit).

Note: Not all items or Zip Codes are eligible for Select Checkout Deliveries. Delivery options that are available to you based on item or Zip Code will be displayed on the checkout page.”

Public Transportation inequities

Pay-By-Distance Transit

Sam Raby from Curbed San Francisco wrote an article about the Inequities of the Pay-By-Distance Transit in the Bay Area. This paragraph in the article captures the essence of transportation inequities in pay-by-distance transit policies:

“According to Gina, BART’s pay-by-distance fare policy disproportionately affects low-income commuters:

“Most people who are from [low-income] neighborhoods have to travel for work,” says Gina (who asked that we use her first name only). “Most well-off people can afford to live near their place of work.”

She adds that this fare structure could “deter people living in low-income neighborhoods to go outside of their neighborhoods.”

Healthy Food Desert

Disproportionate Ads Publicizing Liquor and Cigarette Brands

In A Systematic Review of Neighborhood Disparities in Point-of-Sale Tobacco Marketing , content from the synopsis explains, “neighborhoods with lower income have more tobacco marketing. There is more menthol marketing targeting urban neighborhoods and neighborhoods with more Black residents. Smokeless tobacco products are targeted more toward rural neighborhoods and neighborhoods with more White residents. Differences in store type partially explain these disparities.

There are more inducements to start and continue smoking in lower-income neighborhoods and in neighborhoods with more Black residents. Retailer marketing may contribute to disparities in tobacco use. Clinicians should be aware of the pervasiveness of these environmental cues.”

Tobacco companies target poorer neighborhoods with advertising. The Harvard Study can be found here.

The Prevalence of 99 Cent Stores

The Dollar Store Backlash Has Begun, by Tanvi Misra, via Bloomberg City Lab explains the disproportionate prevalence of 99 cent stores in low-income communities and how they contribute to unhealthy food options and perpetuate a cycle of poverty.