Today’s links Amazon’s bestselling “bitter lemon” energy drink was bottled delivery driver piss: Amazon immediately spotted an undercover reporter but missed that the bestselling ‘Release Energy’ was its drivers’ urine. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2013, 2018, 2022 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading Amazon’s bestselling “bitter lemon” energy drink was bottled delivery driver piss (permalink) For a brief time this year, the bestselling “bitter lemon drink” on Amazon was “Release Energy,” which consisted of the harvested urine of Amazon delivery drivers, rebottled for sale by Catfish UK prankster Oobah Butler in a stunt for a new Channel 4 doc, “The Great Amazon Heist”: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-great-amazon-heist Collecting driver piss is surprisingly easy. Amazon, you see, puts its drivers on a quota that makes it impossible for them to drive safely, park conscientiously, or, indeed, fulfill their basic human biological needs. Amazon has long waged war on its employees’ kidneys, marking down warehouse workers for “time off task” when they visit the toilets. As tales of drivers pissing – and shitting! – in their vans multiplied, Amazon took decisive action. The company enacted a strict zero tolerance policy for drivers returning to the depot with bottles of piss in their vans. That’s where Butler comes in: the roads leading to Amazon delivery depots are lined with bottles of piss thrown out of delivery vans by drivers who don’t want to lose their jobs, which made harvesting the raw material for “Release Energy”…Pluralistic: Amazon's bestselling "bitter lemon" energy drink was bottled delivery driver piss (20 Oct 2023)