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Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

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Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#31

Post by brianwawok »

peterwwillis wrote: post #13

"My own story of how I became a human robot could not have been darker. Shifts began in the gloom at 7.30am and ended at 6pm, long after the sun had gone down." Oh, heavens. That almost sounds like a high school teacher's schedule. "Two half-hour breaks were the only time off my feet" Kind of like working in a supermarket? "toiling for up to 55 hours a week" The horror?? "[the warehouse] is so vast that just walking…

Is 5 minutes absurd? I worked at random factories in the day, 5 minute walk to the crapper was about right.

Now the difference was I didn't get fired because my productivity went down .1%, which is the problem with the hyper data Amazon warehouse worker...

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#32

Post by knownothing »

user5994461 wrote: post #22
dopamean wrote: post #16

You know what would be awesome? If tech was used to not just "revolutionize" how consumers get their products but also how employees were treated at these companies. So often it seems lately that tech giants are built in a super old fashioned way: on the backs of cheap labor.

Treating their employees well is how Google/Microsoft/Facebook are built. It's easy for them, it's office workers who bring super high margins. The business is more valuable by treating people well. Businesses based on grunt work, like Amazon, can't do that. Their existence is based on infinite cheap labor, to execute as much grunt work as cheap as possible.

> Treating their employees well is how Google/Microsoft/Facebook are built.

Not sure Microsoft is the best example: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/13/business/technology-temp-w...

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#33

Post by hinfaits »

wils1245 wrote: post #19
jrs95 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were they ever very innovative? Their initial success was pretty much based on having a bunch of investment capital and using it to kill their competition and grab market share without making profits for many years. Is it really very difficult to become an 'innovative' giant corporation when you've captured a huge part of the market like that?

For me, their innovation was that they were the first online retailer that inspired rock solid confidence in their delivery. If I order something on Amazon, it’s at my door in two days. Every time. I don’t need to check my shipping status, and with their pricing model obscuring shipping costs, I don’t need to think about the practicalities of shipping at all. As the article demonstrates, this luxury comes with a high…

From about 100 packages, I've had a handful come past the "guaranteed date", one that was entirely wrong (someone else's items), and worst of all, one that was missing an item that took a huge argument with a CSR to get a refund over.

I wouldn't call them rock solid. Even if they were, it's not something that has to, or justifies, mistreating employees.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#34

Post by dizzystar »

atonse wrote: post #2

Is it just me or is Amazon turning out to be even more evil than Walmart ever was? It's just cuz they're an "innovative" tech company, that we let them get away with it?

Warehouses are dirty, dangerous, and filthy. Every one has expectations for speed. People are a liability, not an asset.

I knew two people who worked at an Amazon warehouse. They both said it was pretty chill and easy. It's a matter of perspective and contrast.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#35

Post by stevenwoo »

Shivetya wrote: post #14
atonse wrote: post #2

Is it just me or is Amazon turning out to be even more evil than Walmart ever was? It's just cuz they're an "innovative" tech company, that we let them get away with it?

warehouse work has never been glamorous. it is grunt work. in a digital age where throughput gets measured and people become numbers in a chart it is easy to lose track of what reasonable is. what works elsewhere may not be appropriate. Amazon gets called out because they are the biggest not because they are the worst. Same reason large fast good gets called out but local diners get a pass. the drudgery and low pay m…

Also for Wal Mart and other low paying/low benefit service jobs, the oft repeated theory that American taxpayers essentially subsidize it (and the profits that accrue to management/shareholders) and federal benefits such as medicaid/welfare/food stamps make it possible employers to pay such low wages. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/15/...

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#37

Post by Apocryphon »

user5994461 wrote: post #8
atonse wrote: post #2

Is it just me or is Amazon turning out to be even more evil than Walmart ever was? It's just cuz they're an "innovative" tech company, that we let them get away with it?

Warehouses were always terrible, borderline cruel at some places. Amazon didn't invent them.

I thought labor conditions at Costco were supposed to be pretty good.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#40

Post by GuiA »

One asked: “Why are we not allowed to sit when it is quiet and not busy? We are human beings, not slaves and animals.”

That’s because Amazon would much rather have robots instead of human beings. In the meantime, it is falling back on humans, but still expecting them to behave as robots.

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