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Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

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Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#81

Post by pfortuny »

sneak wrote: post #77
holydude wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am against excessive taxation or overregulation but companies like Amazon ...no really any company...should be responsible for treating the society fair. Amazon is a behemoth that grew because of its ruthless behavior towards its competitors. I am sure there is more to life than constant race to the bottom when your average american has to compete with someone from china or africa.

How can you treat someone unfairly when they are not compelled to interact with you at all? Every single person who has a job with Amazon is there because they choose to be.

Come on, you are really simplifying. That argument was used in London at the beginning of the XIX century. We all know now it is flawed.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#82

Post by module0000 »

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?

By "let them get away with it", do you mean handed them your money in exchange for goods? This isn't their fault....just saying.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#83

Post by jbooth »

holydude wrote: post #75
fpisfun wrote: post #49

When an Amazon warehouse opened in my area relatively recently it seemed that many people were scrambling like crazy to try to get a job there. These seemed to be people who are poorly educated and low skilled but clearly the Amazon job represented a step up for them. I'm not saying that there aren't issues but clearly working for Amazon is still a better alternative than their other options. I personally know of som…

I am against excessive taxation or overregulation but companies like Amazon ...no really any company...should be responsible for treating the society fair. Amazon is a behemoth that grew because of its ruthless behavior towards its competitors. I am sure there is more to life than constant race to the bottom when your average american has to compete with someone from china or africa.

Why should they? Corporations are licensed sociopaths. That's by design, it's not a bug, we get a lot of value out of the regulated sociopathy.

If you're against regulation yet expect companies to work towards the higher social good regardless of profit motive, prepare to be disappointed on both counts.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#84

Post by johnvanommen »

token_throwaway wrote: post #42

This job sounds shitty but have you ever spoken to someone in a domestic role? A postal employee? A trucker? A janitor at your office building? Kitchen staff at a restaurant who do not even have time to take a piss without dropping the ball, let alone timed pee breaks? Lots of jobs are hard. Extremely hard. And often, jobs that are very very hard pay hardly anything. There is a two-way transaction happening here, tho…

A friend of mine was sick of her job and planning to quit. She's a journalist with a college degree. Her plan was to get a job at Starbucks until she could figure out what to do next.

As I see it, this is the LAST thing you should do in a situation like that. Though it's counterintuitive, service jobs can be very difficult to attain, because almost anyone is qualified to do it. IE, she thought that working at Starbucks would be easy. I'd argue the opposite: it's hard, because so many people are competing for low-end jobs.

My recommendation to her was to figure out how to do something where the demand is high and the supply is low.

My first job paid $3.35/hr, and some of the hardest jobs I've ever had paid minimum wage.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#85

Post by holydude »

jbooth wrote: post #83
holydude wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am against excessive taxation or overregulation but companies like Amazon ...no really any company...should be responsible for treating the society fair. Amazon is a behemoth that grew because of its ruthless behavior towards its competitors. I am sure there is more to life than constant race to the bottom when your average american has to compete with someone from china or africa.

Why should they? Corporations are licensed sociopaths. That's by design, it's not a bug, we get a lot of value out of the regulated sociopathy. If you're against regulation yet expect companies to work towards the higher social good regardless of profit motive, prepare to be disappointed on both counts.

Nah. I understand how this all works. I am a bit naive and hope that someday we will find a way to make everyone happy :-)

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#86

Post by tnzn »

pkaler wrote: post #80

Brutal? Sounds like a regular blue collar job. I worked as a sparkwatch at a plywood plant in high school. Basically, a welder’s assistant. This is what regular blue collar jobs look like. You work 12 hour shifts. The machinery is hot. There is constant dust in the air. You are on your feet the entire time. It’s 30ºC in the summer. It’s -20ºC in the winter. People in Sillicon Valley and especially the press are just…

It's brutal with respect to the "new spirit of capitalism" image that the tech industry represents

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#87

Post by johnvanommen »

strgrd wrote: post #55
token_throwaway wrote: post #42

This job sounds shitty but have you ever spoken to someone in a domestic role? A postal employee? A trucker? A janitor at your office building? Kitchen staff at a restaurant who do not even have time to take a piss without dropping the ball, let alone timed pee breaks? Lots of jobs are hard. Extremely hard. And often, jobs that are very very hard pay hardly anything. There is a two-way transaction happening here, tho…

> Open HN comment section on an article about labor conditions > Top comment, find a better job > Every time

Guilty as charged lol

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#88

Post by holydude »

sneak wrote: post #77
holydude wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am against excessive taxation or overregulation but companies like Amazon ...no really any company...should be responsible for treating the society fair. Amazon is a behemoth that grew because of its ruthless behavior towards its competitors. I am sure there is more to life than constant race to the bottom when your average american has to compete with someone from china or africa.

How can you treat someone unfairly when they are not compelled to interact with you at all? Every single person who has a job with Amazon is there because they choose to be.

The same way we fight against sexual harassment we can just raise the standard for everyone.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#89

Post by tnzn »

pfortuny wrote: post #81
sneak wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you treat someone unfairly when they are not compelled to interact with you at all? Every single person who has a job with Amazon is there because they choose to be.

Come on, you are really simplifying. That argument was used in London at the beginning of the XIX century. We all know now it is flawed.

Except neoliberals and right-wing libertarians (for most part), as their idiology is based on the belief of an unaltered freedom of choice afaik. The good old myth of pure freedom of choice is not dying anytime soon.

Re: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

#90

Post by Parcissons »

FC_Associate wrote: post #56

I’m currently working at one of the largest Amazon delivery stations in the US and seeing as there probably aren’t too many low level FC associates hanging out around these parts I’d be happy to answer any questions anyone might have. Keep in mind that I’m at a delivery station, this is a huge warehouse where we receive packages and sort them for delivery, and not one of the warehouses were products are packaged for…

Is there a reward system for logistic improvements?
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