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What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

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Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#101

Post by somebodythere »

regul8 wrote: post #98

Ok, so who’s pointing a gun at anyone’s head and saying you HAVE TO WORK at an Amazon fulfillment center? This isn’t slavery, it’s free will. Slavery, at least in civilized countries, ended CENTURIES ago! I could delve deeper into the psychology that leads to feelings of entrapment, but I won’t. As humans, we need to get over ourselves. Work is hard. Life is hard. But it can be rewarding too, so long as you stop play…

Workers are allowed to criticize and push back against poor working conditions. That's how the labor market is supposed to work. If workers are just expected to sit there and take what is given, then capital holds all the cards.

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#102

Post by bkor »

FC_Associate wrote: post #92
adventured wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The questions it prompts are pretty straight forward. Does Amazon actually pay ~30% better now than their competitors (or anything close to that)? Do they offer dental, vision and healthcare coverage for all employees? If those things are true, then I think better of Amazon because of it. I would have guessed none of those things were true otherwise. The media and essentially all comments online proclaim that Amazon…

I'm not exactly sure how much better Amazon pays, if at all better, here in SoCal starting pay is around $12-$14 per hour for L1 associates, but anecdotally I feel like this is on the higher end when compared to similar jobs, at least compared to the jobs I've held. I can't speak to the insurance coverage provided since I'm a part time worker but from what I've heard, while pay isn't great, the insurance seems to be…

In response to you mentioning saving 1500 USD: You commented in another post that you lived out of your car (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790455). There still seems to be something wrong. Maybe not Amazon, maybe all the companies around there. People with a fulltime job should earn enough not to be living out of a car!

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#103

Post by sireat »

Moodles wrote: post #94

My brother actually worked in an Amazon warehouse for awhile and indeed it sounds like a dreadful work environment (although I am comparatively spoiled in software engineering and my brother hasn’t actually worked in similar jobs in warehouses for other companies, so it’s hard to judge from his experience alone if it’s an Amazon thing or just these kinds of jobs in general). However (and I’m bracing for impact here),…

The answer lies in unequal bargaining power, public shaming/awareness is the best we can do.

There's the added irony of Mr. Bezos publicly the richest man in the world having his workers hold their pee.

Amazon will not care about its least protected workers until Amazon feels the backlash in lowered sales.

If your locality has Amazon warehouse as the largest employer your options are quite limited.

It is similar to having a coal mine in 19th century(or recycling center in 21st century China) being the largest employer. Nice to have a job at first, but black lung is not so nice after a while.

The conditions do not have to be that bad, Costco has proven that.

Other FAANGs get less flack in this regard because they outsource all the menial/routine jobs(Facebook and Google outsource a lot of horrible MTurk like jobs) and they do not need as many of them.

PS I had 2 friends who worked at the Amazon UK Warehouse a few years back. They only lasted 6 months before the repetitive injuries took their toll. And it was pretty much impossible to have a day off.

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#104

Post by FC_Associate »

bkor wrote: post #102
FC_Associate wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not exactly sure how much better Amazon pays, if at all better, here in SoCal starting pay is around $12-$14 per hour for L1 associates, but anecdotally I feel like this is on the higher end when compared to similar jobs, at least compared to the jobs I've held. I can't speak to the insurance coverage provided since I'm a part time worker but from what I've heard, while pay isn't great, the insurance seems to be…

In response to you mentioning saving 1500 USD: You commented in another post that you lived out of your car ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790455 ). There still seems to be something wrong. Maybe not Amazon, maybe all the companies around there. People with a fulltime job should earn enough not to be living out of a car!

Just to clarify that post was from quite a while ago and at that time I was living out of my car, I'm actually now sharing a room in an apartment. But I certainly agree it's not a good thing when people who are working are living out of their cars or worse.

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#105

Post by flattone »

EasyTiger_ wrote: post #100

> I can safely say that none of MY ideas have panned out anywhere near what Jeff Bezos has accomplished. I am more than happy, though, to continue working here, at BFI4, in WA. I receive a (more than fair) wage and work with some really good people. Making history, every day. Blink twice if you need help

Is BTIYNH code for "conform, they're watching. We need to get out of here."

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#106

Post by presscast »

agwa wrote: post #43

Let's say you're a company with a serious PR problem about the working conditions in your warehouses. You set up 15 Twitter accounts claiming to be employees of your warehouses. You make sure the accounts are laughably bad at concealing the fact that they are shills, with cookie-cutter bios and responses that are obviously canned talking points. This ensures that the accounts are discovered and written up by various…

The thing to keep in mind is that clickbait writers will take liberties when citing these twitter accounts, cutting up the quotes to make them sound natural.

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#107

Post by bkor »

kizer wrote: post #15

They’re not chatbots - the replies are too specific and organic in some of the tweets I read. I’m guessing Amazon told these workers that someone would convey their general sentiments on their behalf. That or this is satire, I hope.

My observation: The article doesn't say that it is automated, just that they're drones (meaning: always behaving the same way). I assume they hired a few people to do this (optionally through some other company). It seems like they got a few standard responses and they need to stick to that. Might be e.g. in Manilla or somewhere in India. Reasoning is that they really stay to the script. The responses are so similar, normally you'd try to tweak it more so it is more natural. I noticed for outsourced stuff they tend to stick more to the script no matter if it makes sense or not. It's up to the manager to notice that the something needs to be tweaked.

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#108

Post by bkor »

regul8 wrote: post #98

Ok, so who’s pointing a gun at anyone’s head and saying you HAVE TO WORK at an Amazon fulfillment center? This isn’t slavery, it’s free will. Slavery, at least in civilized countries, ended CENTURIES ago! I could delve deeper into the psychology that leads to feelings of entrapment, but I won’t. As humans, we need to get over ourselves. Work is hard. Life is hard. But it can be rewarding too, so long as you stop play…

> Work is hard. Life is hard.

Why not ensure work isn't too hard, nor life, nor going to the doctor. And then not just for you, but for everyone.

> But it can be rewarding too, so long as you stop playing the victim.

That's blaming people for the situation they are in without knowing what caused it. Maybe the causes should be addressed.

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#109

Post by Moodles »

sireat wrote: post #103
Moodles wrote: post #94

My brother actually worked in an Amazon warehouse for awhile and indeed it sounds like a dreadful work environment (although I am comparatively spoiled in software engineering and my brother hasn’t actually worked in similar jobs in warehouses for other companies, so it’s hard to judge from his experience alone if it’s an Amazon thing or just these kinds of jobs in general). However (and I’m bracing for impact here),…

The answer lies in unequal bargaining power, public shaming/awareness is the best we can do. There's the added irony of Mr. Bezos publicly the richest man in the world having his workers hold their pee. Amazon will not care about its least protected workers until Amazon feels the backlash in lowered sales. If your locality has Amazon warehouse as the largest employer your options are quite limited. It is similar to h…

> If your locality has Amazon warehouse as the largest employer your options are quite limited.

As the only employer, right? (Of the kind that doesn't ask for much different qualifications ofc.) Not largest. And in practice I'm skeptical of how often this is the really case. My brother isn't particularly specifically qualified in any trade but even he had options once he started working. And even then in this hypothetical town where Amazon is the only employer, you could say well, of all the rich companies at least Amazon is giving jobs to people. What's everyone else doing? Aren't they more morally culpable? Does any company even owe anyone a job anyways? It seems to me that the government should do more to help these people have more of a fighting chance of bargaining in the world by training them in schools, etc.

> Other FAANGs get less flack in this regard because they outsource all the menial/routine jobs(Facebook and Google outsource a lot of horrible MTurk like jobs)

> Amazon will not care about its least protected workers until Amazon feels the backlash in lowered sales.

Truth.

Re: What is this Twitter army of Amazon drones cheerfully defending warehouse work?

#110

Post by freeone3000 »

fcthrowaway wrote: post #84
jancsika wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't imagine any managers at my station writing anyone up for taking bathroom breaks, and definitely not for handling a bloody nose. What exactly is the policy on bathroom breaks?

(I've worked in an FC for over a year. I'm an L1, not a PA or manager.) Most functions in FCs are "direct": they have rate expectations that are automatically tracked. Every minute you're in a direct function counts toward your rate. You can go to the bathroom whenever you need to, but it'll lower your rate. (Some functions are "indirect", meaning that they don't involve use of any digital tools and so can't be track…

So, in short: You might get written up for taking a bathroom break if the bathrooms are far away from where you work?
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