Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 415 posts

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#131

Post by PeakHackerNews »

amphibian87 wrote: post #107
notyourwork wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure this shows things got quickly worse. It may just show Whole Foods employees lost control they used to have but I think you are jumping to conclusions.

Are you joking? This is Amazon, the company where warehouse workers have to pick an item with so little time, they have to jog around the warehouse. Workers urinating in bottles because using the bathroom during non breaks = termination. Oh, and those breaks last exactly 14 minutes and 59 seconds, because anything after is Bezos' time, and you will be reprimanded. While he is one of the richest people in the world, c…

[flagged]

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#132

Post by nautilus12 »

lsmarigo wrote: post #73
imagiko wrote: post #38

I have noticed that the cashier's have gotten pushy about asking about a Prime account, and very recently about a charity donation. It's a good way to 'make' people donate when asked upfront. I'm sure the probability of people donating increases. When I denied, I was asked if I'd like to round off my payment and have the balance donated. Honestly, it's very annoying. Whole foods is unfortunately becoming an REI store…

Panda Express kicks this up a notch and has a little bell they ring whenever someone donates their change adding an element of social pressure/shame, super scummy

South Park

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#133

Post by ccvannorman »

SilasX wrote: post #4
tony_cannistra wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did a weird double-take when I asked why a sale (yellow-labeled) item didn't ring up as discounted and the cashier asked if I had Prime. He then asked me to search "whole foods QR code" on my Amazon app. I just ... didn't love it.

Such a bizarre juxtaposition, it feels like it came out of The Onion.

You can use the Prime app to have a drone deliver you the correct identification documents, which are printed at a desk across from the cashier, which employees are not allowed to touch.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#134

Post by perl4ever »

astrodust wrote: post #84
simonsarris wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no added hormones in WF meat. There are no hydrogenated oils in any of their products. There are no phthalates in any of their beauty/wash products. Obviously you can define health however yo want, and you can scan the shelves of other stores for these same things. Maybe you can find a couple phthalate-free shampoos in Target, read a bunch of articles and memorize the good brands and hope they don't change.…

No added hormones is normal in most countries, but apparently in the USA you need to go out of your way to not do that.

When I think of a national brand in the US that everyone would assume the worst of, that is available at ordinary non-WF supermarkets, I think of Tyson, and yet their chicken is prominently labeled "no antibiotics ever" and "no added hormones or steroids".

I think this may be a case of "gluten free sugar".

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#135

Post by zaroth »

simonsarris wrote: post #57
driverdan wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The average person now has access to healthier grocery / purchasing options WF's food is not any healthier than the food you find in other stores.

There are no added hormones in WF meat. There are no hydrogenated oils in any of their products. There are no phthalates in any of their beauty/wash products. Obviously you can define health however yo want, and you can scan the shelves of other stores for these same things. Maybe you can find a couple phthalate-free shampoos in Target, read a bunch of articles and memorize the good brands and hope they don't change.…

I remember a great quote from a WF shopper talking about their prices. They said how great it was to see lower prices on the produce, meats, etc. but that if you ever found her shopping the health & beauty section it meant she won the lottery.

Got a good chuckle out of that because I’ve also never dared shop those aisles at WF either!

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#136

Post by Saavedro »

jdck1326 wrote: post #90
twothamendment wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment made me search for the nearest one. According to Google Maps, the nearest Whole Foods Market is over 10 hours away. I guess I'll shop Half Foods Market like I always do.

>10 hours away Time isn't a very good measure of distance

i mean, if you're talking about how convenient is to shop there it kind of is? Doesn't matter if I'm technically close to a place if I gotta take a long detour to actually arrive.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#137

Post by BookmarkSaver »

masonic wrote: post #103
bendoidic wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ralphs and Vons in California have been doing the charity ask for years. I always assumed it was their way of bragging later "how much they gave back to the community" while conveniently forgetting to mention those funds came from customer donations. I hate it, too.

Safeway also.

Safeway and Vons are both subsidiaries of Albertson's.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#138

Post by akudha »

notyourwork wrote: post #95
cliffordthedog wrote: post #86

Good timing, last thing Amazon will want right now is a battle with a union. Especially for a company they acquired so recently (shows that things got quickly worse with Amazon in charge). Good luck Whole Foods workers.

I'm not sure this shows things got quickly worse. It may just show Whole Foods employees lost control they used to have but I think you are jumping to conclusions.

Not sure if things have gone bad for employees (not a surprise though), but as a shopper, things have definitely gone bad. Most visible one is empty shelves, which is becoming more and more frequent. Maybe they did some "optimization", doesn't help shoppers though

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#139

Post by nickthemagicman »

imagiko wrote: post #38

I have noticed that the cashier's have gotten pushy about asking about a Prime account, and very recently about a charity donation. It's a good way to 'make' people donate when asked upfront. I'm sure the probability of people donating increases. When I denied, I was asked if I'd like to round off my payment and have the balance donated. Honestly, it's very annoying. Whole foods is unfortunately becoming an REI store…

I quit donating to charity after I found out that Red Cross only gives a small fraction of its donations to charity the rest is spent on Administration costs.

Just like colleges and the healthcare industry.

Got to pay all those vp's of vp's of vp's.

Post reply on HN