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The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

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Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#11

Post by [deleted] »

laretluval wrote: post #9
krapp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>More seriously though: the caterwauling over Amazon's cruel and unusual work conditions is getting a little long in the tooth. I had more sympathy when it's peeing in bottles and passing out from heat exhaustion, but if the above is extent of the complaints now...get over it? Just because the article doesn't explicitly mention peeing in bottles or passing out from heat exhaustion doesn't mean those problems no longe…

If the guy witnessed those things he would have reported them in this interview. He didn’t, so it probably didn’t happen.

[deleted]

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#12

Post by throwaway5752 »

neuronflux wrote: post #6
cloakandswagger wrote: post #4

This article indicts Amazon of the following cruelties: - Expects workers to work compensated overtime during a busy period - Tracks worker performance - Expects people to take only their scheduled breaks, and writes them up if they're MIA for 30+ minutes - Requires workers to show up and work during their scheduled work hours The humanity! And this poor guy, working a non-specialized manager position attainable with…

> after I finished serving in the Air Force Reserves in 2014, but then decided to go to graduate school for business administration > My salary was $80,000, which is on the higher end. They gave me more because I said I wouldn’t accept anything less, since I had a master’s.

I don't the your part you've quoted undercuts the point at all. If I have a PhD in the area of algebraic topology, I do not expect to get out of band comp for teaching middle school math. If the job only requires a high school diploma, then that's a great salary in most areas.

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#13

Post by oh_sigh »

chickenfries wrote: post #3
pbalau wrote: post #2

hmm... > The former Amazon employee, a US Air Force veteran, requested anonymity for fear of professional repercussions. > [...] I was at a fulfillment center in California from [redacted] to [redacted]. > I was an [redacted], inside a new facility that had about 1,000 associates. Isn't this a lot of info given away? /edit: in case the original article does the same

Why would you point that out?

If internal groups at Amazon want to find this guy, I doubt they will need OPs comment to put them on the trail.

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#14

Post by oh_sigh »

choot wrote: post #5
chickenfries wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you point that out?

To demonstrate their anonymity statement is rendered useless when you go through the other data in the article.

You're assuming some data hasn't been delicately fudged in order to anonymize the source. Maybe he worked there between August 2016 and September 2017. Maybe is a Navy, not AF veteran. Maybe he isn't a he at all. Who knows?

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#15

Post by damck »

oh_sigh wrote: post #14
choot wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To demonstrate their anonymity statement is rendered useless when you go through the other data in the article.

You're assuming some data hasn't been delicately fudged in order to anonymize the source. Maybe he worked there between August 2016 and September 2017. Maybe is a Navy, not AF veteran. Maybe he isn't a he at all. Who knows?

This train of thought only made me ask myself if the piece itself is real at all. The wonders of internet

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#16

Post by pbalau »

oh_sigh wrote: post #14
choot wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To demonstrate their anonymity statement is rendered useless when you go through the other data in the article.

You're assuming some data hasn't been delicately fudged in order to anonymize the source. Maybe he worked there between August 2016 and September 2017. Maybe is a Navy, not AF veteran. Maybe he isn't a he at all. Who knows?

What if there is somebody else that matches the made up details?

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#17

Post by Waterluvian »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #12
neuronflux wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> after I finished serving in the Air Force Reserves in 2014, but then decided to go to graduate school for business administration > My salary was $80,000, which is on the higher end. They gave me more because I said I wouldn’t accept anything less, since I had a master’s.

I don't the your part you've quoted undercuts the point at all. If I have a PhD in the area of algebraic topology, I do not expect to get out of band comp for teaching middle school math. If the job only requires a high school diploma, then that's a great salary in most areas.

Here's the crappy thing. We should pay you more to teach middle school math if you're a remarkably better teacher than the rest.

In high school some of my favourite teachers were there mostly as a semi-retirement job. My favourite was a retired Intel architect who taught grade 10 electrical engineering.

I would have been spoiled rotten if we were able to consistently attract those kinds of teachers.

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#18

Post by Retric »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #12
neuronflux wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> after I finished serving in the Air Force Reserves in 2014, but then decided to go to graduate school for business administration > My salary was $80,000, which is on the higher end. They gave me more because I said I wouldn’t accept anything less, since I had a master’s.

I don't the your part you've quoted undercuts the point at all. If I have a PhD in the area of algebraic topology, I do not expect to get out of band comp for teaching middle school math. If the job only requires a high school diploma, then that's a great salary in most areas.

A role that requires say 15 years of experience but no collage degree still needs to pay well. Education is often substituted for experience, but the X years of X years or a masters have real value.

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#19

Post by smileysteve »

neuronflux wrote: post #6
cloakandswagger wrote: post #4

This article indicts Amazon of the following cruelties: - Expects workers to work compensated overtime during a busy period - Tracks worker performance - Expects people to take only their scheduled breaks, and writes them up if they're MIA for 30+ minutes - Requires workers to show up and work during their scheduled work hours The humanity! And this poor guy, working a non-specialized manager position attainable with…

> after I finished serving in the Air Force Reserves in 2014, but then decided to go to graduate school for business administration > My salary was $80,000, which is on the higher end. They gave me more because I said I wouldn’t accept anything less, since I had a master’s.

I know a pm that earned his JD and is a member of the bar, he was making less than that.

In a number of industries, having your mba and being a manager doesn't put you over $80k. Masters even in relevant subjects don't necessarily put your salary that high in industries including teaching, shipping and logistics, warehousing, factory production.

Re: The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager

#20

Post by chickenfries »

Waterluvian wrote: post #17
throwaway5752 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't the your part you've quoted undercuts the point at all. If I have a PhD in the area of algebraic topology, I do not expect to get out of band comp for teaching middle school math. If the job only requires a high school diploma, then that's a great salary in most areas.

Here's the crappy thing. We should pay you more to teach middle school math if you're a remarkably better teacher than the rest. In high school some of my favourite teachers were there mostly as a semi-retirement job. My favourite was a retired Intel architect who taught grade 10 electrical engineering. I would have been spoiled rotten if we were able to consistently attract those kinds of teachers.

It's pretty well agreed on HN that you get what you pay for, and anyone who complains about being unable to hire good developers simply just isn't compensating well enough.

Why on earth would you not want to pay a better qualified teacher more? You must think that teaching is easy because the math is not complicated, yet most of the people who say this would loathe the idea of teaching for a living.

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