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Amazon Unpacked

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Re: Amazon Unpacked

#11

Post by mikegreen »

We've gotten to a point where those who read this article will say sweatshop labor is OK because we want our 2-day free shipping. Then, we say it isn't OK because they make minimum-wage, have to walk 15 miles a day, and work under management that runs the shop by strict metrics. Well, someone has to do it (at least now.. coming soon: robots) - not everyone is destined to goto college or even a voc-tech school to learn how to operate a bulldozer.

It sucks, I agree. But, 40 years ago it was a mining town. Mining by all accounts to me (tech desk jockey) sucks worse than an Amazon warehouse, but yet there was some dignity and pride in being a miner. You were producing coal for power! Power saved the country in war! Power keeps the lights on! Yay! Go miners! But, making millions of people happy by providing them widgets and sheets and 0.99cent cart-filler-chinese-made-LEDs doesn't make you happy?

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#12

Post by timthorn »

mikegreen wrote: post #11

We've gotten to a point where those who read this article will say sweatshop labor is OK because we want our 2-day free shipping. Then, we say it isn't OK because they make minimum-wage, have to walk 15 miles a day, and work under management that runs the shop by strict metrics. Well, someone has to do it (at least now.. coming soon: robots) - not everyone is destined to goto college or even a voc-tech school to lear…

Mining paid a lot better than pick&pack.

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#13

Post by saintx »

At the end of each day, in a University town, you might sit down to enjoy a meal or a cup of coffee at a local café, and strike up a conversation with a complete stranger. The two of you might find quite a lot to talk about, trading ideas and perspectives on different subjects, and ideas would flow between you, like heat from a hot cup of coffee into cold hands. But in a one-shop town (like the one I grew up in, or the one in this story), at the end of the day, what do these hard working people have to talk about? Moving packages. The insult of everyone having the same job is compounded by the injury of every moment of the job being the same as the next. Nobody needs to talk, because there's nothing new to say. There's no "heat" exchange, because everyone is in the same pressure cooker with everyone else. There's no differentiation, just accumulation. Organizations and organisms, to be healthy, need specialized organs. Accumulation without differentiation is what we call "cancer".

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#14

Post by gedrap »

eliben wrote: post #9

I wonder how long it takes for such jobs to be fully robot-staffed. I had the impression it's already the case for some types of warehouse tasks. With very high likeness, within our lifetime there will be no need for human pac-mans.

And what are the chances that the packers who are complaining now, will be complaining then that their jobs were taken away and they want it back? Pretty damn high, I'd say.

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#15

Post by mikegreen »

timthorn wrote: post #12
mikegreen wrote: post #11

We've gotten to a point where those who read this article will say sweatshop labor is OK because we want our 2-day free shipping. Then, we say it isn't OK because they make minimum-wage, have to walk 15 miles a day, and work under management that runs the shop by strict metrics. Well, someone has to do it (at least now.. coming soon: robots) - not everyone is destined to goto college or even a voc-tech school to lear…

Mining paid a lot better than pick&pack.

Probably. But mining had huge risks. The cave collapses. The air you breathe was horribly toxic. You traded life expectancy for more money. I imagine you did a fair amount of harder labor and walked more than an Amazon warehouse. And there is a damn canary chirping all the time.

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#16

Post by gedrap »

I see their point but... But OK, what else realistically can they expect? Yes, it sucks a lot especially when all the media around you is telling all those success stories and make you feel like you are the lowest class, destined to work that kind of job for the rest of your days. Although your position is not that bad. There are millions of people who would do literally anything to have it. Or they do same/harder jobs and are still starving.

Raise the wage? I don't think Amazon would like to cut their profits to make your life better. Raise the wage and increase the price? Well then you might not have your job at all.

It sucks but your alternatives are way worse - having no job and worrying about making the ends meet everyday.

And that's exactly why there are so many Eastern Europeans in the UK. Because an average Eastern European would not complain much about walking 15 miles a day and would be really happy that he has ANY job.

(I'm from a poor family where all relatives are working in sweat shops)

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#17

Post by jpswade »

kristopolous wrote: post #5

I like how the unit of size was football pitch. I guess around the world it's assumed that the reader has intimate familiarity with lining up sporting fields but can't handle things like a metric system.

It's just a ballpark figure...

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#18

Post by [deleted] »

droopyEyelids wrote: post #8

It's funny how a job like this fits with the cultural idea of 'the dignity of work.' The politicians and Amazon describe the human-robot job in positive terms, like they're helping the community. But the real way jobs help people is by providing them with enough resources to improve their situation, and gain control of their lives. Working in an Amazon factory doesn't do that. First, after hustling for 15 miles a shi…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#19

Post by bambax »

mikegreen wrote: post #11

We've gotten to a point where those who read this article will say sweatshop labor is OK because we want our 2-day free shipping. Then, we say it isn't OK because they make minimum-wage, have to walk 15 miles a day, and work under management that runs the shop by strict metrics. Well, someone has to do it (at least now.. coming soon: robots) - not everyone is destined to goto college or even a voc-tech school to lear…

> Mining (...) sucks worse than an Amazon warehouse

I'm not sure.

Yes, mining was physically one of the most demanding / intense work there has ever been -- see this fantastic description by Orwell for example: http://george-orwell.org/Down_The_Mine/0.html

But, in a way, it that was a good thing, because you did a job most other humans weren't capable of doing.

Re: Amazon Unpacked

#20

Post by zrail »

mikegreen wrote: post #15
timthorn wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining paid a lot better than pick&pack.

Probably. But mining had huge risks. The cave collapses. The air you breathe was horribly toxic. You traded life expectancy for more money. I imagine you did a fair amount of harder labor and walked more than an Amazon warehouse. And there is a damn canary chirping all the time.

I don't know why you're using past tense here. People are still working in mines all over the world and all of those risks you list are their every day reality.
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