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Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

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Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#221

Post by progval »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #158

Obviously, I wouldn't call this slavery. But in terms of the effect on the employees, it's __in some ways__ getting close. Do we have a word for this type of relationship between worker and company? There's something wrong when we (at least in the USA) are said to be approaching but workers (albeit in the UK) can't stop to pee. All this at the hands of the richest man in the world?

> Do we have a word for this type of relationship between worker and company?

Exploitation of labour. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation_of_labour

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#222

Post by partiallypro »

I've never heard stories like this, but I have heard stories (there's a distribution center a few miles from where I live) of workers stealing sex toys from bins and using it in the bathrooms at work. This is both sexes.

Amazon treats their floor employees horribly, but (and this is good/bad) are hiring people from low rungs of society, so they probably feel they -can- take advantage of these people. They are sometimes the only job in town.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#223

Post by Murdodc089 »

lostapathy wrote: post #97
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about that joke anymore. Being an Amazon customer used to be great, but the deliveries are bordering on ridiculously horrible now. I order something on Prime, then it doesn't show up when I expect it to, I get no notification of any delays, and then when I log in to see what's going on they have changed the original expected date so I can't even see what I was originally promised unless I took a screen s…

I'm seeing this as well - and ironically, I live within walking distance of an Amazon fulfillment center. The scummiest part, though, is that when packages get completely lost, half the time I can't request an automatic refund, I have to work with a customer support rep to get it issued. Realistically, it should be completely automated. If Amazon knows my package was lost (in my most recent case, it never even shippe…

"....I have to work with a customer support rep to get it issued"

I'm finding more and more (or maybe it's always been this way?) that the onus for correcting or making sure something is correct, is ALWAYS placed on the last person in the chain.....the individual.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#224

Post by progval »

matte_black wrote: post #26
LinuxBender wrote: post #15

Doesn't this affect more than the employees? If they are peeing in a bottle, shouldn't they sanitize their hands after touching their package so they can safely handle our packages? Should I be inspecting the inner contents using a black light?

They shouldn’t be pissing in a bottle period, they should be taking a break, they are just scared to. No one is forcing them to pee in a bottle.

> No one is forcing them to pee in a bottle.

I don't think many people would do that willingly.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#225

Post by j45 »

isostatic wrote: post #107
j45 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deliveries are not done by Amazon where I live - it's usually 3rd party.

Those third parties likely owe pretty much their entire business to amazon. When a company can't exist without a specific client, is it really a third party?

I think delivery companies may vary - in my area, some deliveries are still completed by the national mail, major couriers, however small (and often incompetent) carriers are starting to.

The reason for my comment was that my experience receiving a shiny package doesn't really overlap with what employees are being put through. Both reflect poorly on Amazon, the conversation about employees is a valid on it's own as there are avenues with Amazon to already complain about poor delivery and have a recourse.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#226

Post by Notorious_BLT »

bitwize wrote: post #165
Domenic_S wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is dying in the street in substantial numbers?

Go to San Francisco. You'll meet them.

You mean the progressive city that still refuses to build housing?

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#227

Post by partiallypro »

kelukelugames wrote: post #7
notheguyouthink wrote: post #2

Are Amazon's margins razor thin? I'm trying to understand what compels them to be so toxic in their work environment. Especially compared to the people I know who work at Costco, I struggle to understand why Costco treats employees so well, and Amazon treats their employees so poorly. It's really sad, regardless.

Bezos. Jeff Bezos is the reason why Amazon treats workers they way they do. Compared to other tech giants, Amazon is incredibly anti-employee. Look at how their stocks vest. I worked at Microsoft during Balmer's reign. The founder/CEO's attitude dictates the work culture. And causes harm if it's bad. I live in Seattle and often hear this joke: Being an Amazon customer is the best. An investor is great. An employee no…

People I am friends with in management make a lot of money, with great stock options and bonuses; floor workers are the people that get crapped on. If you're in logistics, you're making a killing, and generally have a good work life. So I'm told. Same applies to Alexa and AWS teams.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#228

Post by j45 »

jonknee wrote: post #60
j45 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costco (retail) appears to treat their employees much better - much higher base wages, regular increases in wage, benefits, etc. Also know a past Costco corporate employee and only had a positive impression.

Retail positions are different than warehouse positions. It's like how UPS drivers make bank, but the guys who load the trucks break their backs for scratch (even with union representation!).

There are warehouse positions in Costco as well. Costco seems to skirt labour laws a little less than other retailers.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#229

Post by Spooky23 »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #27
atrexler wrote: post #23

Long-haul truckers have been doing this for decades for the same reason-- they don't have time to pull over and use the restroom-- and no one is upset about that. I'm sure there are many industries, white and blue collar, where similar norms are expressed. Edit to add: I'm not endorsing the practice in any industry at all, just pointing out that its not a unique problem to Amazon. My comment would have been better ph…

wait, you're sure there are many industries, white and blue collar, where workers routinely pee in bottles as a job requirement? Really? In the U.S.? You're pretty sure about this, eh? Many industries? I'd be curious to hear an example of one industry where "white collar" workers routinely pee in bottles as a job requirement, official or unofficial.

Do you think that GM halts an assembly line that costs $100k an hour when some random dude needs to take a leak?

Anything where output is measured directly and challenged will result in this type of behavior with nasty management.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#230

Post by leggomylibro »

madamelic wrote: post #205
leggomylibro wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we need to democratize the means of automation. Building blocks spanning microcontrollers to motors to power converters to lighting to the rapid fabrication of small parts have never been cheaper or more accessible. And why would you buy remote-controlled lightbulbs from BigCo if you could make one yourself (or get a friend to) for the cost of a sandwich? Because you can't spare the extra $3 to buy a fair-tra…

>Building blocks spanning microcontrollers to motors to power converters to lighting to the rapid fabrication of small parts have never been cheaper or more accessible. And why would you buy remote-controlled lightbulbs from BigCo if you could make one yourself (or get a friend to) for the cost of a sandwich? I think you need to step out of the engineer shoes. The majority of people struggle to understand their compu…

Sure, but education on those topics has also never been cheaper or more accessible. And these days, you could use something like MakeCode to automate simple tasks without ever touching a programming environment.

There still aren't many people muddling through the introductory online courses on those topics, but there could be. Encouraging participation in learning about useful subjects seems like another good goal which could be helped by the low cost-at-scale of things like MOOCs, and showing people how to make useful things actually happen in the real world seems like a good way to reinforce that encouragement.

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