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Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

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Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#501
post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find myself falling into this line of thought a lot: why should we make tradeoffs that favor the earth instead of hyper-accelerating progress to get off of it in preparation for its inevitable demise? Get off and go where? Anywhere we could go is a million times worse for human habitation than post-demise Earth.

I think the idea is: assume sufficient technological advancement to be able to reach or even create countless other essentially exact replicas of earth? Barring that, plenty of ideas have been floated along the lines of extraterrestrial colonization and/or intergenerational spaceships.

If you are advanced enough to do that, you’re advanced enough to clean up Earth and make it a paradise.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#502
post #34
post #5

Had to buy some simple toolkit today. It was 5 bucks on Amazon, but I decided to find a local store that sells it. Same price btw. I think we should be a bit more aware about the impact of ordering everything through Amazon. Not only regarding delivery, but also the message it sends to local stores.

I've had this exact sentiment for many years but... what are we supporting really? Is it because you want a distributed network of inventory across the country near you in case of emergency? Is it because you like talking to someone when doing purchases? Is it because you think someone is doing a societal good by parking money in inventory they brought near you? Is it because you just don't like someone doing it more…

Given that Bezos has announced plans to donate $1M to Trump’s inaugural fund, supporting local businesses helps keep money out of the hands of fascists.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#503
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 - when I order on Amazon, it mostly gets here. Others, I suffer stress & distraction.

Hm, I have an active order right now. I ordered three things simultaneously on December 15 with a stated delivery date of December 20, also called out by the website as "arrives before Christmas". One of those things shipped the next day and is currently reported to be arriving tomorrow, which happens to match the stated delivery date. The other two have yet to ship, but their delivery date has slipped to "December 2…

What's your control group? Would other online retailers fare better or worse than this? Most of the time, other online retailers are worse in my experience.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Either you think the CEO was an undeserving victim, or you think that only billionaires and their enforces deserve a monopoly on lethal force. So, what's your take on this recent scenario: Ukraine assassinated a Russian general that authorised plans for chemical attacks that killed civilians. The general never directly murdered anyone in person, never "pulled a trigger", but was ultimately responsible for many deaths…

Either you think the CEO was an undeserving victim, or you think that only billionaires and their enforces deserve a monopoly on lethal force.

Neither choice is valid, and this statement is just pure mindfuck.

It is completely irrelevant what the CEO "deserved". I'm not going to condone lynching or vigilante killings in any civil context.

There's no analogy with Ukraine/Russia, or any actual military conflict.

You whole take here smells like "We're at civil war already, so why not just start lynching people? At least we'll have justice, finally."

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#505
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking from personal experience: people with ADHD, who don't have their shit together but desperately want to avoid disappointing the people they care about. People who then get hoodwinked by the bald faced lies everybody from Amazon right through to the courier staff will tell you about projected delivery dates and "oh, gosh, sorry, you know we just attempted delivery but couldn't get in!" (while you're sitting in…

My solution for this is to keep gifts for the people I buy presents for in mind throughout the year, and buy things as I come across them, then, when it's time to wrap, my wife and I lay things out and decide what actually gets gifted, excess gets set aside for upcoming birthdays (which are both fortunately early in the year, Jan. and March) or possibly even the next Christmas, then come April I start in on the proce…

I'm glad that works for you! The challenge with executive function issues is that it can be literally impossible to reliably do things like that in advance! Especially months and months in advance. It's also a challenge to delay gratification; when I find something that really speaks to me about someone, I really just want to give it to them straight away.

As a result I think I place a pretty low value on events centred around gift giving -- and yet I live in a society, etc.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#506
post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More false dichotomies. Technophiles love them. The choice isn't just between modern global capitalism and a dirt floor. It's just that you have a strong emotional attachment to technology and can't see a way out.

It isn't an emotional attachment, I just clearly see that lots of technologies lean on one another and you can't easily pick an choose which ones to abandon and the clock simply does not roll backwards. Every material good that isn't made of material near at hand relies on trade and specialized skills. The humble pencil is shockingly complicated to produce, as you can see in the 1958 essay "I, Pencil". If you want so…

Thank you for your input. You're right, and one day I hope to be elevated to your level of rationality and logical thinking. It's an honour to receive input from someone like you.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as a union diesel engine mechanic i can guarantee most, if not all these comments are complete PR. I went on strike about ten years ago to protest mandatory overtime and lack of chemical PPE. the minute we authorized the strike, we had news channels from three states covering us and a billboard up the road that demanded an end to the strike by "concerned" truckers was erected in hours. Every day I could count on at l…

My Boomer Dad was a Teamster. I remember there was a several-weeks-long (might have even been months-long?) strike when I was a kid, probably around the late-70s. Shit was real. One day I saw him loading baseball bats and clubs into the trunk of his Buick before he left the house. I was just a kid; I had no idea what was going on. I asked him about it later in life and he just said, "That's how it was back then. We h…

It amazes me how things used to make more sense back in the day.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#508
post #501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is: assume sufficient technological advancement to be able to reach or even create countless other essentially exact replicas of earth? Barring that, plenty of ideas have been floated along the lines of extraterrestrial colonization and/or intergenerational spaceships.

If you are advanced enough to do that, you’re advanced enough to clean up Earth and make it a paradise.

I’m not arguing strongly in favor of “getting off it” so I’m not going to make much effort defending the position.

But I can imagine scenarios where we have to leave earth with intergenerational ships and only then acquire the ability to terraform, harness a star’s energy or travel at light speed.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either you think the CEO was an undeserving victim, or you think that only billionaires and their enforces deserve a monopoly on lethal force. So, what's your take on this recent scenario: Ukraine assassinated a Russian general that authorised plans for chemical attacks that killed civilians. The general never directly murdered anyone in person, never "pulled a trigger", but was ultimately responsible for many deaths…

Either you think the CEO was an undeserving victim, or you think that only billionaires and their enforces deserve a monopoly on lethal force. Neither choice is valid, and this statement is just pure mindfuck. It is completely irrelevant what the CEO "deserved". I'm not going to condone lynching or vigilante killings in any civil context. There's no analogy with Ukraine/Russia, or any actual military conflict. You wh…

> Neither choice is valid

Why not? They are the very real choices people are making.

Some would argue that lethal force is always wrong, even when you're being killed for money. Sorry, sorry... allowed to die without care ... for slightly enriching people that are already very, very, very rich.

Others, like the rebels in Syria, or the defenders in Ukraine, would argue otherwise.

> this statement is just pure mindfuck.

If you've never seen things in this way, you should start.

The billionaires see it that way.

"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

These laws, these norms you cling to... these are not designed to protect you.

> I'm not going to condone lynching or vigilante killings in any civil context.

Things stop "being civil" when death at an industrial scale becomes wildly profitable, legal, protected, and enforced by violent police.

The same police that will stand outside a school for an hour and tackle parents who do try to protect the lives of their own children.

> We're at civil war already,

You are, you just haven't noticed.

In case you do notice, you'll realise you're on the side that's losing because while you wring your hands in fear of things turning violent, the other side has been feeding your side into a meat grinder for profit at an industrial scale.

The Sacklers killed 200,000 of you people and you want to protect their right to lord over you in absolute safety!? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49718388

> At least we'll have justice, finally."

There's no "we" here.

I live in one of the rest-of-the-world places where healthcare is universal, and you have no justice. Not yet.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The local stores also employ people. They also pay business taxes that Amazon avoids.

I don't understand the dichotomy. Local stores can exist and their taxes can pay for things, but the Amazon HQ also exists and can pay for things. And its employees likely pay the higher taxation bands as well, although I could be wrong.

The local stores still support those higher-paying roles, though again probably more locally — the local accountant, the local lawyer when they need one, the local IT company.

The Amazon HQ is great for Seattle and Luxembourg, but money spent there is gone from my local (or even national) community.

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