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ForeverStaloneKP t1_ixocbcz wrote

It's interesting to hear how things have devolved at Amazon. I've done picking and packing gigs there over the Christmas period about 10 years ago and it wasn't awful. Hard work but nothing too crazy. They would track how many items you picked/packed in an hour but that was about it. It sounds much worse there these days.

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Freyas_Follower t1_ixolkxm wrote

I did it up until last year, and it's the same.

It's just not the same everywhere. There are some places more whip cracky than others, firing people for 1 to 2 items per hour under the rate. Mine would do it if you were the bottom 5% for 4 weeks straight.

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[deleted] t1_ixp22hh wrote

[removed]

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PIPBOY-2000 t1_ixp4e6z wrote

I forgot who made the joke how an Amazon truck could run over his wife and the next day he would be on Amazon.com ordering the black tie for the funeral.

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EuropaWeGo t1_ixpmrzo wrote

Spoke with an old buddy of mine earlier this year who works in the analytics department at Amazon. We had spoken about the protests over the years and it divulged into talking about social media and people swearing off Amazon services...Yada Yada. Well apparently Amazon does see a slight downtick in users during such times, but he said around 90% of those users returned within 1-2 months and around 95% returned within 3-5 months.

So when I see people commenting about how they'll never use Amazon ever again. I take what they say with a huge grain of salt, because sure they might walk away for a bit, but chances are they'll come back into the fold sooner than later.

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Icharus t1_ixq1ywd wrote

There's a reason the world cup is only every four years. If it were any more frequent, people might remember the atrocities from the last event enough to boycott the next.

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usrevenge t1_ixqfsph wrote

Because Amazon has everything.

I work at an Amazon and honestly it isn't half as bad as people say but I don't work in a fullfillment center which I hear is worse

They aren't paid enough but frankly the job is near brain dead and while it is physical it's not absolutely balls to the wall physical like construction jobs can be.

They should get paid more though but the entire delivery part of Amazon bleeds money. Which is why they are pushing automation so hard now. They need to cut huge percentages of the work force to make money on that aspect of the business.

It won't happen but I hope the automation means less workers but they get paid more. Frankly their biggest waste on money is how many managers they have tracking other people or metrics or dumb shit like that. My building had like 50 people working. But there was like 8 managers and 3 PAs not including the safety manager and HR person.

This also doesn't include the other portion of the business my building does where they load vans, get returns, etc.

They could probably cut half the managerial force if they cut all the bullshit metrics and crap they do.

Like get this. They are allocated hours worked for different tasks. So if something happens like, the dock runs slower than it should. They can't just add inductors/loaders to bring it up even if the people are there. If stowers aren't going fast enough in a certain lane they can't send more people over to help, they have to switch them out. Because they don't have the hours allocated.

The dumb part about that situation is if the stowers are doing great and dock is slow they can't drop a stow worker and send them to the dock because they aren't allocated hours for that. So someone will twiddle there thumbs in stow path rather than be allowed to help the dock.

It's a constant battle to add and remove people. It's a constant battle to labor track. It's a constant battle to do the weird crap managers do "insta cleans, 5s projects" and crap like that.

I told the managers yesterday they should grab a bag and start inducting packages by hand to get done early for Thanksgiving. I knew they couldn't but it would have gotten the job done even faster so everyone could go home even earlier than they did

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sevbenup t1_ixqkwrc wrote

If I’m working one position and it’s slow why the hell would I want to go help on the dock for the same amount of money? Don’t know why that benefits you, Sounds like the company further exploiting their laborers

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Caffeine_Monster t1_ixsqld4 wrote

Just like it is increasingly hard to de Google, it will get increasingly hard to de Amazon.

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rohmish t1_ixqmxr9 wrote

I try to avoid amazon as much as possible. I don't have prime and will gladly pay a couple bucks extra to get it from somewhere else. But increasingly (especially here in Canada) sometimes your only option is amazon. It's not just the price but even if someone else is listing the item it will out of stock for months on end. I try to wait for a few days if I don't need the thing right away but you can't just wait forever. And most other options are evil giants themselves be it CT, Walmart, best buy or Loblaws.

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RuNoMai t1_ixphs7y wrote

"And yet you still take part in society. Curious!"

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homealoneinuk t1_ixpsgma wrote

Virtually no one gets sacked for being 1 or 2 items under the rate. Those times are loooong gone. Its actually pretty hard to lose amazon job these days, you genuinely have to put 0 effort and that still might not be enough if your area is low on workforce.

Only exception is some safety/behavior violations but performance wise its not gonna happen unless you dont care, at all. But then who would want an employee like that.

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abrandis t1_ixoujne wrote

This is the issue with all these data-driven metrics companies, they take the humanity out of work , and expect people to perform like machines and try to measure them such.... I get everyone wants to get it yesterday, but they Amazon supply chain is pretty efficient , I can wait a week or two for delivery...

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AlfaBetaZulu t1_ixp15kl wrote

No, it's the exact same. At least a year ago it was the exact same.

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dissentrix t1_ixphci5 wrote

I mean, Amazon has always had a trash reputation when it came to treating its workers like humans where I live, and in the stuff I read about it. Not sure I can really talk about some "devolution"

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homealoneinuk t1_ixps86n wrote

Its the opposite, very chill. Dont believe the bs articles, they have their own agenda.

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sevbenup t1_ixqlsjb wrote

You don’t mind that they’re peeing in bottles and on food stamps huh?

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homealoneinuk t1_ixqpvhy wrote

No theyre not, its a running joke among amazon workers, just check our subredit.

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