Amazon workers describe brutal work conditions

originally posted by: spiritualarchitect
a reply to: Willtell
Peeing in bottles?

Amazon should open a warehouse in San Fransisco and their employees can piss out the windows onto the streets with their mayor's blessing.

And the king Jeff Bezos will be laughing from his ivory tower while humanity slaves away for him.

I've been to a few for contract work on their equipment. Some of them are decent and some of them are crap. But the people are a mess. There are some genuine people in there using it as a stepping stone to get somewhere in life, but most of the people are nasty. Like smell bad and look like they live in a trash can nasty. I'm talking meth teeth and pill-eyed. I expect a lot of them are planning on dying on the floor of the facility. I don't generally like to talk I'll of people, but when I was still working in industrial manufacturing that's what most warehouse and factory people are like. They hire burnouts and people who just want a paycheck to live off week to week. A good chunk of them are undocumented "immigrants" who don't understand how a toilet works.

So, the whole pissing in bottles and general piss poor attitudes I believe. I refused to use the toilets and would use the executive bathrooms. Almost every single bathroom toilet is covered in piss and toilet paper covers the floor, and I rarely ever saw anyone wash there hands. When I got curious way back when about why bathrooms are always crappy I was told that they squat on the toilet and use Gatorade bottles as bidets.

Think about that next time you buy meat at your local market.

a reply to: Dwoodward85

We have to know when abuse takes place in any work environment. That’s why we always need a free press.

Sure, sometimes the charges may be wrong but nevertheless a free society needs to know about abuses, and unsafe work environments wherever they are.

a reply to: Willtell

There is a major Amazon fulfillment center in my city and I know at least a dozen people personally who have worked there. The only complaints I've heard were that the quotas are unrealistic and the hiring practices are sketchy- let me explain...

Amazon employs people through an agency. When people start work they tell them they are on a 90 day probation period and provided there are no major problems after 90 days they will be hired directly by Amazon and given insurance and benefits. On day 89 they are laid off regardless of performance and told they can re-apply (through the employment agency) in 30 days- where the cycle starts all over again. So there are no permanent hires (other than management and supervisors) and you never get benefits- and are off one month out of every four. There is a seriously high turnover rate because the bills don't stop coming just because you're "laid off" for a month so folks eventually move along to something else. FedEx and UPS do the same here- in fact they all "hire" through the same agency.

a reply to: Willtell

10-12 hours?


I vaguely remember my first part time job too.

a reply to: JinMI

UPS was so bad; I literally invited the foreman outside to throw down and he still didn’t fire me! I had to walk out.

That’s why I know many places in the world of work are sweatshops and for whatever reason, some people go for it and accept it.

And back in the day, one could quit a job and fairly easily get another one. Not today.


All these guys with this, Just quit stuff don’t understand that.

a reply to: GeauxHomeYoureDrunk

Thanks for the post. Good information.

You're describing a sweatshop.

originally posted by: Willtell
a reply to: JinMI

UPS was so bad; I literally invited the foreman outside to throw down and he still didn’t fire me! I had to walk out.

That’s why I know many places in the world of work are sweatshops and for whatever reason, some people go for it and accept it.

And back in the day, one could quit a job and fairly easily get another one. Not today.


All these guys with this, Just quit stuff don’t understand that.

You chose to walk out, as do all those folks who work at Amazon.

We are currently sitting at a 3.6% or so unemployment rate, so yes, you could find a another job the same day.

I get it though, it's not easy to quit, then find other employment. However it's a whole lot easier that demanding a corporation with thousands of employees to change their policies.

a reply to: Willtell

Look, I graduated high school right in the middle of my graduation class GPA wise. I never went to college. Never went to any kind of technical training or trade school. I never had a union to negotiate my terms of employment for me. I taught myself almost everything I know how to do. Even when I was in the military my senior petty officers couldn't explain how to do the maintenance properly so I had to learn my equipment on my own. I could have all the excuses in the world about how the world is unfair and how I was born to a family that was barely middle class and treated me as if I was a burden and huge inconvenience.

But you know one thing I'll never do? I'll never be afraid to quit a job when I've had enough. I worked my ass off to gain the skills I needed to outperform everyone I worked with. I gained more knowledge and experience than the guys who were in their fifties and onward and had been doing in for longer than I'd been alive. I made it through the 2000's when I was lucky to have a job longer than a week or two. When people were saying there aren't any jobs. Or there aren't enough jobs, or what do I do with my college degree, I was plugging away finding jobs left and right because I knew how to market myself and show my value.

The people who work in these kinds of warehouses and factories work there because they gave up or they are stuck in the past. If a person is in their fifties or sixties working some menial labor job for a BS wage they effed up somewhere that isn't anyone's fault but their own.

If you are finding yourself in that situation or it seems to you that those are the prospects you are facing you need to sit down and get your priorities straight. Life isn't that long and if you don't figure out what to do with it you could end up being one of those old guys that younger guys look at and think to themselves I don't want to be like that guy.

a reply to: AutomateThis1

There is truth to what you’re saying but what you don’t understand Is that everybody isn’t tough like you and me.

Many people are weak and can’t do what we did so in essence they have to be looked after in a sense.

Not paternalism but just the old adage:

What you want for your brother you want for yourself.

a reply to: JinMI

Those jobs are not good jobs that are easy to get today.

I came up in the era when unions were powerful, not today where people have to work 2 and 3 jobs to make it.

a reply to: Willtell

So all good jobs are taken....forever?


Define "making it"

a reply to: JinMI

Of course not.

It’s just that people no longer like the baby boomer generation, have the relative security that was there when a guy had a decent job, a pension, and a good union with good benefits. I feel for the millennial’s future.

They destroyed this security after Ronald Reagan cut taxes for the rich and then the economic safety nets and security were destroyed.

Now it's like the Wild-wild west in this Gig economy.

No security, no certainty, and no future

Well, I'm glad you didn't take it harshly. I got back online to comment that I didn't mean to make it sound as if I were directing my post directly to you.

I do understand that not everyone is tough, but I guess where we differ is that I don't feel a strong desire to look after other adults who should at least be working towards being self-sufficient adults. I had a cold childhood. My father never allowed me to be a child. It was only ever school, beatings, and work. No friends, no love. I'm not making excuses, as I have friends and love and all that now. But I realized at a young age that the world isn't a fair place. That I can't help everyone and that the only people I can help are the people who are trying to help themselves first.

I very rarely had help growing up. My teachers despised me, if I missed classes there was no catch-up for me. I didn't develop socially until my mid-twenties because I didn't know how to relate to people. I had to teach myself how to do math so I could do electrical work and later score well enough on the ASVAB to tell the recruiter that no matter what he promised I didn't want to be a nuke. I had to teach myself how to be friendly to people first before people wanted to be friendly with me. I had to teach myself how to love myself first before I could love others.

So, I'll help people who can show me that they just need a hand to help them get back on their own feet.

But more often than not all I hear is complaining, excuses, and people looking for a handout or some subconscious desire for someone to be an adult for them.

If a person really isn't happy with what they've got currently in life they can either realize that they have to be the one to make changes or they need to just accept that they are going to be working in a factory or a warehouse for the rest of their life.

To be completely frank I really only ever have concern over children and elderly people.

What I want for my brother is to stand on his own two feet and provide for himself and his loved ones. I want him to take care of himself and his health so that he may live a long life along with the ones he loves.

I don't want my brother working a BS job thinking that's all he's good for, but some people don't have the drive and I'm not going to be the one trying to push a mule out of the factory.

Some of my good friends were born in caves in Iran during the late 80s. Some of them were born in lower castes, or inner cities surrounded by drugs, guns, and every woman they knew was a prostitute. Each and every single one of them could have went down a bad path, complaining about injustice, and screw the man, and everything is the fault of something else out of their control.

But they took control. Did what they had to get away from where they were. Hustled and didn't let the banks control their money. Now many of them are content where they are right here in the US, and most of them own their own businesses.

So when I here someone making weak excuses about why they can't do better I just ignore it, because as cold as many would think it is. I know that if they really wanted more they would go after it and the fact that they think they are stuck in some job they hate is proof enough.

They're weak and if they don't want more out of life and to be able to provide for themselves I shouldn't be the one to have to bear the burden.

a reply to: AutomateThis1

Were not talking about looking after people just being a human being who cares enough about others that we look and want to know when people are in need or being abused, and we can help each other if we can.

That’s my tradition; that’s the creed and code I live by.

I don’t ask people to do or believe or live by my ethics. Just enjoin us to be more charitable to others.

I understand the old adage, charity starts at home and spreads abroad.

So, in this thread, it's important to know if a place like Amazon is breeding an unhealthy work environment.

I used to work 3rd shift at a warehouse, just left there back in the spring.

It sucked, but the pay was good with lots of overtime.

I left for a few reasons, mainly because they had no 2nd shift, but when I left they were standardizing and upgrading their system for monitoring productivity. Actually they were restructuring everything as evidenced by all the positions they were looking to fill in all departments. They also had us complete some tests to determine what makes a good employee. I also knew that I wasn't going to be able to make the minimum of the new required production rate without doing some strong drugs to get me through that shift.

Around this same time I discovered (through an ad on the radio) that there are a number of robotic technology companies, right here in our state, that can replace all the jobs we did in the warehouse. The robots could even eliminate the conveyor belt system and increase productivity 3x over human employees.

I believe they are in transition to become robotic in order to compete with Amazon. IMO they are now seeing how much they can squeeze out of the workers to justify the expense of automating the system and phasing out human workers.

ETA: I usually had to go down a 28 step stair case and across the warehouse to use the nearest bathroom. I often wished I had a piss jug or a corner I could piss in when I was working.

Hard work is one thing, but abuse like what may be going on at Amazon, and what I experienced as a college boy at UPS is something entirely different.

I worked 12 hard years at a GM plant, Linden NJ. When you left that place you know you put in a day’s work— HARD WORK!

But it wasn’t abusive. It was manageable but taxing. And the pay and benefits were excellent.

You could go to the bathroom when you wanted, you got an hour’s lunch and two breaks for 23 minutes apiece so almost 2 hours you got off. So even though the assembly line is rough it was reasonable.

I left because I got tired of being tired. I went to college—again—got a degree where eventually I could get a job anywhere on the planet pretty easily.

So, yeah, hard work is good and doable, but the abuse described by many at Amazon is unacceptable.

a reply to: Willtell

Amazon has over half a million employees. A petition signed by 600 people is nothing.

I worked seasonally at Target some years back... over night stocking during Christmas. There was a manager who would walk around like a tyrant and wouldn't let you talk to other employees. This was at night, while stocking food and detergent, with no customers around. This guy was seriously emotionally abusive and it was very clear that he was an extremely angry man. I remember him quite literally THROWING things. This was in front of the other managers and he never got disciplined.

That's when I realized what the culture was there...

Instead of wasting my time protesting and making demands, I quit and found another gig. My time is worth more than standing around with a sign screaming at a billion dollar megalithic corporation.

Ruthless Quotas at Amazon are Maiming Employees

AMAZON’S FAMOUS SPEED and technological innovation have driven the company’s massive global expansion and a valuation well over $800 billion. It’s also helped make Amazon the nation’s second-largest private employer behind Walmart, and its CEO, Jeff Bezos, one of the richest humans on Earth. Now an investigation by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting has found that the company’s obsession with speed has turned its warehouses into injury mills.

Reveal amassed internal injury records from 23 of the company’s 110 fulfillment centers nationwide. Taken together, the rate of serious injuries for those facilities was more than double the national average for the warehousing industry: 9.6 serious injuries per 100 full-time workers in 2018, compared with an industry average that year of 4.

www.theatlantic.com...


Its another argument on the side of Amazon's bad record.


I may have to seriously consider going to Wall-Mart for deliveries.