How Amazon keeps costs low...

[Deset Gled]

If it makes anyone feel any better...

Amazon air conditions centers after criticism - MarketWatch

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd call that a step in the right direction. Now, if they also changed their discipline policy...

Btw, Bullgrit, I wasn't calling you a liar. I think more highly of you that that. That's why I suggested the re-read- all that stuff I quoted was in that (derivative) article.

I noticed in the AC installation piece that Amazon "defended its practice of using temporary workers, which it says helps it manage seasonal demand and screen for good workers." Nothing wrong with using temps- that keeps costs low for a variety of reasons- but it may also be a factor in the collapses. Like I alluded to upthread, those temps would be less likely to have become acclimated to the temperatures in he warehouse.

Unfortunately, I didn't see anything saying about the breakdown of the collapses.

 

[Bullgrit]

Btw, Bullgrit, I wasn't calling you a liar.

Thanks. But I meant, (and have adjusted my post to show), that it seemed that you thought I thought the interviewees and/or journalist were lying. Not that I thought you thought I was lying. (Huh?

Amazon.com Inc. said it spent $2.4 million to install industrial air conditioning units in four of its distribution centers following a media report last week detailing sweltering conditions in a Pennsylvania warehouse.

Here is a perfect example of how an article can present something wrong, even if the writer didn't mean to. This sentence reads like Amazon installed the A/C after the original article pointed out the situation. But...

The Internet retailer said the air conditioners were online in late July and early August and noted air conditioning remains an unusual practice in warehouses.

So it seems the A/Cs were installed back in July, before the article. It was Amazon's saying this that happened after the article.

Is this a matter of:
Week 1. Problem is discovered.
Week 2. Journalist begins investigation.
Week 3. Company fixes, (or at least tries to fix), the problem.
Week 4. Media publishes the investigation.

Again, I may be simply missing something in this.

Bullgrit

 

[RainOfSteel]

I haven't done a penny of business with Ama-whatever-com in almost ten years.

They repeatedly gave me the short end of the stick on various issues, and I just decided I wasn't going to spend my money there.

I'm the sort of person who spends $3,000 to $5,000 per year on books, too; basically the ideal book store customers. That's $30,000 to $50,000 in lost revenue for them.

Ama-whatever-com is now a megacorporation, not some Internet start-up with glowy ideals and white hats. The news their worker's plight is unsurprising, as megacorporations treat their employees like garbage while simultaneously crowing about how good a job they do and about how much they care. Did I mention that megacorporations have long since been noted as pathological liars? How silly of me to forget that.

 

[Umbran]

Did I mention that megacorporations have long since been noted as pathological liars?

large corporations may well lie, but such is not required to explain these events. Do not ascribe to malice that which can be explained by less willful human foibles and realities. Amazon doesn't have to be evil and lying to have problems - it merely needs to be big, complicated, and difficult to manage.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Did I mention that megacorporations have long since been noted as pathological liars?

Marketers and salesmen lie. Politicians and bureaucrats lie. Journalists and editors. Lawyers lie. Scientists lie.

People lie.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I count in at least 3 of thee categories.

(No lie!)

 

[prosfilaes]

Minimum wage across the USA averages approximately $7.50/hour with a low of 5.15 (Georgia & Wyoming) and a high of 8.67/hour (Washington). Some states have no minimum wage at all. Wikipedia List of US Minimum Wages

In the US, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 supersedes lower state minimum wages except those industries the federal law doesn't cover.

Minimum wage in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Cor Azer]

Marketers and salesmen lie. Politicians and bureaucrats lie. Journalists and editors. Lawyers lie. Scientists lie.

People lie.

My faith in humanity has been shattered.

Or has it?...

 

[Janx]

Marketers and salesmen lie. Politicians and bureaucrats lie. Journalists and editors. Lawyers lie. Scientists lie.

People lie.

I think there's some qualifications there.

Yes, technically every person on the planet has probably told a lie.

However, as such, that's functionally useless in discerning whether a particular person or group of people are lying to YOU.

These people are in the business to make you believe what further their interests:
Marketers and salesmen. Politicians and bureaucrats. Lawyers.

it is literally part of their job to misrepresent.

These people are in the business of supplying information, and not specifically part of their job. In fact, the most respected are known for their truthiness:
Journalists and editors. Scientists.

While both groups may have individuals who lie, the latter group isn't supposed to be lying.