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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deuce Traveler" data-source="post: 5689369" data-attributes="member: 34958">I was a manager at Amazon.com and I can tell you that for the most part the article is absolutely correct, although the main reason we didn't open some of the dock doors was not theft (although that was a factor).  It was because we didn't have a fool-proof way of sealing off the opening in case a dock worker backed up and didn't look where he was going.   The warehouses that Amazon.com are very difficult to heat or cool because of their size and multiple levels.  It would be too costly to do so.  15 minute breaks were extended to 20 minutes during high heat levels, but those are only two breaks (except lunch) in a 10 hour shift (4 days a week, 10 hours a day).  Also, we as middle management were still expected to make our section's numbers despite the lengthened shifts, so we would cut in other areas that we probably should have cut (such as quickened the stretch exercises to save on unproductive time).When asked if we could lower productivity requirements for our employees on severely hot days, upper management said no.  Instead us middle managers did what we could, including filling up buckets of ice and bottled waters and carting them around to our employees.I'm a big fan of lean six sigma and productivity increases, but management was also required to show a 10% improvement in productivity a year.  You can increase productivity by making common sense changes to work procedures and better equipment, but the human body can only take so much stress.  You can't try to make productivity increases by simply demanding the body to work harder in a repetitive task without the body wearing down.  I can't imagine someone in Amazon.com working the same menial labor job for 20 years straight.  The wear and tear would simply become too great, especially for the pickers who have to walk constantly and the packers that handle the boxing of multi orders and have to constantly bend.  I'm also concerned with those handling single books.  They fold cardboard around the books and put a label on them, which goes down a conveyor and to the sorting system.  From the two years I managed my section, my worker numbers went from 100 books an hour to around 180 books an hour, or 3 books a minute.  The motion required to do that job puts a lot of strain on the wrists, especially with the pressure required to properly ensure the glue seals.  Some of this was offset by ergonomic changes to the work station, which helped the back and legs, but did not address the wrists.  I had to move some workers around to other shifts and work areas in order to break up some trying to form a union because of the conditions.  They would have had some support and would have been harder to deal with if the organizers weren't a bunch of lazy, woman-hating thugs.The young and ambitious had a definite advantage in that environment, but we had trouble retaining them if they didn't see opportunities for promotion.  More and more often we would hire temp workers who were older and out of shape, who couldn't keep pace, or the young slackers who didn't care about their job one way or the other.  There are worse jobs out there, but Amazon.com definitely has some issues that it needs to resolve.</blockquote>

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