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Amazon to Build a Permanent Mary's Place Family Shelter Within Its Headquarters

204 points by perfmode 9y ago

microcolonel 9y ago
Good on them for doing this, I know women who have used shelters and I don't really care why Amazon are doing this, it's probably a good thing. Maybe Amazon can also finally build a men's shelter that doesn't die because of threats and intimidation. Just kidding, if they did that, it'd defeat the probable purpose: to draw attention away from the (legitimate or not) public criticism of their employment standards. Go ahead and downvote, today's karma earnings are burning a hole in my pocket.
- rictic 9y ago
  There is no comment which is improved by a call to downvote it. It's also explicitly against HN's guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - microcolonel 9y ago
    Oh, didn't know it extended to calls to action. I would edit it out if it weren't already too late.
bjshepard 9y ago
Maybe they will build a permanent factory for an army of robot lawyers to protect them from legitimate monopoly claims.
webaholic 9y ago
For once I hear some positive non-tech related news about Amazon. Bravo!
tyingq 9y ago
Laudable. The math on the space is a little odd though. "47,000 sq. ft. of space within Amazon’s newest headquarters building as a permanent location for a Mary's Place Family Shelter. This first-of-its-kind partnership will include 65 rooms, which will shelter more than 200 homeless women, children, and families" 235 square feet per person? That's a lot of room. Maybe only some of the space is being used to start with? Or a fair portion is for some sort of separate administrative staff?
- jsat 9y ago
  Kitchens, administrative space, etc would be my guess.
- yodon 9y ago
  This is a classic case of Amdahl's Law[0], with square footage as the commodity being optimized rather than computational resources. The more "efficient" you make the scalable quantity (square footage directly allocated to each occupant in this case), The more dependent The final number becomes on the non-scalable terms (square footage of shared spaces like restrooms, stairways, hallways, eating spaces, and etc). Even a simple double loaded corredor with shared restrooms like a high density college dorm layout has a significant fraction of its base determined by the nonscalable spaces. Nowadays anyone involved in high scalability computer processes is familiar with these concepts but in the 1960s when Amdahl first started focusing on the nonscalable processes the idea seemed as crazy as these square footage numbers seem to non-architects. [0]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl%27s_law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl%27s_law
  - joshuamorton 9y ago
    Another example of this is that many open office buildings that are (or seem) relatively high density are over 150 sqft/head because of restrooms, meeting rooms, and corridors.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  > 235 square feet per person? That's a lot of room. What? No it isn't.
will4274 9y ago
I see on Mary's places "About us" page: "Empowering homeless women, children, and families to reclaim their lives by providing shelter, nourishment , resources, healing and hope in a safe community" While their work appears extremely positive and (of course) every charity is not required to solve every problem, I can't help but wondering about the many many single homeless men or homeless men disconnected from the families. The best data source on homelessness, the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress indicates that the majority of the homeless are single males. Up to about 10% of the homeless are veterans (a group that is vastly male) and many of them have mental illnesses like PTSD. Are these people accepted at Mary's place? Is there a "Ryan's place" shelter? Does / would Amazon sponsor it?
- jonnybgood 9y ago
  You could've went a little deeper. They accept both men and women who have children. > Who does Mary’s Place currently serve? > Homeless women and men with their children from the greater King County area. The women and families we serve range from young adults to seniors and represent diverse backgrounds in race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, education, and life experience. Many struggle with disabilities and mental health issues. Approximately 30-40% of our guests are immigrants or refugees, the majority of those from East Africa. http://www.marysplaceseattle.org/about/common-questions/ http://www.marysplaceseattle.org/about/common-questions/
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - lazyasciiart 9y ago
    They specifically complained about single men or men disconnected from their families not being served, so they probably did read that bit.
- savanaly 9y ago
  One thing to consider (and I swear I'm not (a) claiming this is necessarily in reality the case or (b) implying that if it were we shouldn't have a "Ryan's Place") is that there is homelessness due to different causes, some of them more amenable to help than others. If someone's homeless because they were dependent on a partner who was abusive and so they left that environment and are basically a functioning member of society who nonetheless isn't on their feet, it's a whole nother story (though arguably not more tragic) than someone who's a drug addict and therefore isn't on their feet. For one of these two, a roof over their head and hot meals a couple times a day for a period of months is going to be extremely beneficial including in the long run, since they'll reliably be able to support themself thanks to the homeless shelter's infrastructure. For the other hypothetical case, it's still the right and humane thing to do for them, but the "bang for your buck" is lower to put it in crass terms. If it just works out that women outnumber men in the former group, and the gender discrimination does a huge amount of work in selecting for the most efficient candidates to keep in the shelter, I'm in favor of the discrimination.
JonRB 9y ago
When I read this I assumed amazon datacentre - and thought it was probably a pretty good use for all of that heat they generate...
- discodave 9y ago
  I'm sure plenty of hot air is generated in conference rooms at any corporate HQ too :)
- MikeTheGreat 9y ago
  I know, right? Like - years ago, back when The Matrix first came out, we all laughed at the implausibility of it. And now here it is!
  - LeoPanthera 9y ago
    You have it backwards. The theory is that they're using servers to heat the people.
    - dwyerm 9y ago
      It isn't just a theory, it's a practice: 'This "district energy" system works by capturing heat generated at a non-Amazon data center in the neighboring Westin Building and recycling that heat through underground water pipes instead of venting it into the atmosphere. This unique approach is nearly four times more efficient than traditional heating methods and will also enable the Westin Building data center to cut back on the energy it uses to cool its building.' - https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/8sbggvr8fsks7kg https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/8sbggvr8fsks7kg
- why-el 9y ago
  There is a paper on this from Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/heating.pdf https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/...
andrewguenther 9y ago
Edit: HN groupthink says I can only hate Amazon. I must comply. God this place is toxic.
- biocomputation 9y ago
  Except it's just a fact that your company punishes its employees for getting sick or pregnant. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2291301-aclu-ad.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2291301-aclu-ad.html Other workplace abuses - especially at warehouses - are very well-documented at this point. Please, please, please spare us the PR.
  - paxunix 9y ago
    You must work for one of those other companies with 340,000 employees that always makes the right decisions, always puts people before policy, always maximizes shareholder value, always engages positively with the community, and always makes sure every single employee and customer and client and partner is 100% happy with everything that happens at all times. You should write a book about how easy that must be. It would be a bestseller. You could even sell it on Amazon, I bet.
    - biocomputation 9y ago
      > You must work for one of those other companies with 340,000 employees that always makes the right decisions, always puts people before policy, always maximizes shareholder value, always engages positively with the community, and always makes sure every single employee and customer and client and partner is 100% happy with everything that happens at all times. You should write a book about how easy that must be. It would be a bestseller. You could even sell it on Amazon, I bet. Honestly, I've written some pretty controversial things on HN, but your response is frightening. Bad behavior, behavior that some people would say is more than little evil, isn't excused because other corporations behave just as badly. The fact is that the behavior we're discussing is quite easy to get right: just stop forcing people out of their jobs when they're sick or pregnant. Your response is like saying "human rights violations are such a big problem that we shouldn't do anything about it". It's a good thing that there are people that say we should stand up against hyper-wealthy corporations who are actively trying to exploit and harm their employees, instead of making excuses and looking the other way.
throwaway18917 9y ago
How sweet. When are they going to stop fucking over their employees? Oh right, never until they unionize.
- bingomad123 9y ago
  Probably when American consumers will be willing to pay 10% extra for every purchase.
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    I'm not convinced Amazon would suffer significantly if they raised their prices by 10% on average. No other seller can compete with them on convenience, and people are willing to pay for that.
    - easilyBored 9y ago
      I'm not convinced Amazon would suffer significantly if they raised their prices by 10% on average. So there you have it! Create your own "Amazon," 10% more expensive but we treat our employees better.
      - biocomputation 9y ago
        It won't be long before this is actually used very successfully against a company like Google or Amazon or Facebook.
      - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
        I didn't say that consumers would choose to pay extra for decent employee treatment. I said that Amazon could just do it and get away with it. Mind you, I'm also not convinced that the cost of treating your employees like human beings is as high as 10%. Also, for fuck's sake stop making excuses for abusive employers. Why would you do that?
  - arglebarnacle 9y ago
    The idea that fickle consumers are to blame for unethical and often unlawful exploitation of employees is propaganda with only the thinnest veneer of economics painted on it. I suppose I understand why the very rich and business interests make arguments like this, but usually it's just ordinary people. Who benefits? It's about time we held companies like Amazon accountable for the way they harm and exploit their employees instead of helping shift the blame to their customers.
ddoolin 9y ago
> This first-of-its-kind partnership will include 65 rooms, which will shelter more than 200 homeless women, children, and families each night. Why are they not supporting non-family men? They literally include everyone but this one group, why? * Missed the main comment thread about this.
- ryanx435 9y ago
  because society does not care about men who do not contribute.
lwansbrough 9y ago
The unfortunately reality is that men are mostly disposable in our culture.
- dang 9y ago
  1. Please keep ideological talking points off HN. They're off-topic and destructive of the things this site is for. 2. We ban accounts that use HN primarily for political or ideological battle. This doesn't depend on ideological flavor; all forms are unwelcome. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14339797 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14339797 and marked it off-topic.
  - crytrubin 9y ago
    Saying men are treated as disposable is an ideological talking point, but treating white men as de facto wrong and privileged in all respects[1] is completely fine. In fact, bonus points for introducing race when the topic is gender! [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14340050 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14340050
ttoomm28 9y ago
A shelter for anyone who isn't a man. How thoughtful of Amazon.
crb002 9y ago
Shelter in exchange for being product guniea pigs. Might be profitable.
gizmodo59 9y ago
I'm just amazed at the level of negativity in this thread and so many grey comments. To look at something objectively and appreciate for what it is, is very important.
- kome 9y ago
  That's my (european) perspective on this: Philanthropy is like going back to feudalism again: we don't need goodwill; we need social rights. Those kinds of services shouldn't depend on the generosity of the rich and powerful: those services should be provided because they are social rights. Just like healthcare and education. Of course I am happy that some homeless in Seattle will have a nice roof over their head thanks to Amazon's generosity, but I would be even happier if Amazon would start paying its fair share taxes across Europe, instead of eluding taxation thanks to financial tricks. That's not negativity: that's the elephant in the room. We should be aware between a nice action and a systemic problem, or between good advertisement and reality.
  - RodericDay 9y ago
    As a South American, I fully agree. Tax-dodging + charity-giving is an awful, awful alternative to proper wealth redistribution.
    - cmdrfred 9y ago
      I never understood the wealth redistribution argument from (USA) Americans. If you make $32,400 a year you are in the top 1% globally. Thus you have the power to fix it, at least on the small scale and yet I haven't heard of a single person who holds these views even attempting to do so. When it comes to most of the western world screaming about income equality won't "help you with medical costs/student loans" in fact it will do very much the opposite unless you chose to implement it in a manner that really doesn't create more equality as much as making a certain class in a certain nation wealthier, but then aren't you just as bad as the capitalists you complain about?
      - 9y ago
plandis 9y ago
This is the perfect thread to realize just how biased HN is against Amazon. They are literally providing shelter to homeless people and so many posts are complaining about it... Perhaps we just see a nice thing for what it is?
- kerbalspacepro 9y ago
  but muh muh muh my effective altruism philosophy should be applied to entire corporate entities, right? /s
Justsignedup 9y ago
Remember that time the Vatican created a 6-machine free washing machine inside their giant cathedral? Yeah I like this better.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
mcheshier 9y ago
I like this, but Amazon still has a lot of work to do to address the pillaging of the commons they've been doing the last few years. They've been displacing people and capitalizing on public infrastructure for far too long without giving anything back.
- ng12 9y ago
  This is such an ignorant response. Do you realize how much of the country is dying because there's no industry, no jobs, no economy to speak of? I'm not saying give Amazon carte blanche but man, appreciate that your city's economy is growing instead of dying.
- pavedwalden 9y ago
  > capitalizing on public infrastructure for far too long without giving anything back. Does amazon not pay taxes?
GBond 9y ago
Some of the negative comments here exemplify why the mainstream is starting to hate on the "tech elitist" types in the same way FinanceBros were viewed negatively in the '90s and '00s.

204 points by perfmode 9y ago

Good on them for doing this, I know women who have used shelters and I don't really care why Amazon are doing this, it's probably a good thing. Maybe Amazon can also finally build a men's shelter that doesn't die because of threats and intimidation. Just kidding, if they did that, it'd defeat the probable purpose: to draw attention away from the (legitimate or not) public criticism of their employment standards. Go ahead and downvote, today's karma earnings are burning a hole in my pocket.

rictic 9y ago
There is no comment which is improved by a call to downvote it. It's also explicitly against HN's guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- microcolonel 9y ago
  Oh, didn't know it extended to calls to action. I would edit it out if it weren't already too late.

bjshepard 9y ago

Maybe they will build a permanent factory for an army of robot lawyers to protect them from legitimate monopoly claims.

webaholic 9y ago

For once I hear some positive non-tech related news about Amazon. Bravo!

tyingq 9y ago

Laudable. The math on the space is a little odd though. "47,000 sq. ft. of space within Amazon’s newest headquarters building as a permanent location for a Mary's Place Family Shelter. This first-of-its-kind partnership will include 65 rooms, which will shelter more than 200 homeless women, children, and families" 235 square feet per person? That's a lot of room. Maybe only some of the space is being used to start with? Or a fair portion is for some sort of separate administrative staff?

jsat 9y ago
Kitchens, administrative space, etc would be my guess.
yodon 9y ago
This is a classic case of Amdahl's Law[0], with square footage as the commodity being optimized rather than computational resources. The more "efficient" you make the scalable quantity (square footage directly allocated to each occupant in this case), The more dependent The final number becomes on the non-scalable terms (square footage of shared spaces like restrooms, stairways, hallways, eating spaces, and etc). Even a simple double loaded corredor with shared restrooms like a high density college dorm layout has a significant fraction of its base determined by the nonscalable spaces. Nowadays anyone involved in high scalability computer processes is familiar with these concepts but in the 1960s when Amdahl first started focusing on the nonscalable processes the idea seemed as crazy as these square footage numbers seem to non-architects. [0]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl%27s_law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl%27s_law
- joshuamorton 9y ago
  Another example of this is that many open office buildings that are (or seem) relatively high density are over 150 sqft/head because of restrooms, meeting rooms, and corridors.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
> 235 square feet per person? That's a lot of room. What? No it isn't.

will4274 9y ago

I see on Mary's places "About us" page: "Empowering homeless women, children, and families to reclaim their lives by providing shelter, nourishment , resources, healing and hope in a safe community" While their work appears extremely positive and (of course) every charity is not required to solve every problem, I can't help but wondering about the many many single homeless men or homeless men disconnected from the families. The best data source on homelessness, the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress indicates that the majority of the homeless are single males. Up to about 10% of the homeless are veterans (a group that is vastly male) and many of them have mental illnesses like PTSD. Are these people accepted at Mary's place? Is there a "Ryan's place" shelter? Does / would Amazon sponsor it?

jonnybgood 9y ago
You could've went a little deeper. They accept both men and women who have children. > Who does Mary’s Place currently serve? > Homeless women and men with their children from the greater King County area. The women and families we serve range from young adults to seniors and represent diverse backgrounds in race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, education, and life experience. Many struggle with disabilities and mental health issues. Approximately 30-40% of our guests are immigrants or refugees, the majority of those from East Africa. http://www.marysplaceseattle.org/about/common-questions/ http://www.marysplaceseattle.org/about/common-questions/
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- lazyasciiart 9y ago
  They specifically complained about single men or men disconnected from their families not being served, so they probably did read that bit.
savanaly 9y ago
One thing to consider (and I swear I'm not (a) claiming this is necessarily in reality the case or (b) implying that if it were we shouldn't have a "Ryan's Place") is that there is homelessness due to different causes, some of them more amenable to help than others. If someone's homeless because they were dependent on a partner who was abusive and so they left that environment and are basically a functioning member of society who nonetheless isn't on their feet, it's a whole nother story (though arguably not more tragic) than someone who's a drug addict and therefore isn't on their feet. For one of these two, a roof over their head and hot meals a couple times a day for a period of months is going to be extremely beneficial including in the long run, since they'll reliably be able to support themself thanks to the homeless shelter's infrastructure. For the other hypothetical case, it's still the right and humane thing to do for them, but the "bang for your buck" is lower to put it in crass terms. If it just works out that women outnumber men in the former group, and the gender discrimination does a huge amount of work in selecting for the most efficient candidates to keep in the shelter, I'm in favor of the discrimination.

JonRB 9y ago

When I read this I assumed amazon datacentre - and thought it was probably a pretty good use for all of that heat they generate...

discodave 9y ago
I'm sure plenty of hot air is generated in conference rooms at any corporate HQ too :)
MikeTheGreat 9y ago
I know, right? Like - years ago, back when The Matrix first came out, we all laughed at the implausibility of it. And now here it is!
- LeoPanthera 9y ago
  You have it backwards. The theory is that they're using servers to heat the people.
  - dwyerm 9y ago
    It isn't just a theory, it's a practice: 'This "district energy" system works by capturing heat generated at a non-Amazon data center in the neighboring Westin Building and recycling that heat through underground water pipes instead of venting it into the atmosphere. This unique approach is nearly four times more efficient than traditional heating methods and will also enable the Westin Building data center to cut back on the energy it uses to cool its building.' - https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/8sbggvr8fsks7kg https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/8sbggvr8fsks7kg
why-el 9y ago
There is a paper on this from Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/heating.pdf https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/...

andrewguenther 9y ago

Edit: HN groupthink says I can only hate Amazon. I must comply. God this place is toxic.

biocomputation 9y ago
Except it's just a fact that your company punishes its employees for getting sick or pregnant. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2291301-aclu-ad.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2291301-aclu-ad.html Other workplace abuses - especially at warehouses - are very well-documented at this point. Please, please, please spare us the PR.
- paxunix 9y ago
  You must work for one of those other companies with 340,000 employees that always makes the right decisions, always puts people before policy, always maximizes shareholder value, always engages positively with the community, and always makes sure every single employee and customer and client and partner is 100% happy with everything that happens at all times. You should write a book about how easy that must be. It would be a bestseller. You could even sell it on Amazon, I bet.
  - biocomputation 9y ago
    > You must work for one of those other companies with 340,000 employees that always makes the right decisions, always puts people before policy, always maximizes shareholder value, always engages positively with the community, and always makes sure every single employee and customer and client and partner is 100% happy with everything that happens at all times. You should write a book about how easy that must be. It would be a bestseller. You could even sell it on Amazon, I bet. Honestly, I've written some pretty controversial things on HN, but your response is frightening. Bad behavior, behavior that some people would say is more than little evil, isn't excused because other corporations behave just as badly. The fact is that the behavior we're discussing is quite easy to get right: just stop forcing people out of their jobs when they're sick or pregnant. Your response is like saying "human rights violations are such a big problem that we shouldn't do anything about it". It's a good thing that there are people that say we should stand up against hyper-wealthy corporations who are actively trying to exploit and harm their employees, instead of making excuses and looking the other way.

throwaway18917 9y ago

How sweet. When are they going to stop fucking over their employees? Oh right, never until they unionize.

bingomad123 9y ago
Probably when American consumers will be willing to pay 10% extra for every purchase.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  I'm not convinced Amazon would suffer significantly if they raised their prices by 10% on average. No other seller can compete with them on convenience, and people are willing to pay for that.
  - easilyBored 9y ago
    I'm not convinced Amazon would suffer significantly if they raised their prices by 10% on average. So there you have it! Create your own "Amazon," 10% more expensive but we treat our employees better.
    - biocomputation 9y ago
      It won't be long before this is actually used very successfully against a company like Google or Amazon or Facebook.
    - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
      I didn't say that consumers would choose to pay extra for decent employee treatment. I said that Amazon could just do it and get away with it. Mind you, I'm also not convinced that the cost of treating your employees like human beings is as high as 10%. Also, for fuck's sake stop making excuses for abusive employers. Why would you do that?
- arglebarnacle 9y ago
  The idea that fickle consumers are to blame for unethical and often unlawful exploitation of employees is propaganda with only the thinnest veneer of economics painted on it. I suppose I understand why the very rich and business interests make arguments like this, but usually it's just ordinary people. Who benefits? It's about time we held companies like Amazon accountable for the way they harm and exploit their employees instead of helping shift the blame to their customers.

ddoolin 9y ago

> This first-of-its-kind partnership will include 65 rooms, which will shelter more than 200 homeless women, children, and families each night. Why are they not supporting non-family men? They literally include everyone but this one group, why? * Missed the main comment thread about this.

ryanx435 9y ago
because society does not care about men who do not contribute.

lwansbrough 9y ago

The unfortunately reality is that men are mostly disposable in our culture.

dang 9y ago
1. Please keep ideological talking points off HN. They're off-topic and destructive of the things this site is for. 2. We ban accounts that use HN primarily for political or ideological battle. This doesn't depend on ideological flavor; all forms are unwelcome. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14339797 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14339797 and marked it off-topic.
- crytrubin 9y ago
  Saying men are treated as disposable is an ideological talking point, but treating white men as de facto wrong and privileged in all respects[1] is completely fine. In fact, bonus points for introducing race when the topic is gender! [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14340050 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14340050

ttoomm28 9y ago

A shelter for anyone who isn't a man. How thoughtful of Amazon.

crb002 9y ago

Shelter in exchange for being product guniea pigs. Might be profitable.

gizmodo59 9y ago

I'm just amazed at the level of negativity in this thread and so many grey comments. To look at something objectively and appreciate for what it is, is very important.

kome 9y ago
That's my (european) perspective on this: Philanthropy is like going back to feudalism again: we don't need goodwill; we need social rights. Those kinds of services shouldn't depend on the generosity of the rich and powerful: those services should be provided because they are social rights. Just like healthcare and education. Of course I am happy that some homeless in Seattle will have a nice roof over their head thanks to Amazon's generosity, but I would be even happier if Amazon would start paying its fair share taxes across Europe, instead of eluding taxation thanks to financial tricks. That's not negativity: that's the elephant in the room. We should be aware between a nice action and a systemic problem, or between good advertisement and reality.
- RodericDay 9y ago
  As a South American, I fully agree. Tax-dodging + charity-giving is an awful, awful alternative to proper wealth redistribution.
  - cmdrfred 9y ago
    I never understood the wealth redistribution argument from (USA) Americans. If you make $32,400 a year you are in the top 1% globally. Thus you have the power to fix it, at least on the small scale and yet I haven't heard of a single person who holds these views even attempting to do so. When it comes to most of the western world screaming about income equality won't "help you with medical costs/student loans" in fact it will do very much the opposite unless you chose to implement it in a manner that really doesn't create more equality as much as making a certain class in a certain nation wealthier, but then aren't you just as bad as the capitalists you complain about?
    - 9y ago

plandis 9y ago

This is the perfect thread to realize just how biased HN is against Amazon. They are literally providing shelter to homeless people and so many posts are complaining about it... Perhaps we just see a nice thing for what it is?

kerbalspacepro 9y ago
but muh muh muh my effective altruism philosophy should be applied to entire corporate entities, right? /s

Justsignedup 9y ago

Remember that time the Vatican created a 6-machine free washing machine inside their giant cathedral? Yeah I like this better.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

mcheshier 9y ago

I like this, but Amazon still has a lot of work to do to address the pillaging of the commons they've been doing the last few years. They've been displacing people and capitalizing on public infrastructure for far too long without giving anything back.

ng12 9y ago
This is such an ignorant response. Do you realize how much of the country is dying because there's no industry, no jobs, no economy to speak of? I'm not saying give Amazon carte blanche but man, appreciate that your city's economy is growing instead of dying.
pavedwalden 9y ago
> capitalizing on public infrastructure for far too long without giving anything back. Does amazon not pay taxes?

GBond 9y ago

Some of the negative comments here exemplify why the mainstream is starting to hate on the "tech elitist" types in the same way FinanceBros were viewed negatively in the '90s and '00s.