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>In 2010, he penned a tribute to Amazon’s engineers ... The tone was just right, neither disingenuously geeky nor overtly tongue-in-cheek. I'd love to see a si

>In 2010, he penned a tribute to Amazon’s engineers ... The tone was just right, neither disingenuously geeky nor overtly tongue-in-cheek. I'd love to see a similarly graceful and well-penned tribute from Bezos to the workers who routinely collapse from exhaustion in his fulfilment warehouses (1), before they are swiftly replaced by another Oompa Loompa who will scrape just above minimum wage if they make their hourly dispatch target. (1) https://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazon-warehouse-like-prison-where-workers-used-pee-bottle-2018-4?r=UK&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazon-warehouse-like-pri...

icebraining 8y ago
I'm sure he did write such a tribute. Did you read the one mentioned in the article? It doesn't mention the engineers at all, it only says "we do complicated stuff to make you money". I'm sure he has similarly well-penned quotes about their efficient operations.
dingo_bat 8y ago
> 'd love to see a similarly graceful and well-penned tribute from Bezos to the workers who routinely collapse from exhaustion in his fulfilment warehouses Why? Did they do anything noteworthy or exceptional?
- l33tbro 8y ago
  So you really think that was my point? What I was getting at is what relevance the quality of a CEO's internal communication prowess has when his company perpetuates toxic practices and processes from the top down.
- davidrm 8y ago
  > Why? Did they do anything noteworthy or exceptional? Yes, they are collapsing due to being overworked in one of the most valuable corporations in 21st century. The fact that a lot of people seems to be so dismissive about this fact is a very scary thought, and I happen to be pretty liberal when it comes to economics. This is an anomaly that should be addressed with a lot more attention.
  - SamReidHughes 8y ago
    Maybe they're collapsing because they didn't get enough sleep.
simonh 8y ago
Massive warehouse operation with thousands of employees has one disgruntled ex-employee, news at 11. OK, I know there have been other complaints, but Business Insider is hardly the news source of record I'd base an opinion on.
- l33tbro 8y ago
  It's based on 1 year's worth of investigative research. The guy is publishing a book. So, no, this isn't some yellow journalism hit piece.
  - adventured 8y ago
    Amazon has about 600,000 employees now. I'd be surprised if workers aren't routinely dying every day just from random chance given that scale. That's larger than US Army's active force. Even if 500 warehouse workers (one in a thousand) passed out in a given year from exhaustion, given the numbers we're talking about, that wouldn't imply anything. In an office setting, one in a thousand employees will pass out randomly in a given year from a problem derived from their own health. It takes a pretty epic data set and study to demonstrate a meaningful frequency when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of employees. I've seen no evidence in any of the articles spit out by the media that workers are regularly being worked to exhaustion. Skepticism is warranted, given there's a lot more money to be made by sensationalism, in selling books or driving clicks.
throw2016 8y ago
Amazon employment practices are disturbing, there is exploitation of workers and the fact that employment is not a choice is not addressed in the capitalism narrative, there is coercion and there is an unequal playing field between capital and labor. And this kind of exploitation directly causes a race to the bottom as competitors cannot be competitive without it. Bezos is rich, difficult to understand what he gains by treating workers this way. It's seems more and more like an ideology, a culture. The only way this gets fixed is strong regulation, a social culture that abhors exploitation and consumer choice. For consumer choice to be effective you need to start an intense awareness campaign that will compel people to think twice before buying from Amazon. But its a long term and expensive process with uncertain results. It's incredibly difficult building something like Amazon, and Bezos deserves all the success and money, but a few billions less for him so we have a healthier treatment of workers and healthier society should be not require a debate and reveals something fundamentally broken in our society.
dv_dt 8y ago
> One thing I love about customers is that they are divinely discontent. Their expectations are never static — they go up. It’s human nature. The way to a billionare's heart is through their profits, and in Bezos' case maybe that is his customers. If enough customers become unhappy, perhaps we would direct some focus onto the lowest tiers of his empire.

icebraining 8y ago

I'm sure he did write such a tribute. Did you read the one mentioned in the article? It doesn't mention the engineers at all, it only says "we do complicated stuff to make you money". I'm sure he has similarly well-penned quotes about their efficient operations.

dingo_bat 8y ago

> 'd love to see a similarly graceful and well-penned tribute from Bezos to the workers who routinely collapse from exhaustion in his fulfilment warehouses Why? Did they do anything noteworthy or exceptional?

l33tbro 8y ago
So you really think that was my point? What I was getting at is what relevance the quality of a CEO's internal communication prowess has when his company perpetuates toxic practices and processes from the top down.
davidrm 8y ago
> Why? Did they do anything noteworthy or exceptional? Yes, they are collapsing due to being overworked in one of the most valuable corporations in 21st century. The fact that a lot of people seems to be so dismissive about this fact is a very scary thought, and I happen to be pretty liberal when it comes to economics. This is an anomaly that should be addressed with a lot more attention.
- SamReidHughes 8y ago
  Maybe they're collapsing because they didn't get enough sleep.

simonh 8y ago

Massive warehouse operation with thousands of employees has one disgruntled ex-employee, news at 11. OK, I know there have been other complaints, but Business Insider is hardly the news source of record I'd base an opinion on.

l33tbro 8y ago
It's based on 1 year's worth of investigative research. The guy is publishing a book. So, no, this isn't some yellow journalism hit piece.
- adventured 8y ago
  Amazon has about 600,000 employees now. I'd be surprised if workers aren't routinely dying every day just from random chance given that scale. That's larger than US Army's active force. Even if 500 warehouse workers (one in a thousand) passed out in a given year from exhaustion, given the numbers we're talking about, that wouldn't imply anything. In an office setting, one in a thousand employees will pass out randomly in a given year from a problem derived from their own health. It takes a pretty epic data set and study to demonstrate a meaningful frequency when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of employees. I've seen no evidence in any of the articles spit out by the media that workers are regularly being worked to exhaustion. Skepticism is warranted, given there's a lot more money to be made by sensationalism, in selling books or driving clicks.

throw2016 8y ago

Amazon employment practices are disturbing, there is exploitation of workers and the fact that employment is not a choice is not addressed in the capitalism narrative, there is coercion and there is an unequal playing field between capital and labor. And this kind of exploitation directly causes a race to the bottom as competitors cannot be competitive without it. Bezos is rich, difficult to understand what he gains by treating workers this way. It's seems more and more like an ideology, a culture. The only way this gets fixed is strong regulation, a social culture that abhors exploitation and consumer choice. For consumer choice to be effective you need to start an intense awareness campaign that will compel people to think twice before buying from Amazon. But its a long term and expensive process with uncertain results. It's incredibly difficult building something like Amazon, and Bezos deserves all the success and money, but a few billions less for him so we have a healthier treatment of workers and healthier society should be not require a debate and reveals something fundamentally broken in our society.

dv_dt 8y ago

> One thing I love about customers is that they are divinely discontent. Their expectations are never static — they go up. It’s human nature. The way to a billionare's heart is through their profits, and in Bezos' case maybe that is his customers. If enough customers become unhappy, perhaps we would direct some focus onto the lowest tiers of his empire.