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Let’s say the workers unionize as the guy they interviewed suggests, what is the result? Basically they will push to change the system so that people don’t have

by xt00 8y ago

Let’s say the workers unionize as the guy they interviewed suggests, what is the result? Basically they will push to change the system so that people don’t have to work as hard, it’s harder to fire people and have a seniority system. It’s quite possible that it would be better for the workers in that case but I do wonder if amazon could bypass a lot of these issues by just saying that people can’t work more than say 4 days a week during the rush season. So they end up hiring more workers to get the job done but people can’t complain that they are being overworked. I mean I’m not a fan of conspiracy theories but I wouldn’t be surprised if Walmart wasn’t silently cheering all the Amazon hate and pro union talk for their fulfillment centers..

nickpsecurity 8y ago
"Basically they will push to change the system so that people don’t have to work as hard, it’s harder to fire people and have a seniority system." Costco is a union company that's like a walk-in version of Amazon warehouse invented before Amazon. They pay workers well, give them bonuses, and so on. Company makes around $100 billion a year. If trying to imagine unionized Amazon, walk into a Costco noting how the workers perform and at what stress levels. Better yet, if about vote with your wallet, just buy stuff from Costco and similar companies instead of Amazon to maintain and create more great jobs. My company is a union company, too. We outperform the competition. They try to poach us all the time, too. The contract allows management to take action against lazy or disobedient employees if they can prove it. Their continued employment is totally due to terrible, ineffective management. All they gotta do is write their name on a piece of paper they present to those workers several times to fire them. Instead, they write up good, compliant workers over technicalities but ignore bad workers that argue back more. The lazy, weak managers get stuff done on paper that way. Although very common in union shops, I virtually never see anyone talk about the management angle on bad employees hard to get rid of. The other issue is managers backing friends/family, who they buy drugs from, sleep with, and so on. Lots of political backchanneling over the most ridiculous stuff in these big companies. The sales teams are even crazier most of the time but theyre professional bullshitters with incentives to be aggressively outgoing. So, no surprise Im always hearing crazy stories about ex-employees. ;)
- barney54 8y ago
  I don’t know. Costco is a different business. There workers aren’t focused on customer support. The Costco workers don’t hate the customers but they don’t go out of their way to help customers like I have seen Walmart workers do for example.
  - nickpsecurity 8y ago
    It's probably their policy or culture, not union-related. Publix (employee-owned) and Kroger (union) are in that space. Their management orders them to go out of the way for customers even with losses on some stuff. It's a customer loyalty strategy. Costco just has to do enough to keep a member. They have good service at mine, though.
- Kephael 8y ago
  Amazon is a non-union company and they have almost single-handedly destroyed physical retail in the Western world. Amazon has created immense value for consumers and shareholders, Jeff Bezos would not be the richest person in the world if Amazon was not good at what they do. Costco hasn't innovated in decades, if it all.
  - nickpsecurity 8y ago
    I was a big fan of Amazon till I saw the behind-the-scenes cost. I agree totally Costco sucks at innovation. They missed huge opportunities. I got a few more ideas. Might try to sell them to them.
  - tmd83 8y ago
    Is that a good thing for real? From what I heard Amazon no longer will have lowest price on things. So essentially isn't this a big bait and switch strategy. I do thing in the long run Amazon's near monopoly on things will come back to bite customers as they will destroy the competition. The example of co-mingling of stock is one example. So much customer harm and fraud and they still do nothing because customers still buy from they for comfort. Any smaller company would have destroyed doing that.

by xt00 8y ago

nickpsecurity 8y ago

"Basically they will push to change the system so that people don’t have to work as hard, it’s harder to fire people and have a seniority system." Costco is a union company that's like a walk-in version of Amazon warehouse invented before Amazon. They pay workers well, give them bonuses, and so on. Company makes around $100 billion a year. If trying to imagine unionized Amazon, walk into a Costco noting how the workers perform and at what stress levels. Better yet, if about vote with your wallet, just buy stuff from Costco and similar companies instead of Amazon to maintain and create more great jobs. My company is a union company, too. We outperform the competition. They try to poach us all the time, too. The contract allows management to take action against lazy or disobedient employees if they can prove it. Their continued employment is totally due to terrible, ineffective management. All they gotta do is write their name on a piece of paper they present to those workers several times to fire them. Instead, they write up good, compliant workers over technicalities but ignore bad workers that argue back more. The lazy, weak managers get stuff done on paper that way. Although very common in union shops, I virtually never see anyone talk about the management angle on bad employees hard to get rid of. The other issue is managers backing friends/family, who they buy drugs from, sleep with, and so on. Lots of political backchanneling over the most ridiculous stuff in these big companies. The sales teams are even crazier most of the time but theyre professional bullshitters with incentives to be aggressively outgoing. So, no surprise Im always hearing crazy stories about ex-employees. ;)

barney54 8y ago
I don’t know. Costco is a different business. There workers aren’t focused on customer support. The Costco workers don’t hate the customers but they don’t go out of their way to help customers like I have seen Walmart workers do for example.
- nickpsecurity 8y ago
  It's probably their policy or culture, not union-related. Publix (employee-owned) and Kroger (union) are in that space. Their management orders them to go out of the way for customers even with losses on some stuff. It's a customer loyalty strategy. Costco just has to do enough to keep a member. They have good service at mine, though.
Kephael 8y ago
Amazon is a non-union company and they have almost single-handedly destroyed physical retail in the Western world. Amazon has created immense value for consumers and shareholders, Jeff Bezos would not be the richest person in the world if Amazon was not good at what they do. Costco hasn't innovated in decades, if it all.
- nickpsecurity 8y ago
  I was a big fan of Amazon till I saw the behind-the-scenes cost. I agree totally Costco sucks at innovation. They missed huge opportunities. I got a few more ideas. Might try to sell them to them.
- tmd83 8y ago
  Is that a good thing for real? From what I heard Amazon no longer will have lowest price on things. So essentially isn't this a big bait and switch strategy. I do thing in the long run Amazon's near monopoly on things will come back to bite customers as they will destroy the competition. The example of co-mingling of stock is one example. So much customer harm and fraud and they still do nothing because customers still buy from they for comfort. Any smaller company would have destroyed doing that.