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Just a casual reminder that a portion of Amazon workers are on a strike during the Prime Days. Support them by not visiting any Amazon property for the next tw

by r3bl 7y ago

Just a casual reminder that a portion of Amazon workers are on a strike during the Prime Days. Support them by not visiting any Amazon property for the next two days. No Amazon purchases, no Audible, no Goodreads, no Twitch. AWS is kinda unavoidable, but the rest is not. We can do without them for two days, and show our support for the workers that are protesting inhumane conditions.

inetknght 7y ago
> AWS is kinda unavoidable, but the rest is not. Even AWS is avoidable. The cloud hosting market is competitive if you'd only look around.
- Zhenya 7y ago
  I thing op meant that you as a internet traveler can't really avoid websites calling aws (unless you block them with something like pi-hole or no script).
  - laumars 7y ago
    > unless you block them with something like pi-hole or no script Even that wouldn't work if anyone is using custom domain names (which the vast majority of published endpoints will be). The best you can do is black list Amazon owned IPs. But you should expect half the web (figure made up) to break and potentially in unexpected ways). Not to mention plenty of other internet based infra like IoT devices, smart TVs, etc
- bfrydl 7y ago
  I mean that's all well and good but I can't switch over my company's infrastructure to GCE for the next two days.
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  Sure but good luck not visiting anyone else's website who uses it (and then pays Amazon for serving that to you). Prime-day wise I saw other sites suggesting that you shouldn't avoid shopping there - a warehouse strike can't make its point of orders piling up and not shipping on time if there aren't orders to pile up.
- r3bl 7y ago
  It's unavoidable in the short term. Way too many websites use AWS for a consumer to boycott them, and if you're using it within a company, you can't switch away easily on a short notice. But I agree, if you work for a company that relies on AWS, now is the perfect time to re-examine that decision. They were the first ones to fulfill a niche, but there's a bunch of competition now.
  - hedora 7y ago
    Someone could create an ad-blocking list for AWS IP ranges, for the purpose of such a boycott. (It is actually easier than boycotting most other commodity suppliers.)
peaktechisnow 7y ago
this worked great for autoworkers! h a h a ha
- r3bl 7y ago
  There's precisely two ways of increasing the profit: 1) raise the prices, or 2) reduce the costs. Amazon took the second route. They still can't automate everything. If they could, they'd do so already. Workers are what keeps Amazon alive today, even if that might not be the case in the future.
  - jkaplowitz 7y ago
    3) increase the volume, assuming already profitable (or decrease the volume if loss-making)
  - hedora 7y ago
    4) Expand into horizontals/verticals 5) Financial engineering (e.g., open a finance / lending business) 6) Acquire competitors / complementary businesses that are also profitable. 7) Make leveraged investments using stakeholder capital (e.g., take on low interest debt, and invest in things with a higher expected return) 8) Regulatory capture (eliminate taxes, regulations, competitors — the latter two can boost the stock even if they have no actual impact on the business) I’m probably missing countless other ways businesses can increase shareholder earnings.
benj111 7y ago
Does it help them? Theres only any point in withdrawing labour, if that labour was required. Surely it would be better to concentrate your purchases so that the labour loss will be keenly felt, then not buy the week before or after.
- moate 7y ago
  Or you could just not use Amazon at all until you feel that they're in line with what you expect of a company. Consumer activism is a difficult set of choices. If you stop supporting by purchasing from a company, you run the risk of that company failing/struggling and things getting worse. If you do support them, you run the risk of allowing their behavior to get worse. There's no objectively moral choice in a vacuum and points to be made for both actions. Be as informed a consumer as you can be and purchase mindfully. Speak with others about the issues you feel are important and try to improve things. That's really the best you can do.
dahdum 7y ago
Heads up, the union organizing behind the UK strike doesn't want a boycott. > Still, the GMB isn’t calling on customers to boycott the online retailer during Prime Day. “We’re not calling for economic damage for Amazon,” Mick Rix, a union officer told the BBC. “What we’re asking for is for people to be aware. Leave feedback on Amazon.” https://qz.com/1666429/amazon-prime-day-2019-sees-workers-striking-around-the-world/ https://qz.com/1666429/amazon-prime-day-2019-sees-workers-st...
- r3bl 7y ago
  As a rebuttal: > We are not anti-union, but we are not neutral either. https://youtu.be/AQeGBHxIyHw https://youtu.be/AQeGBHxIyHw Of course they're gonna say that. All of the other countries listed in that article didn't, so quite a cherry pick you got there.
  - dahdum 7y ago
    The article doesn't include any boycott statements for other countries, are the German workers calling for one? The US strike looks like a flop, with less than 100 protesting and (according to Amazon), only 15 people striking [1]. 1. https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-says-15-workers-strike-on-prime-day-2019-7 https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-says-15-workers-strik...
SkyBelow 7y ago
>AWS is kinda unavoidable And that shows the strength of one's resolve.
- ggg3 7y ago
  and the (lack of) resilience of one's mono-cultuture architecture!

by r3bl 7y ago

inetknght 7y ago

> AWS is kinda unavoidable, but the rest is not. Even AWS is avoidable. The cloud hosting market is competitive if you'd only look around.

Zhenya 7y ago
I thing op meant that you as a internet traveler can't really avoid websites calling aws (unless you block them with something like pi-hole or no script).
- laumars 7y ago
  > unless you block them with something like pi-hole or no script Even that wouldn't work if anyone is using custom domain names (which the vast majority of published endpoints will be). The best you can do is black list Amazon owned IPs. But you should expect half the web (figure made up) to break and potentially in unexpected ways). Not to mention plenty of other internet based infra like IoT devices, smart TVs, etc
bfrydl 7y ago
I mean that's all well and good but I can't switch over my company's infrastructure to GCE for the next two days.
wlesieutre 7y ago
Sure but good luck not visiting anyone else's website who uses it (and then pays Amazon for serving that to you). Prime-day wise I saw other sites suggesting that you shouldn't avoid shopping there - a warehouse strike can't make its point of orders piling up and not shipping on time if there aren't orders to pile up.
r3bl 7y ago
It's unavoidable in the short term. Way too many websites use AWS for a consumer to boycott them, and if you're using it within a company, you can't switch away easily on a short notice. But I agree, if you work for a company that relies on AWS, now is the perfect time to re-examine that decision. They were the first ones to fulfill a niche, but there's a bunch of competition now.
- hedora 7y ago
  Someone could create an ad-blocking list for AWS IP ranges, for the purpose of such a boycott. (It is actually easier than boycotting most other commodity suppliers.)

peaktechisnow 7y ago

this worked great for autoworkers! h a h a ha

r3bl 7y ago
There's precisely two ways of increasing the profit: 1) raise the prices, or 2) reduce the costs. Amazon took the second route. They still can't automate everything. If they could, they'd do so already. Workers are what keeps Amazon alive today, even if that might not be the case in the future.
- jkaplowitz 7y ago
  3) increase the volume, assuming already profitable (or decrease the volume if loss-making)
- hedora 7y ago
  4) Expand into horizontals/verticals 5) Financial engineering (e.g., open a finance / lending business) 6) Acquire competitors / complementary businesses that are also profitable. 7) Make leveraged investments using stakeholder capital (e.g., take on low interest debt, and invest in things with a higher expected return) 8) Regulatory capture (eliminate taxes, regulations, competitors — the latter two can boost the stock even if they have no actual impact on the business) I’m probably missing countless other ways businesses can increase shareholder earnings.

benj111 7y ago

Does it help them? Theres only any point in withdrawing labour, if that labour was required. Surely it would be better to concentrate your purchases so that the labour loss will be keenly felt, then not buy the week before or after.

moate 7y ago
Or you could just not use Amazon at all until you feel that they're in line with what you expect of a company. Consumer activism is a difficult set of choices. If you stop supporting by purchasing from a company, you run the risk of that company failing/struggling and things getting worse. If you do support them, you run the risk of allowing their behavior to get worse. There's no objectively moral choice in a vacuum and points to be made for both actions. Be as informed a consumer as you can be and purchase mindfully. Speak with others about the issues you feel are important and try to improve things. That's really the best you can do.

dahdum 7y ago

Heads up, the union organizing behind the UK strike doesn't want a boycott. > Still, the GMB isn’t calling on customers to boycott the online retailer during Prime Day. “We’re not calling for economic damage for Amazon,” Mick Rix, a union officer told the BBC. “What we’re asking for is for people to be aware. Leave feedback on Amazon.” https://qz.com/1666429/amazon-prime-day-2019-sees-workers-striking-around-the-world/ https://qz.com/1666429/amazon-prime-day-2019-sees-workers-st...

r3bl 7y ago
As a rebuttal: > We are not anti-union, but we are not neutral either. https://youtu.be/AQeGBHxIyHw https://youtu.be/AQeGBHxIyHw Of course they're gonna say that. All of the other countries listed in that article didn't, so quite a cherry pick you got there.
- dahdum 7y ago
  The article doesn't include any boycott statements for other countries, are the German workers calling for one? The US strike looks like a flop, with less than 100 protesting and (according to Amazon), only 15 people striking [1]. 1. https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-says-15-workers-strike-on-prime-day-2019-7 https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-says-15-workers-strik...

SkyBelow 7y ago

>AWS is kinda unavoidable And that shows the strength of one's resolve.

ggg3 7y ago
and the (lack of) resilience of one's mono-cultuture architecture!