I remember the very early days at Amazon in distribution operations. It was an incredibly eclectic and progressive group of awesome freaks. We needed to: 1)d

I remember the very early days at Amazon in distribution operations. It was an incredibly eclectic and progressive group of awesome freaks. We needed to: 1)delight the customer 2)manage the constant growth of orders 3)grow the team to help manage the constant growth Somehow we managed to achieve all 3, although often not unlike the famously funny I Love Lucy skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkQ58I53mjk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkQ58I53mjk But from my anecdotal perspective, I do believe it resulted in the rise of a harsher and more transactional culture. In order to achieve the 3 above, it meant there was precious little time to invest in helping those who were struggling in a very high operational tempo environment. It was very much sink or swim. If you were a proven consistent swimmer, there was certainly far more sympathy for having an occasional bad day. If not, it was very much a cold and clinical: “Knock knock” “Who’s there?” “Not you anymore.” It doesn’t make it ok. But it doesn’t make it illegal or evil either. Amazon distribution operations was not, and is not, for everyone. “March or die.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7z691yC9pc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7z691yC9pc Having seen many thousands come in/out of Amazon’s gen 1&2 distribution center doors across numerous locations(20 years ago), a high percentage of people quickly leave when they learn they can’t hide from their lack of reasonable productivity. But there are very few companies on the planet that have created as many opportunities for unskilled workers to develop and grow with the company as well as earn a stake in the outcome. A guy working for me who started as an Associate and was promoted to Lead when we were expanding beyond books is now Director of Logistics. Countless others were promoted and transferred within the company. Early stage Amazon distribution operations associates stock options are easily worth $2-3+ million, not including additional stock units gained since. There isn’t the same upside on stock units today, but wages and benefits are much better compared to 20 years ago. Things could have been better, and they have gotten better, and there’s certainly more room for improvement. But if Amazon wasn’t valued at $1 trillion, this would be a non story. It’s not that I’m unsympathetic, it’s that when I look at the profit per employee for Amazon’s distribution operations, it has far more in common with Applebee’s that Apple.