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If Amazon is "infamous for creating horrible working conditions in their shipping centers" then the only people you would expect that would be working there wou

If Amazon is "infamous for creating horrible working conditions in their shipping centers" then the only people you would expect that would be working there would be the bottom of the barrel workers, the people who can't get jobs elsewhere. Everyone else would move to better jobs. Is this is what is happening?

onli 7y ago
Several answers: 1. Yes, in a way. Articles about Amazon warehouses regularly describe that people can work there only for a while before either burning out our simply trying to find something better. High fluctuation was a common theme. 2. Despite the issues Amazon has with unnecessary cruelty, quotes suggest that there is a higher and a steady pay, compared to shadier alternatives. Working there during the holiday season to make more than with alternatives was a regular motive in articles. 3. In anarcho capitalist countries like the US people risk dying or falling into utter poverty when not accepting work conditions like this. Not everyone can fall back into a programmer job (and now even less so), and most can't be sure that an alternative will turn up if they stop working and start searching. That bad jobs get taken does not show that they are acceptable in a system providing a basic standard. Same is true for countries like Germany, where not accepting bad jobs can mean not getting state support anymore (and yes, people died because of being sanctioned like that and then starving, that's not hyperbole).
- simongray 7y ago
  You have some good points, but calling the US ancap is a bit strong.
AnotherGoodName 7y ago
Yes you're right. A lot of the critical work we depend on pays minimum wage and has awful working conditions and if those people had any opportunity to change their circumstances they would do so.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  Are you referring to developing country jobs that are implicated in the supply chains for consumer products, or are you talking about first world minimum wage, like in France or the US?

onli 7y ago

Several answers: 1. Yes, in a way. Articles about Amazon warehouses regularly describe that people can work there only for a while before either burning out our simply trying to find something better. High fluctuation was a common theme. 2. Despite the issues Amazon has with unnecessary cruelty, quotes suggest that there is a higher and a steady pay, compared to shadier alternatives. Working there during the holiday season to make more than with alternatives was a regular motive in articles. 3. In anarcho capitalist countries like the US people risk dying or falling into utter poverty when not accepting work conditions like this. Not everyone can fall back into a programmer job (and now even less so), and most can't be sure that an alternative will turn up if they stop working and start searching. That bad jobs get taken does not show that they are acceptable in a system providing a basic standard. Same is true for countries like Germany, where not accepting bad jobs can mean not getting state support anymore (and yes, people died because of being sanctioned like that and then starving, that's not hyperbole).

simongray 7y ago
You have some good points, but calling the US ancap is a bit strong.

AnotherGoodName 7y ago

Yes you're right. A lot of the critical work we depend on pays minimum wage and has awful working conditions and if those people had any opportunity to change their circumstances they would do so.

perl4ever 7y ago
Are you referring to developing country jobs that are implicated in the supply chains for consumer products, or are you talking about first world minimum wage, like in France or the US?