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Amazon warehouses have a far, far, higher turn over rate than other warehouses, probably because the conditions are so cruel. It’s really sad how many people g

Amazon warehouses have a far, far, higher turn over rate than other warehouses, probably because the conditions are so cruel. It’s really sad how many people get super invested in defending mega corporations. I hope it’s just employees trying to move up but you never know. https://labor411.org/411-blog/warehouse-worker-turnover-rate-is-100-in-counties-that-have-amazon-warehouses/ https://labor411.org/411-blog/warehouse-worker-turnover-rate...

Matticus_Rex 6y ago
Why do you assume it's people leaving because of cruel conditions and not people being fired, especially given that they're open about firing lots of people and encouraging many to quit? They don't hide the ball on that.
- marricks 6y ago
  Do they create high turn over because they’re selecting for the best people to exploit? It’s a gestalt, you can see it two ways and I have no clue why someone would want to see it as a “good practice” unless that view was beneficial to their job and career advancement.
  - ActorNightly 6y ago
    Exploit is a loaded word. Employment is fully at will. And again, 3% unemployment rate.
    - james4k 6y ago
      "At will" is incredibly loaded. Employment is necessary for survival.
      - Matticus_Rex 6y ago
        Employment at Amazon is not.
        james4k 6y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment#Definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment#Definition
- jasondigitized 6y ago
  Because they have calculated that turnover is more profitable than the cost of quality recruiting, training and on boarding. Firing people is super costly. The math of the churn and burn model is working.
ActorNightly 6y ago
>Amazon warehouses have a far, far, higher turn over rate than other warehouses True >probably because the conditions are so cruel. Ugh, thats the crap I am talking about in the last sentence of my original post. There is nothing wrong with high turnover at a minimum wage manual labor job. Amazon hires seasonal workers that happily work overtime for $30 and then quit. Nobody is making a career out of being a warehouse associate.
- truetraveller 6y ago
  Very correct. Thank you. He provides a net benefit to his employees. Leave Jeff alone.
- NateEag 6y ago
  > Nobody is making a career out of being a warehouse associate. Um. I worked a warehouse one summer in college. A whole lot of my coworkers were, in fact, making a career out of it. It was a crappy career compared to the easy, high-income gig I was working towards in software development, but it was a career, nonetheless. I currently work with someone who was career warehouse until he caught a lucky break and was able to move into white collar work. (Interestingly, his last warehouse job before going white collar was with Amazon, after several others, and he said it was by far the best warehouse to work in.)
- TheRealSteel 6y ago
  >Nobody is making a career out of being a warehouse associate. The majority of people on Hacker News, yourself included (I can tell from your comments) have privilege that means we never had to consider something like making a career out of working in a warehouse. But this is absolutely a reality for alot of smart, hard working people, because they didn't have the opportunities you and me had. If unionization didn't lead to better outcomes for workers, Bezos wouldn't care about it. If it was going to be so bad for workers, he would just let them do it and let them fail. The fact that Amazon is doing anything about it is proof that it will benefit workers.
- seppin 6y ago
  > Nobody is making a career out of being a warehouse associate. Right, and people argue that "no one is driving for Uber full time it's a side hustle" except a lot of people do. Not by choice, but by necessity.

Matticus_Rex 6y ago

Why do you assume it's people leaving because of cruel conditions and not people being fired, especially given that they're open about firing lots of people and encouraging many to quit? They don't hide the ball on that.

marricks 6y ago
Do they create high turn over because they’re selecting for the best people to exploit? It’s a gestalt, you can see it two ways and I have no clue why someone would want to see it as a “good practice” unless that view was beneficial to their job and career advancement.
- ActorNightly 6y ago
  Exploit is a loaded word. Employment is fully at will. And again, 3% unemployment rate.
  - james4k 6y ago
    "At will" is incredibly loaded. Employment is necessary for survival.
    - Matticus_Rex 6y ago
      Employment at Amazon is not.
      - james4k 6y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment#Definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment#Definition
jasondigitized 6y ago
Because they have calculated that turnover is more profitable than the cost of quality recruiting, training and on boarding. Firing people is super costly. The math of the churn and burn model is working.

ActorNightly 6y ago

>Amazon warehouses have a far, far, higher turn over rate than other warehouses True >probably because the conditions are so cruel. Ugh, thats the crap I am talking about in the last sentence of my original post. There is nothing wrong with high turnover at a minimum wage manual labor job. Amazon hires seasonal workers that happily work overtime for $30 and then quit. Nobody is making a career out of being a warehouse associate.

truetraveller 6y ago
Very correct. Thank you. He provides a net benefit to his employees. Leave Jeff alone.
NateEag 6y ago
> Nobody is making a career out of being a warehouse associate. Um. I worked a warehouse one summer in college. A whole lot of my coworkers were, in fact, making a career out of it. It was a crappy career compared to the easy, high-income gig I was working towards in software development, but it was a career, nonetheless. I currently work with someone who was career warehouse until he caught a lucky break and was able to move into white collar work. (Interestingly, his last warehouse job before going white collar was with Amazon, after several others, and he said it was by far the best warehouse to work in.)
TheRealSteel 6y ago
>Nobody is making a career out of being a warehouse associate. The majority of people on Hacker News, yourself included (I can tell from your comments) have privilege that means we never had to consider something like making a career out of working in a warehouse. But this is absolutely a reality for alot of smart, hard working people, because they didn't have the opportunities you and me had. If unionization didn't lead to better outcomes for workers, Bezos wouldn't care about it. If it was going to be so bad for workers, he would just let them do it and let them fail. The fact that Amazon is doing anything about it is proof that it will benefit workers.
seppin 6y ago
> Nobody is making a career out of being a warehouse associate. Right, and people argue that "no one is driving for Uber full time it's a side hustle" except a lot of people do. Not by choice, but by necessity.