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The article seems to contain nothing that would qualify for the words "Company Town". It appears to boil down "look amazon is big, surely it means that it must

The article seems to contain nothing that would qualify for the words "Company Town". It appears to boil down "look amazon is big, surely it means that it must be evil!".

anshumankmr 5y ago
Of course, it's published on Jacobin.
eganist 5y ago
> The article seems to contain nothing that would qualify for the words "Company Town". It appears to boil down "look amazon is big, surely it means that it must be evil!". I guess this is the difference between a literal v. figurative interpretation of the title. The article itself is speaking to Amazon's efforts to sustain its hiring pipeline in the face of colossal churn, describing activities such as sponsoring secondary schools while installing their own branding as a condition of sponsorship. > > A dozen students sat clustered at work tables inside an air-conditioned classroom, which was designed to emulate the inside of an Amazon facility. On one wall, Amazon’s giant logo grinned across a yellow and green banner. The words “CUSTOMER OBSESSION” and “DELIVER RESULTS” were painted against a corporate-style yellow backdrop. On a whiteboard, a teacher had written the words “Logistics Final Project,” and the lesson of the day was on Amazon’s “14 Leadership Principles.” Each teenager wore a company golf shirt emblazoned with the Amazon logo. > > Students and staff members expressed pride in being associated with the company. Amazon partnered with the school as part of its five-year anniversary in the Inland Empire, donating $50,000 to start the pilot program, the giant sweepstakes-style Amazon check displayed prominently at the classroom entrance. The students had already taken field trips to tour the nearby Amazon warehouse. > A public high-school classroom designed to resemble an Amazon facility, with students wearing Amazon logos on their clothing as they memorize Amazon’s leadership principles (which, it is worth noting, also include “Ownership” and “Think Big,” injunctions that hold merit for readers of this magazine when imagining how we might solve the problems exemplified by Amazon). Such a relationship between the company and public goods like a high school is part of what it means to consider Amazon as “the major working-class space of suburban and exurban socialization.” Further (and quite interesting) reading on the concept of a company town: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town
- emteycz 5y ago
  So what? The EU and other similar institutions require their branding to be present in classes too. I'd rather have obviously absurd corporate branding than slow but sure political indoctrination (e.g. the EU makes it look like the local government is incapable of doing anything on its own, while the fact is that everything worked pretty well before the EU and even today 90%+ of funding is local - but the EU flag must be displayed prominently!).
  - throw474747 5y ago
    Having been in multiple educational institutions in different EU countries I have never seen this anywhere. Did you perhaps confuse this with the common signs indicating that the EU funded that particular project/institution?
    - emteycz 5y ago
      I am not confusing anything, that's exactly what I mean. The EU sends a minor (sub 1%, in many cases) contribution but its flag must be displayed on the right side of the local flag facing the children/people - that's exactly the problem. Now the flag is everywhere - public parks, public transit, hospitals, schools, etc - and today's children think there was nothing before the great EU funds rescued us from total poverty - a total lie.
      - detaro 5y ago
        EU contributions do not lead to any flagging requirements, flags on public buildings are state decisions. (E.g. here in Germany, even different federal states have differing policies on flying the EU flag - some do it if there is space, others only if there is a specific EU-relevant event going on, similar to UN flags) The funding programmes generally literally just require you to put a poster up for smaller contributions, for >500k€ you need a "permanent" sign if its a building etc, for projects a mention in info material. If a single "this building was supported through EU fund ABC with XXXXXX €" sign (AFAIK the amount is allowed to be listed but not required, and anyways far from your "present in classes" claim, and far from the level described in the article) leads to people thinking that's all that was impossible otherwise, that sounds like an education problem. And is not that out of the ordinary for funding contributions - here it's not unusual to see that sign grouped with equal large signs of other (state, federal, ...) authorities providing funding.
perryizgr8 5y ago
Even the phrase "company town" itself does not signify anything evil. In fact I'm wondering if such a place might be better than the usual government administered cities and towns.
- aga98mtl 5y ago
  Honestly, I was hoping Amazon was actually making housing for its workers. I think high density housing within walking distance of your job is the realistic solution for lowering co2 emissions.
  - beckman466 5y ago
    > I was hoping Amazon was actually making housing for its workers. In the movie 'Sorry To Bother You' by Boots Riley, they have an Amazon-like entity called 'WorryFree' that does exactly this. I'm not sure we actually want this (Amazon or other big employers making housing for laborers they employ), especially since these workers are often not labor aristocrats, and therefore will have little bargaining power.
    - CryptoPunk 5y ago
      >>I'm not sure we actually want this (Amazon or others making housing for their workers), especially since these workers are often not labor aristocrats, and therefore will have little bargaining power. Even in the 19th century, workers had a significant amount of bargaining power, and company towns were in fact an attempt to improve working conditions, in light of workers' sensitivity to high prices. Without things like company stores and company housing, what was found to happen is that an independent store owner or housing provider would take advantage of their monopoly status, and raise prices, leading to workers quitting. So just like oil rigs have their own company restaurant on-site, isolated 19th century worksites had their own company businesses on-site to ensure their workers had competitively priced goods available to them. Companies did this at the time because workers in the 19th century were aware of the comparative wages/living-standards on offer, and had enough mobility to leave sites that didn't offer the best available in the market at that time. Compared to the late 19th century, workers today have enormous mobility, and ready internet-based knowledge of market options, so what would happen if company towns emerged today would not be exploitive.
ceilingcorner 5y ago
It’s on Jacobin, so this is to be expected. Not exactly a neutral publication.
- paulddraper 5y ago
  > Jacobin Oh, I'm surprised that is allowed on HN. Like one step above tabloids.

The article seems to contain nothing that would qualify for the words "Company Town". It appears to boil down "look amazon is big, surely it means that it must be evil!".

anshumankmr 5y ago

Of course, it's published on Jacobin.

eganist 5y ago

> The article seems to contain nothing that would qualify for the words "Company Town". It appears to boil down "look amazon is big, surely it means that it must be evil!". I guess this is the difference between a literal v. figurative interpretation of the title. The article itself is speaking to Amazon's efforts to sustain its hiring pipeline in the face of colossal churn, describing activities such as sponsoring secondary schools while installing their own branding as a condition of sponsorship. > > A dozen students sat clustered at work tables inside an air-conditioned classroom, which was designed to emulate the inside of an Amazon facility. On one wall, Amazon’s giant logo grinned across a yellow and green banner. The words “CUSTOMER OBSESSION” and “DELIVER RESULTS” were painted against a corporate-style yellow backdrop. On a whiteboard, a teacher had written the words “Logistics Final Project,” and the lesson of the day was on Amazon’s “14 Leadership Principles.” Each teenager wore a company golf shirt emblazoned with the Amazon logo. > > Students and staff members expressed pride in being associated with the company. Amazon partnered with the school as part of its five-year anniversary in the Inland Empire, donating $50,000 to start the pilot program, the giant sweepstakes-style Amazon check displayed prominently at the classroom entrance. The students had already taken field trips to tour the nearby Amazon warehouse. > A public high-school classroom designed to resemble an Amazon facility, with students wearing Amazon logos on their clothing as they memorize Amazon’s leadership principles (which, it is worth noting, also include “Ownership” and “Think Big,” injunctions that hold merit for readers of this magazine when imagining how we might solve the problems exemplified by Amazon). Such a relationship between the company and public goods like a high school is part of what it means to consider Amazon as “the major working-class space of suburban and exurban socialization.” Further (and quite interesting) reading on the concept of a company town: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town

emteycz 5y ago
So what? The EU and other similar institutions require their branding to be present in classes too. I'd rather have obviously absurd corporate branding than slow but sure political indoctrination (e.g. the EU makes it look like the local government is incapable of doing anything on its own, while the fact is that everything worked pretty well before the EU and even today 90%+ of funding is local - but the EU flag must be displayed prominently!).
- throw474747 5y ago
  Having been in multiple educational institutions in different EU countries I have never seen this anywhere. Did you perhaps confuse this with the common signs indicating that the EU funded that particular project/institution?
  - emteycz 5y ago
    I am not confusing anything, that's exactly what I mean. The EU sends a minor (sub 1%, in many cases) contribution but its flag must be displayed on the right side of the local flag facing the children/people - that's exactly the problem. Now the flag is everywhere - public parks, public transit, hospitals, schools, etc - and today's children think there was nothing before the great EU funds rescued us from total poverty - a total lie.
    - detaro 5y ago
      EU contributions do not lead to any flagging requirements, flags on public buildings are state decisions. (E.g. here in Germany, even different federal states have differing policies on flying the EU flag - some do it if there is space, others only if there is a specific EU-relevant event going on, similar to UN flags) The funding programmes generally literally just require you to put a poster up for smaller contributions, for >500k€ you need a "permanent" sign if its a building etc, for projects a mention in info material. If a single "this building was supported through EU fund ABC with XXXXXX €" sign (AFAIK the amount is allowed to be listed but not required, and anyways far from your "present in classes" claim, and far from the level described in the article) leads to people thinking that's all that was impossible otherwise, that sounds like an education problem. And is not that out of the ordinary for funding contributions - here it's not unusual to see that sign grouped with equal large signs of other (state, federal, ...) authorities providing funding.

perryizgr8 5y ago

Even the phrase "company town" itself does not signify anything evil. In fact I'm wondering if such a place might be better than the usual government administered cities and towns.

aga98mtl 5y ago
Honestly, I was hoping Amazon was actually making housing for its workers. I think high density housing within walking distance of your job is the realistic solution for lowering co2 emissions.
- beckman466 5y ago
  > I was hoping Amazon was actually making housing for its workers. In the movie 'Sorry To Bother You' by Boots Riley, they have an Amazon-like entity called 'WorryFree' that does exactly this. I'm not sure we actually want this (Amazon or other big employers making housing for laborers they employ), especially since these workers are often not labor aristocrats, and therefore will have little bargaining power.
  - CryptoPunk 5y ago
    >>I'm not sure we actually want this (Amazon or others making housing for their workers), especially since these workers are often not labor aristocrats, and therefore will have little bargaining power. Even in the 19th century, workers had a significant amount of bargaining power, and company towns were in fact an attempt to improve working conditions, in light of workers' sensitivity to high prices. Without things like company stores and company housing, what was found to happen is that an independent store owner or housing provider would take advantage of their monopoly status, and raise prices, leading to workers quitting. So just like oil rigs have their own company restaurant on-site, isolated 19th century worksites had their own company businesses on-site to ensure their workers had competitively priced goods available to them. Companies did this at the time because workers in the 19th century were aware of the comparative wages/living-standards on offer, and had enough mobility to leave sites that didn't offer the best available in the market at that time. Compared to the late 19th century, workers today have enormous mobility, and ready internet-based knowledge of market options, so what would happen if company towns emerged today would not be exploitive.

ceilingcorner 5y ago

It’s on Jacobin, so this is to be expected. Not exactly a neutral publication.

paulddraper 5y ago
> Jacobin Oh, I'm surprised that is allowed on HN. Like one step above tabloids.