6 ms·

Is there a reason they don't just have more bathrooms? A 5 minute walk to the bathroom seems further than you would walk in any mall.

gruez 5y ago
>Is there a reason they don't just have more bathrooms setting up the plumbing to all areas of the warehouse is expensive. >A 5 minute walk to the bathroom seems further than you would walk in any mall. 5 minute seems about right for a mall if you factor in the time looking for it.
- bombcar 5y ago
  5 minutes doesn't seem unreasonable for a large building - if you're in IKEA and have to get to the entrance to find a bathroom it might take that long; or you're on a soccer field. What's unreasonable is not accounting for that time.
spaetzleesser 5y ago
Because they are cheapskates and want to squeeze out the maximum profit with the least effort.
pjc50 5y ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57849364 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57849364 Every dollar spent on bathrooms is a dollar Bezos can't spend on going to space.
tzs 5y ago
An obvious approach comes to mind. From the video I saw from Amazon about their warehouses, they work like this. 1. The goods are stored in stand-alone cabinets containing multiple slide-out bins. The cabinets are stored in a large section of the warehouse that humans do not normally go into. 2. When an order needs an item stored in bin X of cabinet Y, one of Amazon's robots (a short flat wheeled robot--like a robot vacuum but squarer and beefier) moves to under cabinet Y and lifts it and brings it to the workstation of the worker who is packing the order. 3. When the cabinet arrives at the workstation the system shines a light on bin X. The worker grabs the required item from that bin and packs it into the outgoing order. Repeat for any other bins with items needed from that cabinet. Then the cabinet is taken away (back to storage or I would guess to the next worker who needs something from it). 4. Similar for received items. The system brings the cabinet the item is to be stored in to the worker, shines lights on the bins the worker can put it in, notes which bin the worker put it in, and when done with that worker takes the cabinet away for storage. So...why not get a bunch of portable toilets mounted on bases that the robots can move (or better designed specifically for Amazon's needs)? When a worker needs a bathroom break they could inform the system and it could bring a toilet to them. This would also allow the toilets to be brought to a specific area for cleaning rather than having a janitor have to make rounds. The toilets could probably be designed to make it easy to automate much of this.
- gruez 5y ago
  Under the warehouse system you described, wouldn't all the workers be concentrated in one place? Why would you need moving toilets? I'd imagine the "I need to walk 5 minutes to go to the bathroom" complaints come from warehouses that don't have the moving shelves, so workers have to walk around the entire warehouse, leading to a 5 minute walk to the bathroom if they're on the far end of the warehouse.
travisporter 5y ago
I don't think this is the right question to ask. The break may just need to be longer and they are using the walk to the bathroom as an example.
908B64B197 5y ago
Why not have a portable bathroom on a forklift and bring it to the employees that need it?
- josephcsible 5y ago
  Don't most people have a very strong preference for their bathroom to have plumbing hookups?
  - 908B64B197 5y ago
    They do. This would be the next best thing. https://www.unitedsiteservices.com/what-we-offer/portable-restroom-trailers-rental/vip-solar-restrooms/ https://www.unitedsiteservices.com/what-we-offer/portable-re...

gruez 5y ago

>Is there a reason they don't just have more bathrooms setting up the plumbing to all areas of the warehouse is expensive. >A 5 minute walk to the bathroom seems further than you would walk in any mall. 5 minute seems about right for a mall if you factor in the time looking for it.

bombcar 5y ago
5 minutes doesn't seem unreasonable for a large building - if you're in IKEA and have to get to the entrance to find a bathroom it might take that long; or you're on a soccer field. What's unreasonable is not accounting for that time.

spaetzleesser 5y ago

Because they are cheapskates and want to squeeze out the maximum profit with the least effort.

pjc50 5y ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57849364 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57849364 Every dollar spent on bathrooms is a dollar Bezos can't spend on going to space.

tzs 5y ago

An obvious approach comes to mind. From the video I saw from Amazon about their warehouses, they work like this. 1. The goods are stored in stand-alone cabinets containing multiple slide-out bins. The cabinets are stored in a large section of the warehouse that humans do not normally go into. 2. When an order needs an item stored in bin X of cabinet Y, one of Amazon's robots (a short flat wheeled robot--like a robot vacuum but squarer and beefier) moves to under cabinet Y and lifts it and brings it to the workstation of the worker who is packing the order. 3. When the cabinet arrives at the workstation the system shines a light on bin X. The worker grabs the required item from that bin and packs it into the outgoing order. Repeat for any other bins with items needed from that cabinet. Then the cabinet is taken away (back to storage or I would guess to the next worker who needs something from it). 4. Similar for received items. The system brings the cabinet the item is to be stored in to the worker, shines lights on the bins the worker can put it in, notes which bin the worker put it in, and when done with that worker takes the cabinet away for storage. So...why not get a bunch of portable toilets mounted on bases that the robots can move (or better designed specifically for Amazon's needs)? When a worker needs a bathroom break they could inform the system and it could bring a toilet to them. This would also allow the toilets to be brought to a specific area for cleaning rather than having a janitor have to make rounds. The toilets could probably be designed to make it easy to automate much of this.

gruez 5y ago
Under the warehouse system you described, wouldn't all the workers be concentrated in one place? Why would you need moving toilets? I'd imagine the "I need to walk 5 minutes to go to the bathroom" complaints come from warehouses that don't have the moving shelves, so workers have to walk around the entire warehouse, leading to a 5 minute walk to the bathroom if they're on the far end of the warehouse.

travisporter 5y ago

I don't think this is the right question to ask. The break may just need to be longer and they are using the walk to the bathroom as an example.

908B64B197 5y ago

Why not have a portable bathroom on a forklift and bring it to the employees that need it?

josephcsible 5y ago
Don't most people have a very strong preference for their bathroom to have plumbing hookups?
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  They do. This would be the next best thing. https://www.unitedsiteservices.com/what-we-offer/portable-restroom-trailers-rental/vip-solar-restrooms/ https://www.unitedsiteservices.com/what-we-offer/portable-re...