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I’m in an interesting place. Here in Seattle I am two blocks from one of the largest Amazon Fresh stores. It was built on the former location of a local grocer.

I’m in an interesting place. Here in Seattle I am two blocks from one of the largest Amazon Fresh stores. It was built on the former location of a local grocer. The construction was almost complete before Covid hit, but Amazon shuttered the store during that time. As a result there was no groceries in my neighborhood from 2018-2023. Now it seems Amazon is going to leave us a grocery desert yet again. They were piloting smart carts at the location. The cart scans your items so checking out you just push the cart through a scanner that weighs it. But this invention was like a microcosm of Amazon’s whole fuckup with groceries. The problem with the store wasn’t that I couldn’t check out fast enough, it’s that it was a shit grocery store. They had popular products but they were missing all the unpopular, low margin products you need to actually cook (baking powder, shortening, tomato paste, soy sauce…). They only hire non-union jobs program people at the registers because Amazon believes that cashier is a sub-human role. The previous store had an owner who would wander the aisles and chat with customers. The new store has Europeans with clipboards who watch you as you shop.

crises-luff-6b 9mo ago
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SirFatty 9mo ago
"non-union jobs program people at the registers because Amazon believes that cashier is a sub-human role." What grocery stores still have union workers?
- The-Bus 9mo ago
  The UFCW claims they represent at least 800,000 grocery workers across the US. I had a job as a union worker in a supermarket, and am glad that's still available to others. https://www.ufcw.org/actions/campaign/albertsons-and-safeway-union/ https://www.ufcw.org/actions/campaign/albertsons-and-safeway...
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- crysin 9mo ago
  Jewel-Osco: https://www.local881ufcw.org/about-us/#local-881 https://www.local881ufcw.org/about-us/#local-881 Meijer and Kroger: https://ufcw951.org/about/ https://ufcw951.org/about/
- quietsegfault 9mo ago
  Literally all the grocery stores in my Northeast US city are unionized.
- buildsjets 9mo ago
  My brother has worked as a stocker for King Kullen in New York for 20 years and is a union worker. In the Seattle area where the poster is from, pretty much all the grocery stores are unionized. Workers at big stores like Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC, and Albertsons, and local stores PCC, Uwajimaya are represented by UFCW3000. https://ufcw3000.org/shop-union https://ufcw3000.org/shop-union Additionally, Teamsters 174 organizes a lot of the grocery freight workers. https://teamsters174.net/warehouse-and-grocery/ https://teamsters174.net/warehouse-and-grocery/
- seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
  Most grocery stores in the US are still heavily union. I don't think the unions ever left the grocery stores.
- dlcarrier 9mo ago
  The more-expensive stores sometimes do. My friend's wife works for one, and the store is closing because it's too close to a discount grocery to get enough traffic to stay open. The union is making her transfer to a much further location or lose her seniority, for some nonsense reason involving the closer locations historically being part of a different union, despite them now all being the same one.
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
jacquesm 9mo ago
So now you are off worse than before?
MattDamonSpace 9mo ago
Not to be rude but there’s 4 Amazon Fresh locations in the greater Seattle area and each of them is next to multiple other large/small grocery options. For instance, the one in north Seattle (Shoreline) is within eyesight of a Safeway, a Sprouts, two international markets and a chef wholesaler. The other three locations are similarly crowded with options. What food desert are you referring to?
- guyrt 9mo ago
  Jackson St location is the only walkable option in its neighborhood. It wasn't very good (terrible selection, stocking issues, slowly increasing locked section) but it was convenient.
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
- chronny903 9mo ago
  > What food desert are you referring to? His food desert that doesn’t exist.
  - buildsjets 9mo ago
    Food deserts do exist, but Seattle's Central District is not one of them. This US government tool used to literally be called the "Food Desert Locator" until the current administration re-named it to "Food Access Research Atlas" https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-... It's really the suburban areas of Seattle that develop food deserts, likely due to restrictive zoning for commercial properties and minimum lot-size requirements that make sure that every grocery store is a long SUV ride away from the cu-de-sac neighborhood. If the term Food Desert offends you, I can gladly switch to calling it Food Apartheid instead. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/15/food-apartheid-food-deserts-racism-inequality-america-karen-washington-interview https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/15/food-aparthe...
freedomben 9mo ago
> They only hire non-union jobs program people at the registers because Amazon believes that cashier is a sub-human role. The implication being that humans who aren't in a union are "sub-human" in your opinion? If so, that's pretty messed up man.
- 12_throw_away 9mo ago
  A giant, multinational, multi-trillion-dollar corporation that will only bargain with individual people living paycheck-to-paycheck? Huh, what a weird power imbalance! Surely it doesn't have anything to do with their documented history of treating their blue-collar workforce like utter garbage.
  - freedomben 9mo ago
    I think Amazon are largely shitheads to their low level workers (and still assholes even to mid-level workers), and I am in no way defending them. I'm in fact sickened by them. I will never work for Amazon. But the implication above was that the non-union employee is the "sub-human" option. I find that attitude pretty gross too. Humans are human whether they are union members or not.
    - pram 9mo ago
      The “implication” is that Amazon finds them ALL sub-human and thus would hire to reduce any kind of representation or organizational power. Work on your reading comprehension dude.
    - 12_throw_away 9mo ago
      > But the implication above was that the non-union employee is the "sub-human" option. I find that attitude pretty gross too. Ok, fine, but the OP never said this, you are the only person talking about this.

crises-luff-6b 9mo ago

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SirFatty 9mo ago

"non-union jobs program people at the registers because Amazon believes that cashier is a sub-human role." What grocery stores still have union workers?

The-Bus 9mo ago
The UFCW claims they represent at least 800,000 grocery workers across the US. I had a job as a union worker in a supermarket, and am glad that's still available to others. https://www.ufcw.org/actions/campaign/albertsons-and-safeway-union/ https://www.ufcw.org/actions/campaign/albertsons-and-safeway...
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
crysin 9mo ago
Jewel-Osco: https://www.local881ufcw.org/about-us/#local-881 https://www.local881ufcw.org/about-us/#local-881 Meijer and Kroger: https://ufcw951.org/about/ https://ufcw951.org/about/
quietsegfault 9mo ago
Literally all the grocery stores in my Northeast US city are unionized.
buildsjets 9mo ago
My brother has worked as a stocker for King Kullen in New York for 20 years and is a union worker. In the Seattle area where the poster is from, pretty much all the grocery stores are unionized. Workers at big stores like Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC, and Albertsons, and local stores PCC, Uwajimaya are represented by UFCW3000. https://ufcw3000.org/shop-union https://ufcw3000.org/shop-union Additionally, Teamsters 174 organizes a lot of the grocery freight workers. https://teamsters174.net/warehouse-and-grocery/ https://teamsters174.net/warehouse-and-grocery/
seanmcdirmid 9mo ago
Most grocery stores in the US are still heavily union. I don't think the unions ever left the grocery stores.
dlcarrier 9mo ago
The more-expensive stores sometimes do. My friend's wife works for one, and the store is closing because it's too close to a discount grocery to get enough traffic to stay open. The union is making her transfer to a much further location or lose her seniority, for some nonsense reason involving the closer locations historically being part of a different union, despite them now all being the same one.

deleted 9mo ago

[deleted]

jacquesm 9mo ago

So now you are off worse than before?

MattDamonSpace 9mo ago

Not to be rude but there’s 4 Amazon Fresh locations in the greater Seattle area and each of them is next to multiple other large/small grocery options. For instance, the one in north Seattle (Shoreline) is within eyesight of a Safeway, a Sprouts, two international markets and a chef wholesaler. The other three locations are similarly crowded with options. What food desert are you referring to?

guyrt 9mo ago
Jackson St location is the only walkable option in its neighborhood. It wasn't very good (terrible selection, stocking issues, slowly increasing locked section) but it was convenient.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
chronny903 9mo ago
> What food desert are you referring to? His food desert that doesn’t exist.
- buildsjets 9mo ago
  Food deserts do exist, but Seattle's Central District is not one of them. This US government tool used to literally be called the "Food Desert Locator" until the current administration re-named it to "Food Access Research Atlas" https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-... It's really the suburban areas of Seattle that develop food deserts, likely due to restrictive zoning for commercial properties and minimum lot-size requirements that make sure that every grocery store is a long SUV ride away from the cu-de-sac neighborhood. If the term Food Desert offends you, I can gladly switch to calling it Food Apartheid instead. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/15/food-apartheid-food-deserts-racism-inequality-america-karen-washington-interview https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/15/food-aparthe...

freedomben 9mo ago

> They only hire non-union jobs program people at the registers because Amazon believes that cashier is a sub-human role. The implication being that humans who aren't in a union are "sub-human" in your opinion? If so, that's pretty messed up man.

12_throw_away 9mo ago
A giant, multinational, multi-trillion-dollar corporation that will only bargain with individual people living paycheck-to-paycheck? Huh, what a weird power imbalance! Surely it doesn't have anything to do with their documented history of treating their blue-collar workforce like utter garbage.
- freedomben 9mo ago
  I think Amazon are largely shitheads to their low level workers (and still assholes even to mid-level workers), and I am in no way defending them. I'm in fact sickened by them. I will never work for Amazon. But the implication above was that the non-union employee is the "sub-human" option. I find that attitude pretty gross too. Humans are human whether they are union members or not.
  - pram 9mo ago
    The “implication” is that Amazon finds them ALL sub-human and thus would hire to reduce any kind of representation or organizational power. Work on your reading comprehension dude.
  - 12_throw_away 9mo ago
    > But the implication above was that the non-union employee is the "sub-human" option. I find that attitude pretty gross too. Ok, fine, but the OP never said this, you are the only person talking about this.