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We've gotten to a point where those who read this article will say sweatshop labor is OK because we want our 2-day free shipping. Then, we say it isn't OK bec

We've gotten to a point where those who read this article will say sweatshop labor is OK because we want our 2-day free shipping. Then, we say it isn't OK because they make minimum-wage, have to walk 15 miles a day, and work under management that runs the shop by strict metrics. Well, someone has to do it (at least now.. coming soon: robots) - not everyone is destined to goto college or even a voc-tech school to learn how to operate a bulldozer. It sucks, I agree. But, 40 years ago it was a mining town. Mining by all accounts to me (tech desk jockey) sucks worse than an Amazon warehouse, but yet there was some dignity and pride in being a miner. You were producing coal for power! Power saved the country in war! Power keeps the lights on! Yay! Go miners! But, making millions of people happy by providing them widgets and sheets and 0.99cent cart-filler-chinese-made-LEDs doesn't make you happy?

timthorn 13y ago
Mining paid a lot better than pick&pack.
- mikegreen 13y ago
  Probably. But mining had huge risks. The cave collapses. The air you breathe was horribly toxic. You traded life expectancy for more money. I imagine you did a fair amount of harder labor and walked more than an Amazon warehouse. And there is a damn canary chirping all the time.
  - zrail 13y ago
    I don't know why you're using past tense here. People are still working in mines all over the world and all of those risks you list are their every day reality.
    - mikegreen 13y ago
      Because the mine in the story we're discussing closed in 1990. I am aware there are still active mines, complete with miners, all over the world.
      - zrail 13y ago
        D'oh, hadn't read the article yet. Sorry about that.
- gadders 13y ago
  Yes, and made a huge loss as well.
bambax 13y ago
> Mining (...) sucks worse than an Amazon warehouse I'm not sure. Yes, mining was physically one of the most demanding / intense work there has ever been -- see this fantastic description by Orwell for example: http://george-orwell.org/Down_The_Mine/0.html http://george-orwell.org/Down_The_Mine/0.html But, in a way, it that was a good thing, because you did a job most other humans weren't capable of doing.
- Crito 13y ago
  I wonder which has a greater life expectancy and quality: workers who have to walk several miles a day in a clean warehouse, or workers who (ignoring the more immediate occupational hazards...) spend their careers breathing coal and silica dust. Of course mining sucks more than warehouse work... it kills you slowly.

timthorn 13y ago

Mining paid a lot better than pick&pack.

mikegreen 13y ago
Probably. But mining had huge risks. The cave collapses. The air you breathe was horribly toxic. You traded life expectancy for more money. I imagine you did a fair amount of harder labor and walked more than an Amazon warehouse. And there is a damn canary chirping all the time.
- zrail 13y ago
  I don't know why you're using past tense here. People are still working in mines all over the world and all of those risks you list are their every day reality.
  - mikegreen 13y ago
    Because the mine in the story we're discussing closed in 1990. I am aware there are still active mines, complete with miners, all over the world.
    - zrail 13y ago
      D'oh, hadn't read the article yet. Sorry about that.
gadders 13y ago
Yes, and made a huge loss as well.

bambax 13y ago

> Mining (...) sucks worse than an Amazon warehouse I'm not sure. Yes, mining was physically one of the most demanding / intense work there has ever been -- see this fantastic description by Orwell for example: http://george-orwell.org/Down_The_Mine/0.html http://george-orwell.org/Down_The_Mine/0.html But, in a way, it that was a good thing, because you did a job most other humans weren't capable of doing.

Crito 13y ago
I wonder which has a greater life expectancy and quality: workers who have to walk several miles a day in a clean warehouse, or workers who (ignoring the more immediate occupational hazards...) spend their careers breathing coal and silica dust. Of course mining sucks more than warehouse work... it kills you slowly.