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It only mentions the working conditions in those fullmilment centers as a brief aside: apparently the building is air-conditioned and water is readily available

by morsch 12y ago

It only mentions the working conditions in those fullmilment centers as a brief aside: apparently the building is air-conditioned and water is readily available -- no mention if there's time available for a drink during your shift. I guess you can write an article about just the technical marvels of these buildings, but don't forget that it's only half of the picture. The motto "work hard. have fun. make history." printed in 2m letters struck me as Orwellian.

Rapzid 12y ago
In Amazon warehouse computer drives YOU.
calibraxis 12y ago
Yes. The real message is the motto's first sentence.
chillingeffect 12y ago
Yes, for example, check out https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7904673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7904673 for news of two recent worker deaths at Amazon.
- contingencies 12y ago
  It comes up blank?
  - chillingeffect 12y ago
    Hmmm. It's working for me. Anyway, that was just the HN submission. Try the orig. link of you just want to read the story: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/06/17/amaz-j17.html http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/06/17/amaz-j17.html
ColinDabritz 12y ago
This was the best article I've seen so far for describing and understanding the conditions inside: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-f...
- gambiting 12y ago
  One could argue that Amazon just simply couldn't function if it wasn't as organized as it is. If the employees could take as much time as they like to walk to get the items they would need more people just to make up for the uncertainty, if employees could bring their own possessions in and out, inevitably things would get lost, and if they got lost, the system would not be accurate anymore,orders could not be shipped out and would have to be delayed/cancelled = reduced customer satisfaction. I have read this article you linked and I really find it hard to sympathize with the person who wrote it. She was paid a wage to do a job and to do it well - I cannot blame Amazon for making sure she was doing what she was paid to do.
  - morsch 12y ago
    If a company can't function without relying on behaviour that is unethical, then it can't exist; it's as simple as that. What exactly constitutes unethical behaviour crosses the line is up for debate (and usually codified as law), the consequences aren't really. There's also a difference between making sure your employees are doing their job through monitoring on the one hand and on the other hand having an inhumane expectation of what constitutes their job in the first place. I think both can be done to a degree that's unacceptable (and German law e.g. poses some boundaries on both employee monitoring as well as maximum daily/weekly work hours etc.).
    - prostoalex 12y ago
      It doesn't seem like it's a permanent situation - increase in temporary labor usually happens during high-traffic pre-holiday season (also known as the magical spirit of Christmas) and the reason Amazon had to bring in so many temporary workers is that at the time of the article the Kiva Robotics technology was not up to snuff.
jgalt212 12y ago
> The motto "work hard. have fun. make history." printed in 2m letters struck me as Orwellian. especially since the "work hard" part was in bold.
Rapzid 12y ago
I'll expand on my comment. I had often thought when the new warehouse innovations are announced, like the potential use for Google glass, that humans are becoming more and more like an extension to the platform the software runs on. Almost like we are a peripheral for the software. Go there, pick that up, take it over there, put it on that shelf, grab this item, get this sized box, wrap in plastic, too much!, tape box... Very dehumanizing :|
- qohen 12y ago
  Almost like we are a peripheral for the software. Go there, pick that up, take it over there Marshall Brain (founder of http://www.howstuffworks.com/ http://www.howstuffworks.com/) described this around 10 years ago in his book, Manna (free to read online[1]) looking at how automation could change things in the not-too-distant future: Manna told employees what to do simply by talking to them. Employees each put on a headset when they punched in. Manna had a voice synthesizer, and with its synthesized voice Manna told everyone exactly what to do through their headsets. Constantly. Manna micro-managed minimum wage employees to create perfect performance. The software would speak to the employees individually and tell each one exactly what to do. For example, "Bob, we need to load more patties. Please walk toward the freezer." [1] http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
  - qohen 12y ago
    Years ago, I actually saw a story describing a warehouse run like this and sent it to Marshall Brain, having read this from Manna a while earlier. Sadly, I can't find that story just now, but, looking for it now, I just found out that "Voice-directed Warehousing" is a thing -- it has a Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice-directed_warehousing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice-directed_warehousing

by morsch 12y ago

Rapzid 12y ago

In Amazon warehouse computer drives YOU.

calibraxis 12y ago

Yes. The real message is the motto's first sentence.

chillingeffect 12y ago

Yes, for example, check out https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7904673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7904673 for news of two recent worker deaths at Amazon.

contingencies 12y ago
It comes up blank?
- chillingeffect 12y ago
  Hmmm. It's working for me. Anyway, that was just the HN submission. Try the orig. link of you just want to read the story: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/06/17/amaz-j17.html http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/06/17/amaz-j17.html

ColinDabritz 12y ago

This was the best article I've seen so far for describing and understanding the conditions inside: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-f...

gambiting 12y ago
One could argue that Amazon just simply couldn't function if it wasn't as organized as it is. If the employees could take as much time as they like to walk to get the items they would need more people just to make up for the uncertainty, if employees could bring their own possessions in and out, inevitably things would get lost, and if they got lost, the system would not be accurate anymore,orders could not be shipped out and would have to be delayed/cancelled = reduced customer satisfaction. I have read this article you linked and I really find it hard to sympathize with the person who wrote it. She was paid a wage to do a job and to do it well - I cannot blame Amazon for making sure she was doing what she was paid to do.
- morsch 12y ago
  If a company can't function without relying on behaviour that is unethical, then it can't exist; it's as simple as that. What exactly constitutes unethical behaviour crosses the line is up for debate (and usually codified as law), the consequences aren't really. There's also a difference between making sure your employees are doing their job through monitoring on the one hand and on the other hand having an inhumane expectation of what constitutes their job in the first place. I think both can be done to a degree that's unacceptable (and German law e.g. poses some boundaries on both employee monitoring as well as maximum daily/weekly work hours etc.).
  - prostoalex 12y ago
    It doesn't seem like it's a permanent situation - increase in temporary labor usually happens during high-traffic pre-holiday season (also known as the magical spirit of Christmas) and the reason Amazon had to bring in so many temporary workers is that at the time of the article the Kiva Robotics technology was not up to snuff.

jgalt212 12y ago

> The motto "work hard. have fun. make history." printed in 2m letters struck me as Orwellian. especially since the "work hard" part was in bold.

Rapzid 12y ago

I'll expand on my comment. I had often thought when the new warehouse innovations are announced, like the potential use for Google glass, that humans are becoming more and more like an extension to the platform the software runs on. Almost like we are a peripheral for the software. Go there, pick that up, take it over there, put it on that shelf, grab this item, get this sized box, wrap in plastic, too much!, tape box... Very dehumanizing :|

qohen 12y ago
Almost like we are a peripheral for the software. Go there, pick that up, take it over there Marshall Brain (founder of http://www.howstuffworks.com/ http://www.howstuffworks.com/) described this around 10 years ago in his book, Manna (free to read online[1]) looking at how automation could change things in the not-too-distant future: Manna told employees what to do simply by talking to them. Employees each put on a headset when they punched in. Manna had a voice synthesizer, and with its synthesized voice Manna told everyone exactly what to do through their headsets. Constantly. Manna micro-managed minimum wage employees to create perfect performance. The software would speak to the employees individually and tell each one exactly what to do. For example, "Bob, we need to load more patties. Please walk toward the freezer." [1] http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
- qohen 12y ago
  Years ago, I actually saw a story describing a warehouse run like this and sent it to Marshall Brain, having read this from Manna a while earlier. Sadly, I can't find that story just now, but, looking for it now, I just found out that "Voice-directed Warehousing" is a thing -- it has a Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice-directed_warehousing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice-directed_warehousing