Amazon accused of using algorithms to push warehouse workers to breaking point.
-
Amazon doesn't sell anything you can't buy somewhere else for the same price. You have no excuse to keep using Amazon. Correction, I'm sure people who buy from Amazon have excuses, but they aren't good ones.
There was a “don’t use Amazon for a week” boycott thing at the beginning of March. It shocked me how quickly I lost the urge to just go order stuff the moment I thought of it. After the week was over I just kept not ordering stuff (with the exception of a subscription that came through).
Definitely at least helped me cut back.
-
Before the internet, people would say some ignorant shit and we'd all just carry it around like a nugget of gold.
People still say ignorant shit, but now at least we can mark them for their nonsense and ignore their opinions.
Best way I've ever heard it described was that before the Internet, every village had it's idiot... "Hatians are eating pets? What? Oh, you were talking to Jerry."
Now, all the village idiots have glommed into each other and retweet the insanity back and forth until it takes on a life of it's own. "Buttery males!" and "adrenochrome extractions happening in basements of pizza places" etc etc etc.
-
There actually are things that one just cannot find elsewhere easily, and most of the places that reliably carry them locally are places like Walmart which aren’t better. That said, it’s always the very last place I look.
With all this nonsense I’m going to start asking local stores if they can order stuff for me, though, and just be extra patient. For example, it’s wild how little there is for mandolins at local music stores but at least the British strings I’m going to try switching to are there so that’s something.
Wow, had no idea amazon was the only online marketplace. If we didnt have amazon, wed have to go back to thrift stores or some shit until some genius figures out how to take orders and ship goods far away again.
Also, musicians love to talk about music, and tend to work in music stores. Start calling around, they dont need to be local, most will ship to you.
-
40 hours of personal time granted every week is great too
Wtf is this? You have 168 personal hours every week. It is not at the decision of your employer.
You misunderstood. What I meant is that for every hour you work, you get an hour of paid time off. So if you work 40 hours, you could go the entire next week without showing up to work at all if you wanted to.
-
As someone who worked there for a year
In the warehouse?
Of course. You wouldn't want to drive for them. The stupid AI cameras are always watching. In the warehouse nobody pays attention to you.
-
Amazon doesn't sell anything you can't buy somewhere else for the same price. You have no excuse to keep using Amazon. Correction, I'm sure people who buy from Amazon have excuses, but they aren't good ones.
-
Amazon doesn't sell anything you can't buy somewhere else for the same price. You have no excuse to keep using Amazon. Correction, I'm sure people who buy from Amazon have excuses, but they aren't good ones.
You can often find it cheaper than what the price is on Amazon
-
Amazon has used tricks, algorithms, and surveillance to discourage warehouse employees from unionizing, according to a paper published in the journal Socius.
-
Amazon doesn't sell anything you can't buy somewhere else for the same price. You have no excuse to keep using Amazon. Correction, I'm sure people who buy from Amazon have excuses, but they aren't good ones.
-
This is not true. Many of the parts I buy off of Amazon are not only cheaper, but I can get them faster as well. I wish this were not true, but I cannot spend half of my week driving for hours on end to pick up equipment at a higher price.
This is not true. Many of the parts I buy off of Amazon are not only cheaper, but I can get them faster as well.
Only the faster part is true, and only if you use prime, else you can buy from everywhere else and have the same price and delivery time.
Cheapest only if you buy a rip-off, buying some item of a certain brand have the same price on Amazon then the brand shop (if not higher on Amazon sometimes)
-
Same old trick in a new venue. This has been happening for a long time in Asian warehousing, but has hopped the pond this last decade or so. Worker's efficiency is set to a certain rate of efficiency, then they're reprimanded/fired for failing to meet it. The catch is that it's a challenging pace to begin with, and the window for successful completion almost-imperceptibly narrows, eventually becoming so ludicrously small that they must injure or maim themselves trying to beat it or even match the pace. Once they quit or cripple themselves, the company simply slides in a new candidate who doesn't yet understand just how Hellacious the work is.
I worked in a British Amazon during the pandemic, the minimum pick rate for one order type was 59 items per hour….its achievable, yeah, if the stars line up. But your minimum is more or less the maximum, if you get me?
-
I worked in a British Amazon during the pandemic, the minimum pick rate for one order type was 59 items per hour….its achievable, yeah, if the stars line up. But your minimum is more or less the maximum, if you get me?
This is exactly the kind of problem I'm talking about, the metric is absurd. 1.02 seconds/item is a level of efficiency seldom seen outside of robots, applying it to human beings is sadistic, especially considering the consequences for failure. I'm convinced that these sorts of setups have been contrived to establish leverage against workers early on as a means to hold their "already coached/this is your last strike" status over their heads for the entirety of their employment.
I don't envy Amazon workers that predicament, but it sounds as though you've found something different and hopefully better?
-
Wow, had no idea amazon was the only online marketplace. If we didnt have amazon, wed have to go back to thrift stores or some shit until some genius figures out how to take orders and ship goods far away again.
Also, musicians love to talk about music, and tend to work in music stores. Start calling around, they dont need to be local, most will ship to you.
To be honest, since most places ship from their physical locations(which may not have stock or carry something at all due to demand) and Amazon’s incredibly predatory practices it means that they are pretty much the only option. I’ve gotten stuff from Etsy as well(but it doesn’t help for, like, water filters and certain appliance parts), and I really have always tried to avoid Amazon, but there are just some things where they’re the only ones where I can buy some of this stuff.
And like I said, I’m gunna have to just start asking outright for stuff even if whatever store doesn’t carry it normally. It’ll take some patience but I’ll live.
-
Amazon has used tricks, algorithms, and surveillance to discourage warehouse employees from unionizing, according to a paper published in the journal Socius.
I have a buddy whose childhood was a nightmare. It’s non stop humiliation and degredation. He would rather be a hated “adopted” gay kid (he was the maid’s kid and the fact he’s a dead ringer for the patriarch of the family is coincidental) than manage an Amazon Warehouse again.
-
Amazon has used tricks, algorithms, and surveillance to discourage warehouse employees from unionizing, according to a paper published in the journal Socius.
And this is news?
-
This is exactly the kind of problem I'm talking about, the metric is absurd. 1.02 seconds/item is a level of efficiency seldom seen outside of robots, applying it to human beings is sadistic, especially considering the consequences for failure. I'm convinced that these sorts of setups have been contrived to establish leverage against workers early on as a means to hold their "already coached/this is your last strike" status over their heads for the entirety of their employment.
I don't envy Amazon workers that predicament, but it sounds as though you've found something different and hopefully better?
Yeah, I was there throughout covid…so May 2020 til the first day of 2021 when they say “don’t need you anymore …k thanks bye”. I’ve had some crap jobs, but that’s the only one where I’ve not even been able to face over time. The pick rate for “heavy stuff” was 35 an hour, arguably even worse.
As for now, I’ve got some electrical qualifications, so I did some short term site work, then found a maintenance role working for the NHS, with a literal one in a million boss…”I trust you to think for yourself but I’m here if you need me”.
Thank you for asking.
-
AI is just the wall these asshole stand behind to be cruel and lawless. It doesn’t absolve you from blame, it’s not intelligent it’s a tool, like a gun and if you point it at people and it hurts them you should be jailed.
Plenty of dumbfucks say guns don't people, people kill people.
The tool and the person are at fault.
-
Amazon has used tricks, algorithms, and surveillance to discourage warehouse employees from unionizing, according to a paper published in the journal Socius.
-
Yeah, I was there throughout covid…so May 2020 til the first day of 2021 when they say “don’t need you anymore …k thanks bye”. I’ve had some crap jobs, but that’s the only one where I’ve not even been able to face over time. The pick rate for “heavy stuff” was 35 an hour, arguably even worse.
As for now, I’ve got some electrical qualifications, so I did some short term site work, then found a maintenance role working for the NHS, with a literal one in a million boss…”I trust you to think for yourself but I’m here if you need me”.
Thank you for asking.
My pleasure, and I'm glad to hear you've found greener pastures.
-
To be honest, since most places ship from their physical locations(which may not have stock or carry something at all due to demand) and Amazon’s incredibly predatory practices it means that they are pretty much the only option. I’ve gotten stuff from Etsy as well(but it doesn’t help for, like, water filters and certain appliance parts), and I really have always tried to avoid Amazon, but there are just some things where they’re the only ones where I can buy some of this stuff.
And like I said, I’m gunna have to just start asking outright for stuff even if whatever store doesn’t carry it normally. It’ll take some patience but I’ll live.
Thats fair, I will say stores do take customer requests into consideration with what they stock, especially if its stuff you need to buy regularly.
