Amazon Prime Day Boycott

[Isadoorian]

As many of you may or may not already know, Amazon Warehouse workers are going on Strike today and tomorrow to boycott against the inhumane working conditions.

If you wish to participate, here's a list of Amazon services/affiliates to try and avoid:

If you're curious to know what these inhumane conditions are:

- 5 minute Bathroom breaks; any time over that and you basically get hunted down.

- only get a Doctors note to get time off work once every 90 days

- a limited number of off days

- if it's a rush, you have to go to mandatory overtime or you will get a point. 3 points you're out (fired/let go)

- 10 hour workdays, during a rush like Xmas it's up to 6 days a week

- you must scan around 150 items an hour or you'll get a point.

If I remember right, there was a story somewhere stating a guy had to urinate into a nearby garbage can near his work space just so he wouldn't miss his scanning quota because he was told he wasn't able to use the washroom.

 

[Juliettaa]

Horrendous company policies

I had an invitation from my trade union to attend a demonstration. I'm torn. As a TU member I want to go to support this demo, but I cannot cope being around lots of people.

 

[Misery]

Hm, this might explain quite a few things.

I've been going through a wacky ordeal with Amazon orders these last few days. A long sequence of really bizarre screwups from them. And when I look a bit closer at each screwed up thing, they get even more bizarre. There's been a good 4 or so shipping mistakes (stuff missing, or even receiving the same exact incorrect thing TWICE), and me getting a package that someone sent to someone else as a gift, yet that somehow got diverted to me. It's an EXPENSIVE thing, that gift, not some small thing. All of this is in a span of about 4 days. The expensive-as-hell gizmo is still with me, and I'm STILL missing something I ordered. So that saga is ongoing.

This got me curious about the whole process. I mean, this company offers things like same-day shipping, or next-day. With the sheer number of orders they must process, and the fact that both of those options are totally free to anyone with a Prime membership (even just the free trial), that's ALOT of packages being processed and moved *really* fast. Considering everything involved in long distance shipping, this seems extremely illogical, and seems like something that outright shouldnt be viable. Seemed quite suspicious to me right from the start. I remember thinking "these shipping options sound too good to be true". Turned out I was right.

I mean, there's a reason why shipping lines like Fedex and such usually want a good 3-5 days or so. It takes time to do this stuff right. And time to do it without breaking your poor workers.

With such crazy company policies and an "OMG RUSH RUSH RUSH KEEP DOING STUFF DONT STOP" sort of approach... it's no wonder that funky mistakes happen. How can anyone be expected to do the job right, when even a "normal" day on the job utterly wrecks you?

Not like the corporate overlords care though. They never do. Here's hoping that the strike accomplishes something, but the sheer level of ultra-greed involved means that the jerks at the top will fight tooth and nail to prevent workers from slowing down even the slightest bit.

 

[Bikutoso]

As Amazon is quite inconvenient in my area, and I would only use them if there where absolutely no other options.
I have know about some of the inhumane conditions they had, and it certainly was responsible for it being on the bottom of the list.

I use IMDB and Twitch from time to time, but only very infrequently.
And they are centrally not profiting from my visits as I have never spent money on either of those sites, and I'm blocking ads and most tracking.

I feel quite bad about the workers who are working in those conditions.

 

[tducey]

I've heard about the poor working conditions their workers face. For a company that has become as popular and lucrative as Amazon you'd both think and hope that their workers would live like kings and queens.

 

[Fino]

I'm confused about how a single-day protest would have any effect. Years ago, people around here did it to gas stations but I figured everyone would just buy gas on a different day to make up for it and it would have the same result.

And for school I had to watch a video about sweatshops in China so I feel a bit odd thinking of these bad conditions as "inhumane," although I agree they're terrible and would not be able to tolerate them myself.

 

[SimplyWandering]

I understand how you feel and sympathize ... in the United States people care more about receiving items fast than the treatment of the employees.

Let’s also not forget the fact that most items come from China or other countries where the humans who make it are often children and/or abused by other employees/management.

1 day boycotts are more likely to get the employees fired and replaced with other people who want jobs though.... in the short term it probably won’t do a whole lot, but maybe in the long term...!

 

[Misery]

I've heard about the poor working conditions their workers face. For a company that has become as popular and lucrative as Amazon you'd both think and hope that their workers would live like kings and queens.

I dunno how it is outside of the US, but here... The trend is, the bigger the corporation, the nastier they are.

It's never about how much the company as a whole can prosper. It's always about how much the corporate overlords can profit, and how they can keep from having to share with those under them.

Even jobs that SHOULD be good to have are often horrible. Like, video games, right? Lots of people that take an interest in game design think it's a great career to get into. They look at it the same way that a movie lover might look at a film directing career, or something like that. People wanting a job like those, are passionate about it, and they simply want to make what they love. It sounds like a winning deal! In reality, the gaming industry is currently a *horrible* place to work. The crap that's going on at Amazon? Might not be quite as bad as the crap that goes on in the gaming industry. Things like 100-hour work weeks are not unheard of, particularly with the nightmare simply known as "crunch". And that's just the start. I could make a very long list of the dirty crap that goes on in there.

Chances are, Amazon's wild expansion came at the expense of a great number of it's employees, with as little work put in by the higher-ups as possible. The little guys suffer so that the big guys, who already have more money than they could conceivably spend in a lifetime, can fill their pockets even more.

That's big corporations for you.

I'm confused about how a single-day protest would have any effect. Years ago, people around here did it to gas stations but I figured everyone would just buy gas on a different day to make up for it and it would have the same result.

And for school I had to watch a video about sweatshops in China so I feel a bit odd thinking of these bad conditions as "inhumane," although I agree they're terrible and would not be able to tolerate them myself.

Aye, unfortunately a strike is unlikely to have any effect. It'll likely just result in the usual "We hear your concerns" PR crap from corporate, and that'll be about it. Superficial responses only, no REAL lasting changes.

The only way a strike could really do some big damage to a company like THAT would be if it were to last a long time. I'm talking like months here, and it would have to be a very large percentage of the workers doing it. A couple of days? Wont do anything.

Rooting for those workers anyway though.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I try my best to avoid buying from Amazon these days like the plague in favour for our high streets then UK online shop brands like Jacamo and online versions of shops like Argos and Matalan.

It's easier for me these days being that I can drive so I don't have to rely on others.

That being said I have bought stuff in the sale on Amazon last night. Only because I'm preparing for camp and I need to do last minute purchases, which included a mini projector for a talent show. I couldn't find a cheaper projector elsewhere.

 

[Pats]

Glad to know I did not visit any of those places. Whole Foods? I would not have guesses that. Well, doesn't matter, I've never been to a whole foods. lol