• Amazon employees work in shitty conditions, BBC investigation reveals
    72 replies, posted
[img]http://imgkk.com/i/8st6.jpg[/img] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25034598[/url] [quote]A BBC investigation into Amazon has uncovered working conditions that a stress expert said could cause "mental and physical illness". Professor Michael Marmot was shown secret filming of night shifts involving up to 11 miles of walking - where an undercover worker was expected to collect orders every 33 seconds.[/quote]
i work at amazon I walked more than 11 miles per night as a picker but they don't say about the benefits if amazon hire you from the temp agencys. $1200 in stock options etc.
quite honestly when you're working with one of the largest shippers in america, you should expect to be overworked.
That sucks. Anyone know what they pay?
[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;42973060]quite honestly when you're working with one of the largest shippers in america, you should expect to be overworked.[/QUOTE] That's terrible logic.
They shouldn't have to walk. Im sorry but that's unacceptable to have a facility 11 miles and pick an order every 33 seconds. Warehouse environments almost always involve some type of transportation for the worker and goods.
[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;42973060]quite honestly when you're working with one of the largest shippers in america, you should expect to be overworked.[/QUOTE] ahaha what if they're a huge shipping company they should be able to pay enough workers to keep them from being overworked
[QUOTE=Aide;42973093]They shouldn't have to walk. Im sorry but that's unacceptable to have a facility 11 miles and pick an order every 33 seconds. Warehouse environments almost always involve some type of transportation for the worker and goods.[/QUOTE] depends on what type of warehouse it is if it small items your on your feet picking the item and putting on totes(that are on carts) and putting them on the conveyor belt.
My friend used to work in an Amazon warehouse. He quit in less than a week saying it was the worst job he's ever had.
"night shifts involving up to 11 miles of walking" So if each shift is about 8 hours, you're saying they have to walk less than 3/4ths of a mile per hour? Big fucking deal. [QUOTE=mastfire;42973133]depends on what type of warehouse it is if it small items your on your feet picking the item and putting on totes(that are on carts) and putting them on the conveyor belt.[/QUOTE] As you can see in the picture, they get a trolley-cart type of thing. They can push it around. No big deal.
[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;42973060]quite honestly when you're working with one of the largest shippers in america, you should expect to be overworked.[/QUOTE] What is division of labor?
[QUOTE=Monkah;42973152]"night shifts involving up to 11 miles of walking" So if each shift is about 8 hours, you're saying they have to walk less than 3/4ths of a mile per hour? Big fucking deal. As you can see in the picture, they get a trolley-cart type of thing. They can push it around. No big deal.[/QUOTE] Yeah now that you put it that way that's actually not bad at all, and that's UP TO 11 miles. So essentially you're walking for 3 hours and could be standing still/sitting for the other 5. At a slow walking pace I still go 3mph at least.
if they think amazon has bad work conditions in its warehouses they should probably not look at family dollar's warehouses......
I think that would be pretty nice, in all honesty. At least I'm not sitting on my ass all night, I can listen to music or text as long as I keep on task, I'm getting in some cardio, and It's like one giant game of hide-and-go-seek that lasts for hours.
[QUOTE=Perfumly;42973187]Yeah now that you put it that way that's actually not bad at all, and that's UP TO 11 miles. So essentially you're walking for 3 hours and could be standing still/sitting for the other 5. At a slow walking pace I still go 3mph at least.[/QUOTE] You don't transport packages and go 3mph though.
[QUOTE=Novangel;42973212]You don't transport packages and go 3mph though.[/QUOTE] m8 I could transport 1000 pounds of packages in each arm and walk at a brisk 6mph.
[QUOTE=Perfumly;42973067]That sucks. Anyone know what they pay?[/QUOTE]Varies by position, starting iirc was $8.50, with weekend nights paying $13.00. As an addenda, I want to know what his pick rate was, eleven miles seems far too little. And he probably wasn't wearing proper shoes.
[QUOTE=valkery;42973209]I think that would be pretty nice, in all honesty. At least I'm not sitting on my ass all night, I can listen to music or text as long as I keep on task, I'm getting in some cardio, and It's like one giant game of hide-and-go-seek that lasts for hours.[/QUOTE] not in the us warehouse your can't bring ANY electronic devices [QUOTE]Yeah now that you put it that way that's actually not bad at all, and that's UP TO 11 miles. So essentially you're walking for 3 hours and could be standing still/sitting for the other 5. At a slow walking pace I still go 3mph at least.[/QUOTE] you can't be slow nor standing still or you get fired. [QUOTE]Varies by position, starting iirc was $8.50, with weekend nights paying $13.00. As an addenda, I want to know what his pick rate was, eleven miles seems far too little. And he probably wasn't wearing proper shoes.[/QUOTE] day shift 10.75 USD and nights 11.75 USD
[QUOTE=mastfire;42973239]day shift 10.75 USD and nights 11.75 USD[/QUOTE] Shit I make 12.80 as a lifeguard and I just SIT there
Amazon, (at least the one in Indy) isnt all that bad. Its not much different than working at Sony DADC. Which i have worked at both.
if you get converted( hired on) you get 10% off amazon purchases!
[QUOTE=mastfire;42973239]not in the us warehouse your can't bring ANY electronic devices you can't be slow nor standing still or you get fired. [/QUOTE] That seems a bit harsh. I wonder if they'd allow me to bring in my hand crank record player, so that I could listen to 45's during work. Fuck them. It's not electronic!
[QUOTE=Perfumly;42973067]That sucks. Anyone know what they pay?[/QUOTE] Worked at Amazon $12/h through temp agency. If I hadn't quit because of school I could've become an 'Amazonian' with a 50 cent raise. (Plus a few other benefits like stock options and dental coverage) Working at Amazon wasn't as bad as a few other jobs I had done (warehouse related) but they are very stingy on health and safety, lunch breaks, and items received/picked per hour (tack time if I remember it correctly). When I say health and safety is stingy I really mean that you get written off for the smallest things imaginable. For example there are color coded hook knives, every week you need to be using a different colored knife; caught with last weeks color you will be written off. Going again with the colored hook knife, you still have to cut away from yourself. Which is ridiculous since there is no way you can hurt yourself with it. Lunch breaks were the worst or their time management system for each employee. Because how much security is involved: scanning each person to make sure they aren't stealing anything. So a 45 minute break turns into 30 minutes. Their tack times for receiving items or picking (had the pleasure of working in both departments) was just ridiculous. With the managers giving no positive feedback just complaints. You don't hit the 450 items/hour on receive? Well a manager will come up to you and start asking you questions as to why you haven't hit the tack--- While you are working (in essence your tack will drop even more since its hard to focus on 4 things at once) Wasn't a good experience for me really stressful environment were you need to be fast and safe at the same time.
[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;42973060]quite honestly when you're working with one of the largest shippers in america, you should expect to be overworked.[/QUOTE] sorry that human beings kind of want to be treated like human beings?
[QUOTE=mastfire;42973133]depends on what type of warehouse it is if it small items your on your feet picking the item and putting on totes(that are on carts) and putting them on the conveyor belt.[/QUOTE] I agree but look at the size of that warehouse in the OP.
[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;42973060]quite honestly when you're working with one of the largest shippers in america, you should expect to be overworked.[/QUOTE] That is a really dumb thing to say.
Regular hours pay 12.50, Overtime pays 20 dollars an hour. Atleast in pennsylvania
[QUOTE=Monkah;42973152]"night shifts involving up to 11 miles of walking" So if each shift is about 8 hours, you're saying they have to walk less than 3/4ths of a mile per hour? Big fucking deal. As you can see in the picture, they get a trolley-cart type of thing. They can push it around. No big deal.[/QUOTE] Walking [B][I][U]CONSTANTLY[/U][/I][/B] for 4-5hours without a break is still tough shit, especially on concrete flooring. When I worked at Lowe's as a loader, I sometimes had 8hr shifts, being on my feet the whole time. The 1hr break did nothing for me besides suppress my hunger. I had bought a pair of heavy duty work boots probably a month after starting (worked there for 6 months), and after I left I had worn the soles to such an extreme that you couldn't stand level in them. You stood with your feet leaning outwards. I couldn't do shit about my foot pain either....tried a few gel inserts but all to no avail. Even though I'm heavily active and healthy, I had trouble keeping up with all the constant moving around even after 6 months. Granted, later on I found out I had a bit of a tight ankle that required some PT, so that was a contributer to my pain. But the pain only really surfaced once I started walking for such long periods of time like I did. Working at Amazon sounds like total shit. Near fucking torture if you work with conviction to keep the job. Don't see why the company still runs like this. I'm pretty sure there are much more efficient (maybe not [I]cost efficient[/I] as people) ways of picking orders for a company of their size. It's almost like they are too lazy to invest in better tech to improve picking conditions. Such an asshole type of thing to boast....yeah you created 5,000 some odd jobs and 15,000 more temp ones, but those jobs suck. /rant
[QUOTE=valkery;42973209]I think that would be pretty nice, in all honesty. At least I'm not sitting on my ass all night, I can listen to music or text as long as I keep on task, I'm getting in some cardio, and It's like one giant game of hide-and-go-seek that lasts for hours.[/QUOTE] You don't realise how tiring it can get. I use to work at a convention centre and would walk at least 5 km on a 4 hour or so shift hauling heavy trolleys full of boxes of drinks and that would get quite tiring. Then again my pay was substantially higher than $10/hr...
I thought they were working in the Amazon jungles. I know the amazon jungles is not a comfortable place to work because of the humid weather and constant rain everyday in South America
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