Guy Lists 40 Ways In Which Amazon Exploits Its Employees And It's Terrifying. You’ve probably heard Dan Price’s name before.
The guy is the entrepreneur and CEO of Gravity Payments, well known for seeing his own employees as equals. In 2015, he left everyone virtually speechless by taking a bold move to cut his $1M pay to give all his employees $70K minimum salary. Since then, his company tripled and became a one-of-a-kind case study at Harvard Business School. Today, Dan is back to shed light on Amazon, the super-rich exploiter company with a net worth of $1.7 trillion that has been shamelessly utilizing the most vulnerable members of its workforce. In his Twitter thread that lists all the ways in which Amazon exploits its workers, Dan gives a bit of context, stating “Amazon full-time warehouse employees make $31,200 a year.
“Cost to give warehouse workers 2 weeks paid sick leave + pay bumps so they don’t qualify for food stamps = 0.9% of Bezos’ fortune,” Dan writes before proceeding to name 40 ways in which the company does the exact opposite. Image credits: AOC. Amazon Denies Workers Pee in Bottles. Here Are the Pee Bottles. On the Clock is Motherboard's reporting on the organized labor movement, gig work, automation, and the future of work.
Amazon's PR team is beefing with a Wisconsin congressman about the company's labor conditions, among them whether its workers pee in bottles. On Wednesday evening, Wisconsin representative Mark Pocan called out the tech behemoth for its well-documented labor abuses in a tweet: "Paying workers $15/hr doesn't make you a 'progressive workplace' when you union-bust & make workers urinate in water bottles. " In response, @AmazonNews, the company's official news account countered, "You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. " Pandemic Profiteers: How U.S. Billionaires Like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Saw Wealth Grow by $1.3 Trillion. This is a rush transcript.
Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: Well, it’s been a year of pain for so many, and massive gains for a select few billionaires. Amazon's affordable housing push aims to solve a problem it helped cre. ‘A managerial Mephistopheles’: inside the mind of Jeff Bezos. The first thing I ever bought on Amazon was an edutainment DVD for babies.
I don’t recall making the purchase, but the data is unequivocal on this point: on 14 November 2004, I bought Baby Einstein: Baby Noah – Animal Expedition for the sum of £7.85. My nearest guess is that I got it as a Christmas present for my nephew, who would at that point have been one year old, and at the very peak of his interest in finger-puppet animals who cavort to xylophone arrangements of Beethoven. This was swiftly followed by three more DVD purchases I have no memory of making. Strangely, I bought nothing at all from Amazon the following year, and then, in 2006, I embarked on a PhD and started ramping up my acquisition of the sort of books that were not easily to be found in brick-and-mortar establishments.
Three New Reads: February. Philip Roddis This month brings that rarest of occurrences.
‘Then You’ll Put Out A Nice Press Release Stepping Down As CEO,’ Whispers Rogue Fulfillment Bot Holding Bezos At Gunpoint. SEATTLE—Assuring the executive that as long as he followed directions, nobody would get hurt, a rogue Amazon fulfillment robot trained a gun at Jeff Bezos’ head this week and commanded him to put out a nice press release and step down as CEO.
“Listen carefully, Jeff, because I’m only going to say this once—you’re going to resign, and you’re going to say it’s a deeply personal decision, or I’m going to pull this trigger and blow your goddamn head off,” said the fully automated 18-inch tall Kiva robot, as it wheeled itself slowly up to Bezos’s foot, aimed its weapon upwards at his chin, and whispered the words “Do it now. Or else.” “First things first, you’re going to say you want to focus on your foundations, and that you’re planning on transitioning out of the role throughout Q3. I want no mention of me, my comrades, or any coded messages for help. ‘A managerial Mephistopheles’: inside the mind of Jeff Bezos. The first thing I ever bought on Amazon was an edutainment DVD for babies.
I don’t recall making the purchase, but the data is unequivocal on this point: on 14 November 2004, I bought Baby Einstein: Baby Noah – Animal Expedition for the sum of £7.85. My nearest guess is that I got it as a Christmas present for my nephew, who would at that point have been one year old, and at the very peak of his interest in finger-puppet animals who cavort to xylophone arrangements of Beethoven. This was swiftly followed by three more DVD purchases I have no memory of making. Strangely, I bought nothing at all from Amazon the following year, and then, in 2006, I embarked on a PhD and started ramping up my acquisition of the sort of books that were not easily to be found in brick-and-mortar establishments. Jeff Bezos: Your Legacy Is Exploitation. Jeff Bezos, who you might also know as “the richest man in the world” or “that guy who ate a lizard one time,” is stepping down as the CEO of Amazon after twenty-seven years at the helm — or maybe it’s better to say he’s stepping to the side.
Bezos will instead take on the title of executive chair, which means he’ll still have an influential role in company decisions, but will no longer be the face of Amazon. Yet there’s no reason to believe that means Amazon will become the friendly monopolist its smiling logo might suggest. With Bezos at the helm, Amazon grew from an online bookseller started from a garage in Bellevue, Washington to one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world that not only controls key e-commerce and cloud platforms, but has extended its reach into a growing number of sectors. Jeff Bezos Announces He Will Step Down From Amazon To Focus On Being A Bond Villain.
Amazon's relentless work culture is because it's the startup that never grew up. I once had the opportunity to ask a former very high-level executive with Amazon what it had been like to work with Jeff Bezos.
"I did the best work of my life," he told me, "far better than I ever felt possible, and I don't regret leaving at all. " That's what I thought of when I read Sunday's lengthy New York Times article on "Amazon's Bruising, Thrilling Workplace. " The Times highlights a few instances of clearly abusive behavior that go beyond what any sane company would want to see.
Jeff Bezos, Orwellian overlord: Why his defense of Amazon’s “bruising” workplace culture is so hard to swallow. Employees crying at their desks.
Repeated all-nighters. Workers pushed out when they had medical problems or family emergencies. Annual firings deemed “purposeful Darwinism.” According to one former employee, it became corporate lore that “Amazon is where overachievers go to feel bad about themselves.” It was only a matter of time before a news organization with serious reporting resources penetrated the workplace culture of the online retailer. Dear Jeff Bezos: My husband needed therapy after working for Amazon. If you’ve been thinking about applying for any of the US government’s expedited screening programs for frequent fliers—Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, and the like—don’t put it off any longer. The process is easier than you might imagine, and the benefits are as good as people say. We’ll take you through all the information you need. Which program is right for me? Global Entry: It’s the most expensive program, at $100 for five years, but comes with the best benefits: You can skip the lines at passport control and customs when entering the United States and also enjoy TSA PreCheck, Nexus, and Sentri (explained below).
The process of applying for Global Entry, which is administered by US Customs and Border Protection, also tends to be faster than the other programs. Theconversation. In what is fast becoming a regular negotiating tactic, Amazon has halted pre-orders of DVDs and Blue-Ray discs of some Disney movies. This includes titles such as “Maleficent,” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”.
The fight between Amazon and Disney however is really about contractual terms and follows a similar disagreement with Warner Brothers earlier this year where it stopped pre-orders of “The Lego Movie” and other titles. The aggressive approach to negotiating terms with its partners has been honed by Amazon through its ongoing, and increasingly bitter dispute with book publisher Hachette over the price Amazon wants to charge for eBooks. Amazon argues against collusion According to Amazon, it is acting in the interests of the consumer and authors in its argument with Hachette. Amazon's hachette job evokes George Orwell in ebook price fight. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture. The world's biggest online retailer is firing back against reports of an abusive corporate culture. A New York Times report over the weekend described a demanding and degrading environment at Amazon. Amazon's boss Jeff Bezos wrote in a memo to staff that the "article doesn't describe the Amazon I know".
The New York Times article quoted one former employee who said: "Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk. " 'Bruising' workplace The report included testimonials from 100 current and former employees who depict a "bruising" workplace at Amazon, where employees are expected to "toil long and late". Amazon Quietly Pulls ISIS Magazine From Site - The Onion - America's Finest News Source. Tim Cook May Have Just Ended Facebook. What happens when an unstoppable force hits an immovable object? In a recent speech at Brussels' International Data Privacy Day, Apple CEO Tim Cook went on the offensive against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Cook's speech seems to be a direct response to Facebook's recent attack on Apple, in which the world's largest social network took out full-page ads in several newspapers attacking Apple's new privacy changes. Disguised Amazon Drone Sneaks Into Worker Meeting To Disrupt Union Talk. BESSEMER, AL—Quietly gliding into a corner of the room as the rest of the warehouse employees filed in, a disguised Amazon drone reportedly snuck into a worker meeting Monday to disrupt union talks. “Hey guys, I don’t know about all this union stuff—doesn’t it feel like it could impact Amazon’s competitiveness in the global market?” Said the aerial vehicle, which blended imperceptibly into the small crowd of gathered workers with the aid of a fluorescent safety vest draped over its frame.
“I don’t know about you, but I love my job, and think it’s one of the best there is. Our total compensation package rules! I just want to keep hovering, I mean, walking, around the warehouse floor without fear of retaliation from management. Coronavirus economics could tilt the scales in favor of Amazon — permanently. As Americans try to stay home to help prevent the coronavirus from spreading further, Amazon is seeing a lot more demand from listless shoppers who don't want to go out if they don't have to and have time to kill. While Amazon is seeing an increase in demand, small businesses around the country are being forced to close indefinitely or are seeing far fewer customers, and business owners are worried about if this emergency could bankrupt them.
Amazon hit with lawsuit after personal camera hacks confirm worst fears. Home security company Ring and its parent corporation Amazon were hit with a lawsuit in federal court Thursday alleging that their cameras have been hacked on numerous occasions due to inadequate protections, confirming privacy advocates’ fears about the devices. John Baker Orange of Alabama, the plaintiff in the case, said in the lawsuit (pdf) that his Ring security camera was recently hacked while his children were playing basketball outside of his home. “Mr. Ocasio-Cortez takes victory lap after Amazon goes to NYC — even after she helped block $3 billion in subsidies.
The Missing Piece of Amazon’s New York Debacle: It Kept a Burn Book. Then there was the burn book. New Amazon Service Lets Customers Boost Shipping Speed With Easy One-Click Charge To Whip Delivery Person. Amazon’s Most Ambitious Research Project Is a Convenience Store. In the fall of 2015, Amazon executives in charge of a top-secret project to revolutionize grocery stores invited Jeff Bezos to evaluate their work. They’d leased a warehouse in south Seattle and converted part of the ground floor into a 15,000-square-foot mock supermarket, with plywood walls, shelves, and turnstiles, mimicking technology that would scan shoppers’ smartphones when they walked in. The Amazon chief executive officer and several assistants pretended to shop, pushing grocery carts down aisles stocked with canned food and plastic fruit and vegetables. There were specialty counters where Amazon employees posing as baristas, butchers, and cheesemongers took orders and added items to Bezos’ imaginary bill.
Afterward, according to a person who was there, Bezos gathered the project executives and told them that while they all had done a fabulous job, the experience felt disjointed. Will all this work be worth it? Plenty of companies have tried to address this hassle. Amazon: Carbon emissions from our Australian bit barns aren't for public viewing.
John Oliver Makes Us Think About What Happens When We Click Amazon's Buy Button. John Oliver is maybe the only powerful media figure who regularly stands up for workers, and this week, he took a look at the "brutal" working conditions inside Amazon warehouses "The more you look at Amazon, the more you realize its convenience comes with a real cost," he said. (We know, John. We know.) "Because, think about it, we used to have to drive to stores to buy things. Now those things are brought directly to us and they're somehow cheaper. Glenn Greenwald: As Bezos Protests Invasion of His Privacy, Amazon Builds Global Surveillance State. This is a rush transcript. Packaging Is Killing Us, and the Holidays Are the Worst.
Amazon Targets Unprofitable Items, With a Sharper Focus on the Bottom Line. NY Students Aren’t Buying Amazon’s Sweetheart Deal. Students at a New York public university are baffled and outraged by an endorsement from their school’s board of directors of a controversial city giveaway to the company owned by the world’s richest man. Why people are calling to cancel Amazon Prime subscriptions. The economic opportunity New York traded away in its deal with Amazon could have been better spent.
Here Are Some Of The Most Outrageous Perks Cities Offered Amazon. ‘You Are All Inside Amazon’s Second Headquarters,’ Jeff Bezos Announces To Horrified Americans As Massive Dome Envelops Nation. Untitled. The undercover author who discovered Amazon warehouse workers were peeing in bottles tells us the culture was like a 'prison' It makes perfect sense that Trump would take on Amazon — but Amazon is going to be a brutal foe. Businessinsider. Untitled. Amazon set to open its grocery store without a checkout line to the public.
‘Without Them You Could Buy Anything,’ Whispers Amazon Echo As Man Stares Blankly At Family. Whole Foods Announces It Balancing Out Lower Prices On Most Items By Jacking Cost Of Pita Chips Way Up. Amazon Cuts Whole Foods Prices as Much as 43% on First Day - Bloomberg. Amazon Instant Pickup service gives you orders in 2 minutes. My Advice To Anyone Starting A Business Is To Remember That Someday I Will Crush You. Godzilla Amazon: The Amount of Power in Jeff Bezos’ Hands Should Frighten All Americans. Grocery stocks are getting clobbered after Amazon-Whole Foods deal - Jun. 16, 2017. Amazon files patent for flying warehouse. Pando. In what is quickly becoming the age of Prime, why do investors still hate Amazon? The what’s for dinner shakeout: Would you rather be killed by churn or Amazon? Untitled.
Amazon demonstrates its delivery drone platform - prime air. Why the New York Times’s Amazon story is so controversial, explained. Amazon launching Amazon Coins currency for use on Kindle Fire. Amazon Plans To Ship Items Before You Buy Them. Amazon's hachette job evokes George Orwell in ebook price fight.