1) So, let me tell you exactly what its like working at an Amazon factory as a temp worker over the holiday season about 2 years ago.
2) The peeing in the bottles thing never happened here in the US (the article is about an Amazon warehouse in the UK). However, breaks were only 10 minutes, and they were specifically 'pick to pick', ie, from grabbing your last item off the shelf to your first item off the shelf
3) This meant your 'break' consisted of picking an item from the shelf, putting your bin of items on the conveyor belt, returning the cart you were using, and the breakroom was TYPICALLY on the other side of the warehouse, as the break room and bathrooms were in a far-off corner
4) You would then have to return to a new randomly assigned section of the warehouse, get a cart and bin, and pick a new item. That was when your break ended. This was policy. This was against labor law. Amazon doesn't give two fucks about labor law.
5) The only chairs anywhere were in the break room. Short of literally sitting on the ground by the water coolers, the break room was the only place you wouldn't be standing.
6) Your work performance was measured by your pick rate, ie, how many items you grabbed off the shelves. For everyone it was 150 items, though they would let it slide during the holidays because they needed every warm body they could picking items off the shelves.
7) This demand for warm bodies presented a problem as the shelf stockers, who were on average as new as the pickers at the job, would regularly clog the aisles with their carts and make it impossible to move around. This would slow down pick rates
pausing, work, will continue in a bit
7) And back after delicious burritos. WORTH IT.
Anyways, so, because they had so many people crammed into the aisles (and I mean AISLES. Think a grocery store with room between shelves for just one cart to pass between, and about 9 or so feet tall on average)
Anyways, so, because they had so many people crammed into the aisles (and I mean AISLES. Think a grocery store with room between shelves for just one cart to pass between, and about 9 or so feet tall on average)
8) So many people were crammed in there, it was like a real life demonstration of the diminishing marginal value of labor, ie that with too many employees eventually there will be so many they'll get into each others way
9) Add to this everyone was new, and the turnover rate was high enough that experienced employees generally weren't able to teach new employees tips and tricks. In the case of the shelf stockers, this would mean dangerous situations like putting chainsaws on the top shelf.
10) I'm not actually joking on that. A chainsaw in a box fell off the top shelf at one point and dinged a buddy of mine in the head. These kinds of accidents and general physical wear and tear happened CONSTANTLY
11) Standard operating procedure for the first aid station was to refuse to document ANYTHING. They'd do everything they could to not write anything down, zero reports, etc. No paper trail means they looked MUCH better than they truly were in terms of workplace safety.
12) During the holiday season, shifts were LONG. And, Amazon warehouses are concrete on the ground floor, and sheets of plywood on the other floors. As in, you were walking on a sheet of wood that felt like it was going to give out from under you any minute. You felt it bend.
13) Needless to say, this is absolute HELL for your legs, add in to that effectively 10+ hour shifts where you are on your feet for most of your break trying to GET to your break.
14) You weren't allowed any personal electronics so I could never measure distance traveled, but I estimate about 12-15 miles a night. On concrete and plywood. That's the CONSERVATIVE estimate.
15) Management was generally in a small zone at the center of the warehouse where their computers monitored all the employees through their item scanners (you'd use the scanners to scan what bin you were using, what items you put in the bin, section of the shelf you were at, etc)
16) These weren't the people you interacted with. In reality, as temps, your 'management' were people ALSO from the temp agency who were for the most part newer than you if you stuck it out for several weeks and had never done your job. I'm not kidding.
17) Amazon managers themselves only cared that you were working and 'meeting rate'. Keep in mind, rate was IMPOSSIBLE depending on what section of the warehouse you were assigned to.
18) If you were at apparel or shoes, where an individual section would have 20+ pairs of shoes to look through, finding the right box could take 2-3 minutes. Rate was 150 items per hour. That's 2.5 items PER MINUTE.
19) About the only time you make up for lost rate is if you were picking boxes of Cards Against Humanity by the dozens, Amazon Kindles by the scores, or a seemingly endless supply of adult coloring books.
20) Yes. The biggest seller, by far, were adult coloring books. SO MANY. I had nights where I would spend 3 hours just grabbing 100's of adult coloring books off the shelves.
21) Anyways, back to the 'wtf'ness of Amazon. Coordination and communication were HORRENDOUS. At one point, about 70% of the pick crew, mostly temps, arrived to the warehouse in the freezing cold at night only to find themselves locked out of the warehouse.
22) It turns out they had decided to give us the night off, as it was Thanksgiving. We had been told earlier that week to arrive unless specifically told otherwise, as they weren't sure if they'd give us that night off. They did, and then did not tell us.
23) Oh, also, there is NO room for promotion or growth. The warehouse is not an entry level position. It is basically a purgatory. I had specifically asked, as I was interested in Amazon corporate, if the warehouse work I was doing would help smooth the way if I applied. BIG no.
24) So, lets see.... shit floors, long hours and distance traveled, scammed out of your breaks in contravention of basically every labor law (and told no, don't complain about labor laws, we're following them to the letter. BULLSHIT.)
25) Pay was decent for the most part. So, I won't complain about that. But it was NOT a job meant to retain people. It was a job specifically to grind people down until they were replaced.
26) A sweatshop it is not, but it is definitely only a job you should keep for 6-8 weeks, make sure you have a GOOD pair of shoes as quick as possible (ie, durable as fuck $200 dollar shoes with good inserts), don't eat during your shift as you won't get a bathroom break
27) Aaaaaand don't be shocked at the hordes of millenials working alongside you who are being ground into a bloody paste trying to make a living after they were royally fucked over by the worst economic state since the great depression. 👍 /end
