That is okay. They are just forcing more automation. Robotics are advancing at a very rapid pace. Their jobs will be obsolete before long.
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I have had many ideas how to do this in warehouse setting with 6-axis robot arms that rides on a 2 axis track down each side of the aisle, picking what it needs to from the bins.
The item(s) get placed on conveyor and then stamped with a machine readable order ID to coalesce and package items from different warehouse areas but same order into the same package. Once the code is written - bye-bye workers. Just need a couple coders and maintainers.
Throw some machine learning in there where each robot benefits from any mistake made by the other robots and soon you only need delivery drivers. But shortly after that those will be obsolete since we already have self-driving cars.
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While I am not pro-union, I have heard some absolutely horrific working conditions and unrealistic expectations placed upon the workers at Amazon. That being said, I’m not surprised when I hear Amazon hubs are unionizing.
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Break pack selecting is being used for a lot of new warehouses. The code that hasn’t been cracked yet is the full case selecting robot. A lot of companies want to be the first to build it because as soon as they do it’ll change everything. A lot of people are going to be out of work when it happens as and it’s rapidly approaching.
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I have said it before. I will pay more for a robot that always shows up to work, is never sick, and doesn’t have human drama.
That is a no brainer for business for menial jobs.
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What are the horrific working condions and unrealistic expectations?
They speed the lines up so fast that sorting packages compromises safety, 10 hour shifts with “mandatory overtime” are the norm, awful healthcare coverage, little to no bathroom breaks, having a truck loaded with 600+ packages and being expected to deliver them all well into the night just to do it all over again the next day, ergonomic injuries are rampant…shall I go on?
I’m as much a capitalist as the next guy, but Amazon needs to be seriously overhauled.
They would be considered terrorists and extremists today. Today’s politics have deteriorated everything the founding fathers believed in and fought for.
But they do not know history. They will repeat it.
I was raised in a community where you had to have thick skin. If someone disagrees, that was their opinion.
This is coming from a person who is not a white christian 
. My family are immigrants who came to this country w zero.
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They are a public company. Not a federal entity. The people contracting and employed are getting paid to do the job. If they dont like the job, get another job. They will eventually have to fix their operation. This doesnt happen over night.
Have you ever looked at what a non capitalistic society looks like? Yes, wait… even China went the route of capitalism .
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Heresy! Don’t you know people just can’t get another job?
You cruel capitalist bigot.
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This is industry standard. I’m sure Amazon communicates this to prospective employees. My company does the same.
Thank the government for that. Well, just the democrats since only they voted for Obamacare. Again, I’m in the same industry and Obamacare increased healthcare cost for businesses so much now they basically only offer what used to be called catastrophic coverage. My first year buying insurance through the company was 2008, when everything was “so expensive we needed the government to fix it.” I paid $14 a week with a $15 co pay for everything, including emergency room visits. 2012, no more co pay plans, all deductible but a reasonable $500. Now, we don’t offer a plan with less than a $3500 deductible.
I don’t believe that. Likely the employees don’t get to stop their “standard” from running while they use the bathroom outside of designated breaks so their performance numbers drop. They’re allowed to use the toilet I’m sure.
Being we’re on a lifting site, I think we all know the physical state of the modern worker.
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I’m just trying to be transparent about it, nothing more.
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THIS.
Obamacare was and is a disaster. I was paying my own health insurance at the time through United Health and then BCBS. It went from $125 a month to $250 a month to $390 a month to $678 a month in a 2 year span with ever increasing deductibles for a healthy early to mid 20s year old.
Sure is nice subsidizing the scum that can’t pay and leach the system dry.
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The only thing i have a problem with is the bathroom break issue
10 hr days and mandatory overtime…been there done that…as a matter of fact, just got finished working 16+ hours a day in southwest florida with hurricane IAN aftermath restoration
also worked nuclear outages 100 days straight, weekends and holidays…12 hour days, sometimes shiftwork
no health care coverage…been there done that in previous jobs
ergonomics…been there done that, did roofing, digging ditches, construction work…this is funny
father was a truckdriver, you finish when the truck is unloaded
these amazon buttercups need to suck it up
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I loaded trucks at UPS during undergrad - shit was brutal.
I also have done manual labor busting concrete, cleaning up brick and mortar. I learned real quick I wanted to use my brain from an early age or set myself up to be the boss.
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Yep, me too…now i a work in a lab, testing parts for 4 nuclear plants
and when a storm hits, we have to go out and help with restoration efforts
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hang me at the town square already
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One of my main motives for finishing college quickly were the “lifers” at the furniture warehouse I worked at in high school. We would unload trucks for 10-12 hours a day.
All the lifers there were miserable. I did not want that at all.
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i know a few “lifers” as you describe … they jump a lot from gig to gig doing the same type of labor work for a bit when workers comp or disability runs out … then file again … wash/rinse/repeat.
They game the system a bit until the system turns off the faucet … get a gig moving heavy shit until they can turn the faucet on again.
They seem miserable when they’re working but when the faucet’s on, they love to flaunt the “easy money” … I don’t have much sympathy for them since they’ve done nothing to improve their human capital over time … booze, drugs, and women get in their way … or so they say…
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I was going to say that they’d probably be a lot less miserable if they weren’t drinking and/or drugging themselves into a stupor every night. You beat me to it.
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