It is done, Amazon account deletion request sent

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by haertig

Does that mean that for every person that comes to work for Amazon, 1-½ people leave?

That IS a stupidly high number. I wonder who came up with it? Certainly not an employee. Because with numbers like that, Amazon wouldn't have any employees. That's probably how they do such fast deliveries. No humans there, just robots. Makes sense.

DNSB explained it well.

I think the 150% came out of a NYT investigation but even their own leaked numbers are high and those are across all levels.

https://www.engadget.com/amazon-attr...201800100.html

[haertig]

Originally Posted by DNSB

OTOH, I used to think some of the stories about washroom visits being monitored were mostly stories. Sadly, one acquaintance of mine has a son who started working for Amazon a while back and says that is quite a bit of truth in both the turnover and monitoring.

In my early years of work, I was an engineer supporting electronics manufacturing. Back in the days when manufacturing was still done in the USA, on assembly lines, by humans. For assembly line workers, they could not just get up and head off on whatever chore they needed (bathroom, etc.) because that would shut down the entire assembly line. Everybody there would be idled. Everyone on the line is dependent on the previous person in line to have competed their job. Conveyor belts moved product down the assembly line, with the expectation that each human would be doing their job. So while it sounds bad that bathroom breaks had to be coordinated (except during true emergencies), that was the reality of the assembly line situation. Amazon may have similar "assembly line like" scenarios. Or they may have had employees in the past that abused taking breaks. Or Amazon may just be sadistic morons with no motivation other than hurting people for fun.

People need to remember that they are hired not because the employer loves them to death, but because they are providing work that is of benefit to the employer. If people do not provide that benefit, it is right for them to be fired. If people are providing benefit, but do not like the work they have to do under their benefit/salary contract, they are right to leave. This is basic business 101. Amazon is not forcing people to work as slaves. I believe their employees are probably free to quit any time they want to, not that Amazon could do anything about someone just not showing up for work anyway. Except fire them (if they didn't already quit).

The "invisible hand" will control things. If Amazon is so bad for employees, word will get around and nobody will go to work for them. And Amazon will either sink or change their ways. You don't need governments or unions to enforce this natural sequence of things. Everybody can decide for themselves who they want to work for. Here in the USA at least.

[Quoth]

Amazon don't have an assembly line like a factory.
A saner method is batches and then someone could take a short break when they needed to, otherwise you'd need nappies. Bigger items use a slow conveyor, but a team.

If Amazon is so bad for employees, word will get around and nobody will go to work for them. And Amazon will either sink or change their ways. You don't need governments or unions to enforce this natural sequence of things. Everybody can decide for themselves who they want to work for. Here in the USA at least.

Yes, you need regulations and unions.

Also many people have little choice in employment.

See clothing manufacture.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by haertig

In my early years of work, I was an engineer supporting electronics manufacturing. Back in the days when manufacturing was still done in the USA, on assembly lines, by humans. For assembly line workers, they could not just get up and head off on whatever chore they needed (bathroom, etc.) because that would shut down the entire assembly line. Everybody there would be idled. Everyone on the line is dependent on the previous person in line to have competed their job. Conveyor belts moved product down the assembly line, with the expectation that each human would be doing their job. So while it sounds bad that bathroom breaks had to be coordinated (except during true emergencies), that was the reality of the assembly line situation. Amazon may have similar "assembly line like" scenarios. Or they may have had employees in the past that abused taking breaks. Or Amazon may just be sadistic morons with no motivation other than hurting people for fun.

People need to remember that they are hired not because the employer loves them to death, but because they are providing work that is of benefit to the employer. If people do not provide that benefit, it is right for them to be fired. If people are providing benefit, but do not like the work they have to do under their benefit/salary contract, they are right to leave. This is basic business 101. Amazon is not forcing people to work as slaves. I believe their employees are probably free to quit any time they want to, not that Amazon could do anything about someone just not showing up for work anyway. Except fire them (if they didn't already quit).

The "invisible hand" will control things. If Amazon is so bad for employees, word will get around and nobody will go to work for them. And Amazon will either sink or change their ways. You don't need governments or unions to enforce this natural sequence of things. Everybody can decide for themselves who they want to work for. Here in the USA at least.

People need money for food/rent/medicine etc. to live. It may not be possible to quit, or quit immediately because of poor working conditions because they need the money. Technically being able to quit is not the same as actually being able to quit.

And there's many stories about the bathroom breaks of just Amazon delivery drivers which are about as far from your assembly line example as possible.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/amaz...ng-in-bottles/

[Ebookus]

self regulation does not work, nor does the invisible hand. He who believes in those things is only fooling himself.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Ebookus

self regulation does not work, nor does the invisible hand. He who believes in those things is only fooling himself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand#Criticisms

[Graham44]

Well it's been a week and I've had to buy a couple of things I would probably have bought from Amazon before giving them the boot, I managed to find them without Amazon ,I think it's going to be alright

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by Graham44

Well it's been a week and I've had to buy a couple of things I would probably have bought from Amazon before giving them the boot, I managed to find them without Amazon ,I think it's going to be alright

You should be fine.
I rarely use Amazon except for Bluray disks which are unavailable in Australia and ebooks. Everything we need is very easily sourced elsewhere.

[drofgnal]

We are at least honoring the one week Amazon blackout, not because of D&T. You'd need to go into the politics sub forum for that reason. I'm still on the fence about Kobo books vs Amazon, but I have enough to read for a while yet, so no rush.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

We are at least honoring the one week Amazon blackout, not because of D&T. You'd need to go into the politics sub forum for that reason. I'm still on the fence about Kobo books vs Amazon, but I have enough to read for a while yet, so no rush.

Kobo gives you eBooks that are either DRM free or you can remove the DRM without playing any games. You get the original ePub and full size images. It's a no-brainier to go Kobo instead of Amazon.

[Graham44]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo gives you eBooks that are either DRM free or you can remove the DRM without playing any games. You get the original ePub and full size images. It's a no-brainier to go Kobo instead of Amazon.

Kobo definitely seems to be better and I will use them and probably quite a bit. But for me personally as I have made the move I will try to use smaller book retailers/ independent publishers first. Don't get me wrong I will probably be buying something from Kobo every month but I will visit the smaller ones first and get the bulk of the months reading (if possible) from them.

[DuskyRose]

Originally Posted by haertig

The "invisible hand" will control things. If Amazon is so bad for employees, word will get around and nobody will go to work for them. And Amazon will either sink or change their ways. You don't need governments or unions to enforce this natural sequence of things. Everybody can decide for themselves who they want to work for. Here in the USA at least.

I know that they used to have an Amazon Camperforce, which was when people used their campgrounds to live by the centers in the summer, and work through the warm months. I don't remember which state. We never really kept up with them.

Hubby's aunt and uncle worked there for quite a few years, living out of their camper and working all summer, then packing up and moving to live out the winter in the lower states. They made enough money to not have to work the winter months. Then they'd drive back in spring and take part-time for a while, to get back into shape. They enjoyed it, and there seemed to be a large group of regulars they saw every year that returned.

I don't know if they still do that, although they seem to have a Camperforce web site still up. And I wonder if that upped their employment numbers during the year.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Graham44

Kobo definitely seems to be better and I will use them and probably quite a bit. But for me personally as I have made the move I will try to use smaller book retailers/ independent publishers first. Don't get me wrong I will probably be buying something from Kobo every month but I will visit the smaller ones first and get the bulk of the months reading (if possible) from them.

Don’t forget Smashwords. I recently got an email from an author doing a promotion, I got the book on Smashwords rather than Amazon. Cost me 78p.

[Graham44]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Don’t forget Smashwords. I recently got an email from an author doing a promotion, I got the book on Smashwords rather than Amazon. Cost me 78p.

Smashwords looks good but I use UK based ebook sellers, my bank charges me to convert from one currency to another so ebook sellers based outside the UK are a no go for me

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Graham44

Smashwords looks good but I use UK based ebook sellers, my bank charges me to convert from one currency to another so ebook sellers based outside the UK are a no go for me

You can use PayPal with Smashwords, IIRC.