<p>Fine, ebook reader.</p>
<p>also trying to cut down useage of Amazon for books. They think women are ditzs – fine. Sell to men</p>
<p>For those who want a place that is good to employees but has low prices, I recommend Costco. All the Costco employees at the store near our home are VERY HAPPY with how they are treated and jobs there are very desirable. They get good medical coverage and seem very happy with their jobs. One of them will be retiring soon after working there for about 20 years. They seem to have a VERY LOW turnover rate at the store near our home. I also have been told that they are paid decent wages.</p>
<p>Himom is right! Employee satisfaction at both Sams Club and Costco is very high. I think that Costco of course is a little better, but both places have some really happy workers.</p>
<p>Does this mean we won’t get our 2 day shipping? ;)</p>
<p>For those of you who haven’t worked in warehouses, they generally aren’t air conditioned. Even in Phoenix, AZ, where I lived and worked for a time, they didn’t have air conditioning. In the summer, it was hot in the warehouse. But it was part of working in a warehouse, as air conditioning a huge building would require a huge amount of electricity - both expensive and produce a lot of greenhouse gases. </p>
<p>Amazon could move the warehouse to the coast, where the climate is more reasonable. It’d also be more expensive for land and labor is usually more expensive as well. It’s a better business decision for them to keep the warehouse in the town its in.</p>
<p>I agree with HIMom and BowTie. I used to belong to our local Costco, and I made a point of engaging the cashiers in conversation about their jobs/benefits/working conditions. All was good. Unfortunately, shopping at Costco doesn’t make sense for us. I wish I could support the company.</p>
<p>Well I stopped shopping at Walmart because of their employee practices. Looks like I am going to have to give up my Amazon Prime, too. Sigh.</p>
<p>The NYT has picked up the story (in a blog post): [Inside</a> Amazon’s Very Hot Warehouse - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/inside-amazons-very-hot-warehouse/]Inside”>Inside Amazon's Very Hot Warehouse - The New York Times) I note that comment number 43 contains a response from Amazon, which says that they did shorten work hours and increase breaks during the summer heat wave. My Amazon package from yesterday came from the Kentucky warehouse, which is surely in a hotter area; I note that the news story is about a Pennsylvania warehouse, which makes me think it is a problem with that one warehouse.</p>
<p>As for the use of temporary employees (a staffing company), many companies use temps as a way to evaluate employees before hiring. I don’t know if that’s the case with Amazon, but it does cut down on your unemployment insurance costs if you can get a long look at an employee before hiring permanently. </p>
<p>(I have mixed feelings about unemployment insurance. While I think it’s important to have a safety net, having to pay someone half salary for 6 months because they’re a problem employee and you need to fire them grates at me. It’s all too easy to get unemployment even when an employee is fired for cause (like stealing). And no, the government doesn’t pay the unemployment in that case, the company does.)</p>
<p>I will continue to purchase from Amazon. I buy a lot from them. If this is really as bad as portrayed, OSHA will be all over them. I have worked for manufacturing companies and our plants were not air-conditioned. I believe we took precautions and never had a problem, but I can see where things might have been pretty bad at this Amazon warehouse. I suspect if y’all knew the conditions at most of the facilities that make, package or ship any goods, you wouldn’t be buying a whole lot!</p>
<p>Oops! Cross posted with MomofWildChild, here.</p>
<p>Engineer4life hit the nail on the head.</p>
<p>Most warehouses and manufacturing facilities are NOT air conditioned, unless needed for the equipment or the manufacturing process (I used to work for one of the largest manufacturers in the US).</p>
<p>Those buildings are HUGE! Cost and greenhouse impact would be very substantial.</p>
<p>Of course, it should also be remembered that warehouses and manufacturing facilities were a much larger part of the Amercian economy 50 or 60 years ago, before air conditioning became widely used in our society.</p>
<p>If you want to stop buying at Amazon because they don’t air condition their warehouses, you might as well stop buying manufactured goods (and you had better check all the Costco and Sams Club warehouses while you are at it).</p>
<p>I, for one, will keep buying at Amazon and Walmart. </p>
<p>100 years ago, when I was in college, I worked for the Post Office delivering mail in New York City. Walked on that asphalt and concrete, with no shade, in the middle of the summer, carrying a very heavy bag of mail on my shoulder…and I was glad to have the job! Little did I know that I should have been filing complaints with OSHA!</p>
<p>^^ Great minds!</p>
<p>And you walked uphill 5 miles both ways delivering that mail!</p>
<p>I think some of us agree that A/C is not a prerequisite for a humane work environment. However one in which employees regularly collapse, and work quotas are upped without regard for workers health, that gives some of us pause. YMMV.</p>
<p>Hayden –
What is it that you are talking about? Do you know?</p>
<p>Because of this one problem at this one plant during this one time period, it is ridiculous to conclude that unions “are a necessary evil”, that this is “why Amazon always has help wanted ads on an ongoing basis” (more likely it is because this company is actually growing), or especially that “this is a “good reason to avoid using Amazon.” Ahh…maybe you mean the evidence of the agenda part. I get it. Yeah, that is my conclusion, and I think it is a good one. For the most part, it is true. More than one poster has chimed in that most warehouses, even in places like Phoenix, are not air conditioned. Amazon is, due to other things recently in the news, a perfect target.</p>
<p>I think that all warehouse managers should exercise common sense in these situations. Hydration, breaks, ice available, whatever it takes to keep people healthy and to respect them. It is basically a golden rule thing. Would you want your own mother working in a place like this? Men and women who do not have a big heart for people should never become managers.</p>
<p>spideygirl, I have no opinion one way or the other. I don’t know the facts or their context. Therefore I have no conclusion. But by the same token, I don’t conclude that others’ conclusions are ridiculous.</p>
<p>Agree with spidey. And we all know everything in the paper is correct, right?</p>
<p>I have no way of knowing what is happening at real warehouses where Costco gets its merchandise from. The folks I talk to who work at Costco, INCLUDING those handing out samples or talking about products SEEM pretty happy. </p>
<p>There is a two tier system tho–the EMPLOYEES are taken care of pretty well while those who are CONTRACTED to work in the store and hand out/sample items are paid close to minimum wage. ONE person we have seen go from being a contract worker to a Costco hire, but most of the rest stay as contract workers who don’t enjoy the Costco employee benefits.</p>
<p>I like the merchandise better at Costco than Sam’s, personally. Sam’s also is connected with WalMart, which has gotten a LOT of bad press as well, for how poorly their workers are treated (see “Nickel & Dimed: Not Making it in America” and similar).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, unions would have made this situation better:</p>
<ol>
<li>They would have extracted better conditions for a few foremen and union organizers. The warehouse would have built a recreational area for the chosen few to congregate and plan how to best punish the employers.</li>
<li>With fewer workers, the non-chosen would have to increase the workload. Union dues would have reduced the wages, and thus forcing more overtime.</li>
<li>The talk by unions would exacerbate the situation and improvement in working conditions delayed in endless debates about collective bargaining agreements. The heat of the summer would be trivial as protections for union leaders would be paramount.</li>
<li>Without meaningful progress due to excessive demands, workers go on rotating strikes and organized delays.<br></li>
<li>Shipment are delayed. Clients are unhappy. Orders are rerouted to other centers. Clients cancel orders. Business suffers. Overtime is canceled. Shifts are eliminated. Unions balk and order work stoppages. Non protected workers lose money.</li>
<li>Plant is closed, first temporarily, then permanently.<br></li>
<li>Union leaders negotiate new positions. Union happy.</li>
<li>Workers, management, customers? Nobody is happy. </li>
</ol>
<p>L’union fait la force! :)</p>
<p>Two articles I found that make me wonder, both from the UK…One from 2001 and another from 2008</p>
<p>[UK</a> workforce attacks Amazon | Technology | The Guardian](<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/apr/14/internetnews.uknews]UK”>UK workforce attacks Amazon | Technology | The Guardian)</p>
<p>[Revealed:</a> Amazon staff punished for being ill - Times Online](<a href=“The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines”>The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines)</p>
<p>Xiggi, outstanding post.</p>
<p>Pretty much summarizes why people stay away from unions and why hardly anyone (except government employees) belong to unions anymore.</p>
<p>I bow to Xiggi.</p>