I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave

[roody]

After reading this article, I will be much more careful and thoughtful when buying on-line. The article is long and informative.

My brief, backbreaking, rage-inducing, low-paying, dildo-packing time inside the online-shipping machine.
—By Mac McClelland | March/April 2012 Issue "Mother Jones"

"DON'T TAKE ANYTHING that happens to you there personally," the woman at the local chamber of commerce says when I tell her that tomorrow I start working at Amalgamated Product Giant Shipping Worldwide Inc. She winks at me. I stare at her for a second.

"What?" I ask. "Why, is somebody going to be mean to me or something?"

She smiles. "Oh, yeah."

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Excellent article and makes me feel very bad

about ordering online. The almighty dollar rules.

[Javaman]

2. I just read that same article yesterday.

It gave me a whole new perspective on ordering online. And because of this article, I'm now moving to the side of the argument that companies like Amazon should be taxed for online sales.

My feeling through out this article was one of, "these poor people need a union desperately". But amazon, keeps people temporary and fire people for the most mild "violations" that there can never be solidarity among the workers.

this seems to be the current trend among the various mega-corps to blunt any concept of organizing.

I found it even more appauling that the temp agency kept an office there at the warehouse.

[Brickbat]

3. If you're ordering books online, go through the Powell's union portal.

Powell's warehouse workers are union.

http://www.ilwulocal5.com/support

[Javaman]

6. Thanks for the info. :) nt

[dotymed]

7. Yes, Powells is the only Unionized, on-line book seller

that I am aware of. They have great prices, new and used books and excellent service. I shop Powells exclusively for books. They also have amazing specials.......powells.com

[The Midway Rebel]

17. Ha! So long Amazon.com

Powell's has a new customer!

Thanks!

[Mr Dixon]

4. WOW

I love amazon, but i didn't know it was ran like this So sad

[obey]

5. No worries, Amazon is replacing the workers with robots

In the battle between man and machine, the robots just scored a victory in the world of e-commerce.

Amazon.com Inc. said Monday it is buying Kiva Systems Inc., which makes robots used in shipping centers. The $775 million acquisition comes as Amazon continues its heavy spending on fulfillment centers to help fuel its business.


Kiva Systems Inc. robots shown last year moving through an Acumen Brands Inc. warehouse in Fayetteville, Ark.

Robots on the March

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304724404577291903244796214.html

[Zalatix]

9. One has to wonder who's going to be able to afford all that?

Certainly not the Amazon workers that are being replaced.

[Mr Dixon]

8. IMO

Happy to have my job, glad I don’t have this job

I know many of us complain about promotions and bosses that get on out nerves, “sally got a promotion and I have been here 2 years longer than her”. However I just read an article that I hope you all take time to read, understanding in is very long (21 pages printed), but at the same time well worth the read, read it at home or on the train but take time to read it.

To surmise: envision working 10.5 hours a day (really 12hrs) standing on your feet or speed walking at 11 dollars an hour with one 15 minute break and 29 mins.59secs lunch, if your late your fired, sick your fired, having a baby your fired. The supervisor only tells you to do more and the reward is a chance at a 20 dollar bonus once a month. No I am not talking about china this is happening in the good old USA (China is worst).

After you read this article, you will have no choice but to reflect on your current situation and be thankful, don’t believe me? Then read the article.

Also view the comments

[Zalatix]

10. We should be happy for the pig slop they give us.

Never ask for more in life, that's a privilege only available to the 1%.

[roody]

15. We need a link.

[Citizen Worker]

11. Time to bring back soldiering. Soldiering is a tactic used by working people where they agree to

perform a pre-agreed upon amount of work regardless of management pressure.

[yardwork]

12. This was shocking. I'll never feel the same way about buying on the internet again.

[onethatcares]

13. and it's all by design.

the rest of us don't deserve the nice homes, cars or boats, vacations or schools, the .01% want it all for themselves

no matter what they have to do to get it.

Perhaps this is what the mid country concentration camps are being set up for, the many that have no jobs, income or food and can't keep up with quota.

fuck, who would have thought?

[DFW]

14. I once worked in a place like that, but not under similar conditions

The environmental conditions sucked, as it was a warehouse for newly printed maps, and I was ill every day from the noxious fumes from the huge (500 sheets, usually 30" X 40&quot map bundles we had to move around the facility. But it was a map storage facility for the U.S. Geological Survey in Virginia, and they treated us just fine. I guess I was lucky not to be at the mercy of some private powerhouse. The Geological Survey's map storage facility was, at least 40 years ago, anything BUT dynamic. The work was back-breaking and low-paying, and the fumes were evil, but at least the people running the place were not.

[w8liftinglady]

16. You would be describing labor in a "Right-to-Work" state

like...ummmm,Texas,for example?

http://research.lawyers.com/Texas/Employment-Law-in-Texas.html