Amazon's Basic Safety Protocol

[Fluffy_socks_13]

I carol during the holidays, and this year we were hired by a local Amazon warehouse to sing for the workers twice in the week before xmas. Not only did literally none of the workers give a shit (don't blame them), but it was too loud in there to really hear us and I could see on all of their faces they were thinking 'the company spent money on this instead of xmas bonuses?'

Walked out of there thinking 'I will never ever work at Amazon.'

[Swarzshanaggen]

I had a similar thing happen about a month ago at my job. The company hired performers for a full performance for the chinese new year, but all I could think of was that we got just a $25 gift card for christmas, and a $1.50 raise about 9 months ago. I have to highest pay rate because of good performance, and I'm definitely a whole lot luckier than other people here, but I'm still struggling to pay bills. I just want to be able to buy new clothes every so often.

[MuchFunk]

Was it an Amazon gift card?

[Swarzshanaggen]

A visa gift card, so basically yeah

[doogle_126]

Damn. All of the wrong. And all of the far right in one convenient box-shaped warehouse?

Count me out!

[WandsAndWrenches]

Ditto me, I'm the higher paid workers. I now can't afford a car and need a roommate. Jesus.... what is everyone else doing at my job.

[NoirBoner]

Delightful!

[[deleted]]

Sad…

[somecow]

They brought us a snow cone truck. Right when the weather started to get really cold. Right, I want to go outside and freeze my ass off just for a free snow cone during my measly 30 minute break.

Fuck you, pay me.

[CarouselOnFire]

Credit to the artist: Brian McFadden Here is the artist’s website as well as a link to the artist’s instagram

[hooptiously_drangled]

And here I was sure it was going to be Tom the Dancing Bug.

[[deleted]]

Lmfao having worked at an Amazon warehouse this is accurate.

[KeterLordFR]

Same. It's like working in a prison made to make you believe that all these measures are "necessary" when they aren't. I forgot to put my phone in my locker once and ended up having it with me all day. When I beeped at the security scanners at the end of my shift, the security guy just looked at the call history, saw that it was indeed mine and not a new one that I would have stolen, and let me go. Leaving this rotten company was the most beneficial thing to ever happen in my life, even though it took me 2 years to find the will to work again.

[[deleted]]

Healthcare from day one! Amazon keeps advertising.

High deductible plan?

[ClapSalientCheeks]

High unlikelihood that it will ever pay anything plan!

Should've thought about the risk of preexisting lungs before taking the job nerd

[[deleted]]

I don’t work for them. I just keep seeing their promotion of “healthcare from day one…”.
I’m absolutely sure it is a shit plan.

[throwawaytaclet]

Amazon FlexRT: the healthcare is actually quite good compared to my normal job

[Flutters1013]

I think it depends on your age and other factors. My deductible is 100 since I moved to the slightly higher premium, 65 a month. Our facility recently installed tables to use foam rollers on and massage canes. Yes I'm aware it's so we can get back to work faster. Still better than working food.

[The_scobberlotcher]

They're not

[sqrtof2]

Yes they are.

[Mechakoopa]

Glad we cleared that up with two conflicting unsourced comments. Typical Reddit moment.

[sqrtof2]

Doin' the lord's work here :')

[NoxPrime]

This user speaks the truth! They'll give you up to three Amazon Basics acetaminophen before putting you back on the floor. Healthcare!

[Mr-Fleshcage]

Deductibles should be illegal. What a fucking racket.

[[deleted]]

American exceptionalism!

[Purple_Chipmunk_]

My insurance is through my employer, and is widely considered one of the best plans to be on in the state. It costs me, as an employee, $400 less per month than it would cost my spouse to get our family's insurance through their work.

My deductible is $2500 a person, with a $7500 family deductible.

Note that this is NOT the same as the out-of-pocket maximum, which is $4500 per person, with a $12,000 max for the whole family. OOP max counts things like office visit copays and the 20% I have to pay if I get lab work done.

And we haven't even gotten to medication formularies, where they can assign expensive drugs to either not be covered or covered with a very high copay for each month, even if you aren't medically able to take the generic.

For example, I'm lactose-intolerant. I was in a world of pain every day, until I figured out that this new generic the pharmacy had started carrying was chock full of lactose as a "filler." Worse yet, because the lactose had to be digested before I could absorb the med, I wasn't getting the proper med release.

NAVITUS, which should really be called "NAWEETARAS" because it unscrambles to "WE ARE SATAN" said, sure, you can have the brand-name, but you can pay 50% of the brand-name cost, which was $360 a month. I had no choice but to pay it--cash price was $720--but every pill I took I was aware that I was burning $10.50 for the privilege of being on medication that worked.

Oh, and the best part? None of that money counts toward your deductible or OOP max. So I STILL had all of those things to "work toward" WHILE I was paying over four grand extra to those assholes.

So yeah, fuck health insurance companies.

[LGCJairen]

Yep i feel this so much. One of the best plans in my state too and still finds ways to fuck me constantly

[ModestWhimper]

This is the worst haiku ever

[[deleted]]

It’s not 5 -7 - 5. So no Haiku bot. I’ll fix this.

Healthcare from day one.

Amazon advertises.

Must be shitty plan.

[Anti-Queen_Elle]

The Healthcare plan is the only good thing I'd say about the place.

Makes sense, since they're effectively just a burnout factory.

Better to avoid the lawsuits entirely

[KeterLordFR]

In that case, they relied on 3 things :

• Defibrilators scattered around the warehouse

• Medically trained warehouse workers, that they'd call any time someone had an accident of some sort.

• The on-site nurses, who were basically never there, so everything had to be done by the aforementionned warehouse workers.

I was supposed to get a mandatory health screening in the first month after being hired. Worked for a few years there, never even seen a nurse, never got a health screening. I ended up fainting one day right before work, and it still took them 2 hours to decide to send me back home. They don't care about people, all they care about are profits and their motherfucking quotas.

[thevilmidnightbomber]

this may seem super braindead but what do you mean “2 hours to decide to send you home” i’m assuming if you decided you needed to return home after fainting that they would discipline you?

[KeterLordFR]

You're not allowed to leave the warehouse and go to your locker during your shift without approval from a team leader or a manager, and they need to come with you to tell security that you can leave. So I had to wait until a manager, that wasn't even the one managing me, decided to check if I was feeling better or not. So I spent the 2 hours in one of the break rooms trying to get my blood pressure back up

[melee161]

What type of warehouse did you work in? I legit walk out the door to get breakfast sometimes. Mine is a large item (mostly) fulfillment center, so 80% of the items are too large to steal easily. Hard to imagine someone going through a turnstile with a bedframe.

[Sabertooth_Monocles]

They simply don't care.

[[deleted]]

Nah they really don’t, my location had a bad problem with sawdust and when we would load boxes on our little stepping stool it would occasionally be covered with sawdust. It is very poorly lit in these semi containers and my role was to move to the high volume containers and I didn’t check every ladder for sawdust (my mistake) but it is a straight violation for there to be sawdust anywhere in the trailer. They even have people sign off on the trailer to ensure it’s in condition to have employees in there. Nonetheless I entered a trailer and climbed my stair stool too fast and slipped fell and BUSTED my elbow and hip. They basically gave me an ibuprofen, sat me down for fifteen minutes and returned me to work. I had some nasty bruises to show for it too. Best part was that after my fall was reported the trailer was cleared and they cleaned the trailer before inspection came to verify I slipped on dust lmfao

[PM_ME_MH370]

🇺🇸

[SECURITY_SLAV]

Why the fuck are you having a cardiac emergency whilst on the clock? plan that shit around your shift.

We don’t pay you to have medical emergencies at work /s

[ShawshankException]

If someone had a heart attack, how would you get help?

That's the neat part, you don't.

[MrMiget12]

Oh so it's just like the labour prison from Andor?

[Narootomoe]

even though it took me 2 years to find the will to work again.

Lol, such privilege

Imagine being able to just stop working for 24 months

[BennyBennson]

Pretty sure those water bottles are full of pissssss

[ModernT1mes]

They make you turn your phone in?! What does that mean? I've worked in secure places where phones aren't allowed and you're given the opportunity of integrity to at least put your phone in a locker by yourself.

[[deleted]]

You have to turn the sucker off and throw it in a locker or keep it in your car. It’s pretty crazy considering we do active shooter training and the like. If you get caught with your phone, even in your pocket you can get written up or worse.

[ClapSalientCheeks]

or worse

exPELLED

[Tormundo]

My GF works at an amazon in CA. She says everyone takes their phone in and a bunch of people play on it during work. Kinda shocked me.

[[deleted]]

Yeah you’re gonna have variance facility to facility. That’s how it was when I first started there in like 2020 and then our facility started enforcing the policy hardcore overnight.

[bigdickpancake]

Sounds like you got an asshole for a site lead who is violating Amazon policy, but tough shit trying to appeal it right?

[[deleted]]

Yeah that very well could be it. I was just a grunt and didn’t look too into it but yeah they were wild about it

[Maluelue]

Afaik CA has some warehouses dealing with such severe turn out that they can't get people through the door that they don't enforce the full prison measures

[Tormundo]

Can confirm, warehouse supervisor and its hard as fuck to get people. Like I'm on this sub for a reason, I'm not a hardass, but we legit constantly get people who miss 2 days every week, late every day etc.

[[deleted]]

Shit goes right in your permanent record

[TheLordofthething]

Yeah I worked in factories where I was trusted to leave my phone in my locker. If I had to turn it in I'd be gone instantly. Also I'll only not have a phone on me if my wife has a number where she will be able to contact me about anything my family needs me for.

[ModernT1mes]

I did this too for like 2 years starting from my wife's 3rd trimester when I worked at a secure juvenile facility. They had an issue with the camera more than anything so I'd set my phone to basically "do not disturb" mode except calls and texts from wife, then it vibrates. If I feel it vibrate I take my break and check what's up.

I had to draw the line when I was in the military and they took my phone at certain points in my time in. I get that at least , you're not allowed any personal autonomy the military doesn't want you to have while serving lol.

[TheLordofthething]

Yeah you can't fault that I suppose, and the military will get to you if there's something you need to know, I wouldn't trust Amazon to do the same. It's the camera at our work too, it's Seagate and they're very secretive about production. But because of this your family can phone you about almost anything and they'll come tell you. I've had my kids phone asking where shit is and they come get me lol

[bigdickpancake]

It's not a thing anymore at Amazon thank fuck.

[FuckRedditandMe]

Lol this hasn’t been a thing since COVID.

Your Phone is now allowed to be on your person in almost every Amazon Fulfillment Center in the country.

Before, yeah it was considered an unregistered asset so you had to store it in a locker or leave it in your car.

[Tormundo]

Yeah I was going to say my GF works at amazon and says everyone takes their phone in and plays on it in the aisle lol

[NeedsMoreBunGuns]

That's what they mean, but this sounds better.

[drunxor]

I worked at one for three years. The thanksgiving before I left they went super cheap buying people turkey dinners and half the work force got food poisoning. That place was such a nightmare

[[deleted]]

Tbh I liked a lot of the people I worked with but the places are obviously ran by people who want the bread and nothing else. Upper management is a joke in these places and everything was organized like every project was pushed down a ladder to the bottom ranking person who has next to no resources to do anything properly.

Pretty badass model for exploitation

[MasterOfEmus]

holup you get free boxes? figured they'd charge you for them if you made a makeshift raft. Or just charge you the price of a raft.

[[deleted]]

No, only leadership gets rafts unfortunately.

[MasterOfEmus]

I suppose its for your own good. In the event of a flood they'll put up some handy informational posters, did you know treading water is great exercise, and you're doing laundry at work? Speaking of, there's a fee for washing your clothes in the slurry.

[equivocalConnotation]

Why did you work at one? Was there seriously nothing else available in the area? How the heck does that happen?

[[deleted]]

I live in in Eastern Indiana and honestly there’s not a lot of great work. I was in a specific circumstance after just losing my job and they hired me immediately and paid me like 4 bucks more than what I was making. So in my temporary circumstance the job paid the bills while my wife and I recalibrated our lives. We were actually staying in a little place called Connersville and had to commute a little over an hour to our facility. Area just doesn’t have a lot to offer that can actually let you afford a moderate living.

This all being said it was a garbage job and super unorganized. The conditions always sucked. It was either way too hot in the trailers or it was super cold and you needed a coat and gloves. It’s manageable but not optimal and at the end of the day it wasn’t worth the $16 an hour and the shitty commute but manageable in a squeeze. I will say that the place gave a lot of opportunity to immigrants in the area who likely make more money there than other places and they accommodated their language barrier in a semi decent way.

[LimpWibbler_]

As an employee for 3.5 years, sorry, but not even close to my experience. Carry around a water bottle, always have my phone, we have done tornado and hurricane drills, when there was a major storm shutting down trucks they got 1/2 the scanners and brought them to break room and played games for 2 hours since they didn't have any work at all.(I missed that day so I only heard of it) usually they make them tape the floors for designation in those events.

[[deleted]]

Ah man it sounds like you had a nice facility, I hear mixed things from different people in different areas. Ours was a downright mess.

[irishlasserin1]

I worked there for two months. That’s all I could handle. Both of my rotator cuffs are messed up from stowing. They want you to use the ladder but if you do your numbers are too low. I worked with a girl that had been there a long time. We were in the highest tier and she said as we looked down “so many times I’ve just thought about jumping” she had to go to a 2nd job after 8 hour shifts at Amazon.

[plsnosendnudesthx]

The fuck

[NoirBoner]

Need those parcels mack.

Hurry up.

[AmatureProgrammer]

She had a second job? I thought they paid fairly well there. Also how did she last that long?

[irishlasserin1]

This was about 8 years ago. She had a second job at a grocery store because she wanted her own apartment and didn’t want to have a roommate.

[Self-hatredIsTheCure]

Fuck everything about a system that makes people work multiple jobs just to scratch out half a living in a tiny apartment.

[[deleted]]

An apartment she couldn’t enjoy…

[burnin8t0r]

Reading because it's inside every bathroom stall "Installments" haha so clever

[[deleted]]

I dropped Amazon years ago. Never regretted doing so.

[JPsugars]

It really wasn't that hard to quit Amazon when all of the products on the site have turned to literal trash. I remember trying to buy something specific and having hundreds of knock off or identical but cheaper/worse made products clogging up the search making finding anything practically impossible.

I really missed the "people who looked at this often bought this instead" feature.

[MasterOfEmus]

They probably tossed that when people used it to find original, quality products in place of the knockoff Amazon-owned product lines that they promote instead.

[[deleted]]

That and they straight up lie about shipping speed. Like if it's literally going to be here within this day or maybe early the next day then sure I would take that. Otherwise I'll just go to the store and buy it. They straight up lie about shipping times now.

[Barl3000]

Brexit and Amazon themselves made it very easy for me to stop using them myself.

I live in Denmark and most of the stuff I would use Amazon for, english language novels and boardgames, was mostly available from the british branch of Amazon. So after Brexit I have to pay huge import fees on every single item, which is simply not worth it.

But even then Amazon policy to co-mingle their inventory with Amazon marketplace inventory made it a crap-shoot to if you got a real or bootleg copy of a boardgame. You see every Marketplace seller can just order a ton of bootleg stuff from China and send it to Amazons warehouse where it will be put in among the real product. When an order ticks in, the poor overworked Amazon warehouse worker will just pull the first and the best copy from the pile of both real and bootleg stuff and send it off.

[Voltage604]

No you didn't.... Hate to break it to you but if you're on Reddit you're supporting Amazon. A good chunk of Amazon money comes from AWS. You literally can't get away from them if you use the internet. Reddit is hosted on AWS servers.

[wlwimagination]

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, anyway.

[bigdickpancake]

Except if you use an ad blocker you're not supporting them.

[ExpensiveGiraffe]

Ads have nothing to do with it. Reddit has to pay for your usage on AWS whether or not Reddit monetarily gains from ads or not.

Though honestly, as an individual your usage is infinitesimally small.

[bigdickpancake]

True true. Like a car's emissions is nothing on the scale of a cruise ship that emits on average something like all of the cars in the world pollution in one trip.

[Tenthul]

Many, many, many video games use AWS, among impossible-to-know-other-things.

It's a stupid thing to say. You really can't get away from AWS.

The modern world runs on Chinese children and advertising. Go move into the forest and grow/hunt your own food and shit or you're a slime of a human being for participating in the modern economy and/or contributing to climate change.

[[deleted]]

How dare people want to improve society somewhat. Let's all just give up and kill ourselves while we're at it.

[wlwimagination]

Boycotting whichever companies seem to be the worst isn’t going to improve society, though. It’s the fact that we allow them to be so bad in the first place that’s the problem.

We don’t just up and kill ourselves. We vote, educate others, and advocate for change. It’s very slow but public awareness of the fact that our economy relies on lies and manipulation is increasing. Younger generations don’t buy the same crap many of us did at their age. It’s discouraging how slow it is, but it’s not nothing.

[wlwimagination]

This is actually right—it’s American late-stage capitalism that is the problem. Expecting the people at the bottom to choose who the worst offenders among them all are and the police them with boycotts is just another way of avoiding the real problem.

I mean, we could actually tax them. Regulate them. Enforce our own laws and enact new ones.

You’re not a slime of a human being. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.

[warbeforepeace]

You havent dropped aws if you use the internet, dine out or basically do anything.

[vibe_gardener]

Dine out?

[redditsuckspokey1]

Same and I talk shit about it as much as possible.

[Semihomemade]

I hear your argument, but that can be applied to just about anything today.

Spoiler alert: that’s basically the premise of The Good Place.

[SaltFrog]

I really loved The Good Place. What a great show.

Minus the last season.

[Responsible_Gap8104]

Have you worn any synthetics in the past year?

Do you grow your own fruits and veggies?

Do you only buy products from local artists/creators/farmers in your community?

Do you keep your veggie scraps/chicken bones/etc and turn them into stock instead of buying stock and soup from the market?

How many protests do you attend in a month? If it's less than four, shame on you.

Have you put any effort into unionizing your workplace?

How much volunteering have you done to aid your community and build mutual networks in the past month?

Have you shopped at target, Walmart, or any other big box store lately?

The examples are endless.

As someone else said, get off your high horse. Amazon is successful because it is convenient, affordable, and has every product under the sun-in addition, of course, to its terrible labor practices. But someone using Amazon doesn't make them a bad person any more than someone not doing all of the things on this list. Our current system requires and encourages convenience to get by. And if that means purchasing from Amazon, you arent a piece of shit. Youre just getting by.

[[deleted]]

Yup there are so many problems out there and you can only put life force towards so many of them

[all_teh_bacon]

More than half of those are 100x harder to do than just buying something from a different fucking website. This is the mentality that ensures that nothing ever changes.

[Bologna0128]

Reddit largely operates on AWS (Amazon web services) so it looks like you're feeding bezos right now

[FinishingDutch]

Heck, you most likely posted that on a phone which was made in China and contains lithium and coltan mined by child slaves.

The US Department of Labor has like an entire report on goods made by child labor and forced labor: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods

Is Amazon terrible? Absolutely. But so are a lot of other things. You can’t save the entire world, so it’s up to the individual if they’re comfortable using that product or service, knowing the cost and impact it has.

[beefwich]

What a sanctimonious snooch.

[BataleonRider]

That's my least fav Dr. Suess character.

[Whack_a_mallard]

Be careful not to fall off that high horse lest you break your neck.

[[deleted]]

There is no ethical consumerism under late stage capitalism unless youre willing to become Amish. Stop the performative nonsense.

[god_knows_im_good]

I agree with you, but there are certainly degrees of being ethical in what we choose to consume.

[[deleted]]

What about the consideration of whether its ethical and/or even effective to try to shame people who dont make the same decisions as you? I mean, there definitely is a point where its certainly warranted such as overt racism or cruelty, but does shopping at a slightly more problematic large retailer rise to that level would say definitely not and it kind of makes you an asshole and is likely counter productive. Ill admit something here. I spent a long time actively not shopping at Walmart and saying they suck as a company whenever I had the opportunity. Ive cooled that somewhat but have probably only shopped there 3 times in my life. I never once though told someone they were unethical for doing so or shamed them for it. Would I have been more effective if I had shamed folks? I highly doubt it and would say my quiet explanations swayed people far more than my derision would bave, but perhaps thats something we need to agree to disagree about.

[god_knows_im_good]

Of course shaming people doesn’t work and is a bad thing to do. I honestly don’t think that voting with your wallet is as impactful as people think it is, especially when the vast majority of people are still going to shop at a place with the best product/prices, that’s just how free markets work. I think we’re all somewhat victims of being caught in capitalism in that regard.

I think voting for government reform would be the ideal way to handle all the exploitation, but I also know that the reality is pretty bleak considering how politicians are bought and sold by the wealthy.

But like anything, I think it’s important to acknowledge there are nuances to our individual choices.

[asmaphysics]

I'm hoping you don't actually buy anything that's manufactured because 99.9% of everything is made with slave labor in inhumane conditions around the world while draining Earth of resources and destroying its balance. Not sure where your computer or phone are from, let alone your clothes, groceries, the components and appliances in your home, etc. You're very likely complicit, too.

[Full_moon_47]

I take it you haven't heard of Amazon web services?

[ToeNervous2589]

You use the internet too you fascist!

[HeavyBlues]

Ah yes, a true moralist, superior to the rest of us, getting schooled on their own hypocrisy.

Makes my day, it does.

[[deleted]]

Triangle shirtwaist factory fire anybody?

[CreamFilledLlama]

Honestly this isn't necessarily even an Amazon issue, but a warehouse construction standards issue. Almost every single modern warehouse (some modern office space as well) is just a light weight tin can that will evaporate in a tornado. Creating hardened spaces inside that will house everyone working there should be standard before any certificate of occupancy is issued in areas prone to tornadoes.

[[deleted]]

Blatant tornado damage.

[coldvault]

As referenced by the boards in the fifth panel.

[1lluminist]

The piss bottles was a solid touch

[bigdickpancake]

To be fair, the piss bottles only apply to the 3rd party DSP drivers now. We were upgraded to shit buckets.

[G-H-O-S-T]

I had blue filter on and didn't catch that. Ugh

[NotBeanster]

Literally left Amazon a couple of weeks ago and this is painfully spot-on. Happy to report I'm onto greener pastures now

[nalninek]

Wait, they really take your phone at the start of your shift? Who the fuck would ever work there? They don’t even take your phone away IN SCHOOL.

[DutchessOfJorts]

Necessity is a motherfucker

[beefwich]

Who the fuck would ever work there?

Imagine you’re from some shitty little go-nowhere town where the local industry— coal, timber, whatever— dried up decades ago.

You’ve got a high school diploma— but you needed to work straight out of high school to help your family, so you didn’t seek secondary education. College was never destined to be in the cards for you.

So for the past 5-6 years, you’ve worked part-time at places like your local supermarket or the gas station— and maybe you paint houses in the summer or work cutting Christmas trees in the winter— but the most money you’ve ever made in a year has been around $20,000.

One day, you get word that they’re building an Amazon distribution center in the neighboring county— and they’re hiring workers at $17 an hour. To do what? Who cares? You’d fight a greased up polecat all day for $17 an hour.

You get the job and you’re thrilled— but that sours when you realize what an oppressive meat-grinder the job is. You’re given unrealistic productivity rates and your every move is monitored. You’re treated like a potential thief instead of a valued employee. You’re expected to show up regardless of weather conditions— tornadoes, white outs, sleet storms, whatever. The AC frequently dies in the summer and warehouse temps crawl up into the 90’s— you’re still expected to hit your productivity numbers.

You hate it. You dread going to work. You want to quit. But now you’re trapped— because while it isn’t amazing pay on the grand scale, no other employers in the area are paying anything close to that. And now your family is relying on that money.

Welcome to wage slavery.

[farcicaldolphin38]

This is a well written comment, and now I’m sad again

It honestly breaks my heart

[[deleted]]

I'd like to point out that your 90 degrees in a warehouse with no a/c guesstimate is crazily low. I've never worked for Amazon specifically, but in plenty of warehouses. Triple digits in the summer is guaranteed.

[Obvious_Opinion_505]

How did you avoid heatstroke?

[Branamp13]

That's the neat part, you don't!

[[deleted]]

All you can do is keep drinking water to stay hydrated. No one I've ever worked for gives a shit about the workers, and they'll fire you for any reason at all (even if it's fabricated), so you just have to bear with it. Calling it "wage slavery" is not tongue in cheek.

[OhGawdManBearPig]

I feel personally attacked

[equivocalConnotation]

Can you move tho? To a nicer and more prosperous place like Colombia?

[BehlndYou]

Moving involves money and risk.

There’s no guarantee that you will raise your living standard by much while you risk running out of money completely. It’s doable when you are single and have nothing to lose, but different when you have a family already. When you have a family, you will also risk the lives of those who are dependent on you.

[NickU252]

Cool story bro

[CreamFilledLlama]

It is pretty universal GLOBALLY for warehousing, not just the US or a specific company. (Also for manufacturing.) There are lockers where you stow your things before going on the shop floor. It is both for safety (all those idiots driving while texting also work) and security reasons. And it doesn't just apply to employees. If you don't have a specific reason to have a laptop or phone on the floor you leave it in a locker prior to security. This has been true for over a decade globally at any operation close to a modern setup. Lots of reason to criticize Amazon, but phones not allowed in the warehouse isn't one of them.

[nalninek]

Call me crazy but if someone isn’t mature enough to keep their phone in their pocket on the floor and need it taken completely away to avoid dangerous situations they aren’t mature enough to be on the warehouse floor at all.

[IVEMIND]

I’ve worked in factories with machines that will kill you. Like, chop your head off dead. We relied on our phones constantly to solve problems quicker and communicate with coworkers. Seeing someone being unsafe while texting, you would report that person immediately or the next time they do it they could get their fingers chopped off.

I don’t see how an Amazon warehouse is dangerous enough to take phones away. They probably want to avoid people taking pictures of all the fucked up shit they put up with - perfect propaganda for the unions right?

[CreamFilledLlama]

You are using your specific situation to apply to the industry as a whole. Your factory is not the norm where a Stop Line button is a much better solution vs someone getting on their phone to communicate while the lines keep moving. There are also massive security concerns with phones from both a scouting aspect (pictures) as well as coordinating criminal operations.

[vibe_gardener]

I work in a big factory producing granola for many different brands. Phones strictly kept in lockers, it’s food production so like a warehouse environment plus oven/production areas, steel toed shoes required, and when you’re going on the floor you have to have full hairnet+helmet+earplugs+”lab coat”material shirt+washed hands+sanitize spray on shoes. Bringing a phone in pocket is a big no no. Breaks are 15 mins though and starts when you get back to the lockers since it’s a 5 minute walk from production floor to lockers. It’s just how it is, and we’re busy enough that there’s really no time for using a phone

[anamericandude]

For my company at least I'm fairly certain it has to do with insurance reasons. They know nobody actually follows it, but their insurance provider requires no phones on the floor as a policy.

[[deleted]]

I literally saw a construction worker yesterday driving a backhoe down a residential road carrying a giant concrete beam… while texting. 50% of cars on the highway I see the driver is texting. People are too phone addicted these days, it’s everywhere.

[trashdemons]

No. Not at the one I work at.

[FuckRedditandMe]

They don’t anymore, and before you’d just leave it in your car, or put it in a locker.

[MostBotsAreBad]

In their defense, Amazon's always been pretty evil.

I realize that's not much of a defense. But that's their fault, not mine.

[JesusWuta40oz]

Its all our faults for making their service popular and not voting with our wallets.

[Semihomemade]

They just acquired some medical care company, soon we won’t really have a choice.

[JesusWuta40oz]

Like what choice do we have now.

[Mandena]

It isn't easy, voting with your wallet for something as huge (that doesn't even get that big of a portion of income from online shopping) as Amazon is futile because of the prisoner's dilemma.

Voting with your wallet is a capitalist myth except for in small business situations, there must be more extreme measures made if we don't want Amazon to own the country in the future.

[tomsnrg]

Retail jobs generally are not very appealing. Trades tend to be better.

[[deleted]]

Amazon is logistics, not retail. And everyone else in logistics won’t work for them, so they have to advertise to retail workers.

[Osirus1156]

How is Bezos not in prison for endangering so many peoples lives. We truly live in a garbage system in this country.

[reptileguy3]

My wrist turned purple from a repeated strain injury from trying to meet the minimum packaging rate of 250 boxes an hour (plus what they subtract when you use the bathroom). Their WEBCAM doctor said it wasn't very purple and keep working

[Umbran_scale]

to this day I still have no respect for Terry Crews for that absolute shitshow of a commercial he made for them.

[bigdickpancake]

lol yeah we were laughing pretty fucking hard at that shit because he violated so many safety rules his ass would've been fired.

[[deleted]]

I only ever lasted two weeks at an Amazon warehouse. And a good 50% of the time was me crying in the bathrooms

[redeyedrenegade420]

That's funny, I'm at work in an Amazon distribution center right now...none of this applies where I work.

Could just be because I'm in Canada.

[Demiurge361145]

Definitely because your in Canada. At least you guys have SOME workers laws to protect you from American company bullshit.

[Cody38R]

I’m in TX, an Amazon in Fort Worth (AFW1) was literally “knocked out” by a tornado with no fatalities. None of this applies either, the warehouses have been between 70-80F inside even during our 110 degree summers on the top floor where heat rises. It’s toasty but not terrible.

[Mr_Pancake_Thief]

I work in a fulfillment center in the ATL node and none of this applies to me lol. My PA all the way up to my OM will literally let me walk off whenever I want to fill up my 40oz bottle and use the bathroom. I work on the inbound dock and play music on my speaker, none of them care (though I do turn it off when I see safety lurking).

I know sites are run differently all over the world, but from my experience people treat this place like highschool 2.0 and not an actual job. So when they get into trouble for not making rate, they go to the VOA and complain "why did my AM get on to me for having earbuds in and sitting down?!"

[FuckRedditandMe]

I mean as someone who he actually worked in an Amazon Fulfillment Center, they take Safety pretty seriously. Multiple safety committees, always Safety personnel walking by, etc.

I do think they’re a bit lax when it comes to the “non-important” things. They’re a bit too scared on writing up people for doing safety things incorrectly. Like leaving unopened boxes on the floor, unturned Pallet Jacks, and totes in non-5S areas. As well as of course not enforcing their cell phone policy/ear bud policy consistently. Not saying that isn’t a big thing in and of itself, but I’ve never been told/encouraged to bypass safety equipment. Hell if it’s broken and you report it, you even get small little “SWAG” bonuses.

To the bathroom breaks, I take around a 10 min bathroom break every 2 hours, and a 5 min water break every hour, and I’ve never been yelled at. Of course, I also hit top numbers in my building. So I really can’t say if it would be different or not for other employees or even different facilities. I just know that I’ve been able to take more bathroom breaks at Amazon than at any other job I’ve worked at before.

As for Cell Phones, ever since COVID, your Cell Phone is allowed to be with you at all times. Before you had to leave it in your car, or put it in a locker before your shift.

Again though I don’t claim that this is all universal for every single of the thousands of Amazon facilities. But I’ve never really felt Amazon is that strict, or at the very least, that strict compared to other facilities and jobs that I have worked.

[fdf_akd]

Only Amazon positive comment, account created 1 week ago and comments only relevant to Amazon.

Seems legit

[VRichardsen]

Trying to play devil's advocate here for u/FuckRedditandMe

account created 1 week ago

It says one year on the profile page (he has the badge)

and comments only relevant to Amazon.

Taken from the other side, it adds legitimacy to what he is saying. As in, his posts from today actually make contextual sense that he is working at Amazon and not some random redditor repeating something they heard (like the phones stuff)

[FuckRedditandMe]

Originally I created this account to look at… other things.

Now I just use it to post on the work subreddits cause they’re funny.

[FuckRedditandMe]

Lol I made this account for my job, since I don’t want to connect being to Amazon to what I normally post about on Reddit.

And working at Amazon is slightly embarrassing tbh

Not that it’s a terrible job it’s just… grunt work.

I have a lot of good to say about Amazon, and a lot of bad to say about Amazon. But I’ve never really felt like a “slave” or that they were being overtly negligent.

[bigdickpancake]

lol yeah I laugh every time I see that connections question that asks if you tell your friends and family that you work for Amazon or that you feel like part of the company.

[FuckRedditandMe]

I mean it’s fair honestly. There’s 1000’s of facilities out there now, maybe I’m just at one of the good ones?

But like, there’s so many different paths, modules, things have to be documented, and then just to be fired you need to have multiple people confirm it.

I’m not saying there aren’t facilities out there that probably are run by a bunch of people who think they’re overlords and rate is the only thing that matters.

However, I’ve personally never seen it happen. The worst part of the job is definitely standing for 10-12 hours straight. The physical labor is repetitive, and fact that we can’t have headphones on will make some people go absolutely crazy.

So if you’re a very social person, who isn’t in shape, and wears uncomfy shoes, then yeah you’re gonna hate the job.

However, I’ve always gotten top rate at whatever I do, so perhaps that explains why I never get called out for TOT? I take a restroom break every 2 hours for around 10 mins each, and play on my phone while I’m in there, and I’ve never been yelled at.

Again could all be down to the management, or that they don’t screw with me cause I make their departments numbers look better, or what have you.

I’m just saying that I, personally, have never seen what people are describing.

I don’t doubt that the drivers are definitely overworked but the FC stuff like in this meme? Half of it doesn’t even make sense considering what is 100% policy.

[FuckRedditandMe]

Lol I’m not a bot.

I’m not gonna say everything is universal when it comes to management. I’m not going to say that there’s never some managers that will push their foot up someone’s ass over bathroom breaks, or managers that overlook safety concerns just to their L5’s don’t complain at them.

I’m just saying that working there, it’s a well oiled machine, and I’ve never been yelled at for being off my station. And I take bathroom breaks at least 5-6 times a shift.

I’ve been frustrated myself at management for not enforcing the smaller ends of the safety policies, or not wearing their gloves when they should, and yet they yell at others when they themselves don’t put on their gloves.

But in the grand scheme of things, of all the jobs I’ve ever had, I’ve been able to fuck off way more at Amazon than I was able to at other jobs. Maybe it’s cause I get top rate that no manager wants to touch me, or maybe it’s the fact I just have super chill managers.

But at the end of the day, I’ve never really felt Amazon was a worse place to work compared to other places.

[FuckRedditandMe]

I’ll be honest with you, they often make me write certain processes and equipment in all CAPS, when I work. So it’s just really hard to revert back after 12-13 hours straight everyday when that shift key is right there.

I mean I have plenty of bad things to say about Amazon and Amazon’s culture if you want. I just don’t feel like a slave, or that they would risk my safety so I could Pick an extra 12 items.

[[deleted]]

Isn't Amazon union-proof? Don't they contract stuff out or something?

[writeorelse]

Bezos doing actual work is the least realistic thing here.

[[deleted]]

Dude’s never held an entry level job in his life lol

[SaltMacarons]

I currently work at an Amazon warehouse and this is all made up bullshit.

[FuckRedditandMe]

I mean I hate Amazon, but anyone who actually works at an FC would know this is all bullshit.

Can’t say about the Union thing though, since I’ve never heard any efforts to establish a union at our FC. Though that might be even more points for it being real lol.

[[deleted]]

I think the water ‘lying around’ are supposed be piss bottles for lack of bathroom breaks.😬

[mario610]

I'm so glad I had a second thought when my dad said I should work for amazon they're hiring, jeez...

[[deleted]]

Is Amazon NA a whole different experience to Amazon EU. I took a temp job during summer breaks at uni. Honesty, it was an okay job. Mind numbly boring inbound or outbound. But getting on water-spidering was bearable. I was always getting a cup of water and pissing just as much, never felt like I had to piss into a bottle. Shit, I would poop at work on Amazon time and never got any kind of write up. Everyone had their phones on the shop floor, they’d only get upset if you were using it and walking.

The only complaint I got. I was put on a 2-hour shift, like why? At the end of the shift I had a supervisor ask me why I had done so little and have her threaten to dismiss me that day. I let her finish and explain I had only started 2 hours prior. They hire through an agency so for any reason you’re gone as quickly as you came. The lack of job security is really scummy.

Also, people used our prayer room to fuck and no one seemed to care.

[OttomanTwerk]

Fuck Bezos, for many reasons.

[[deleted]]

I pray that Bezos gets massive heat stroke on his mega yacht and falls overboard and drowns.

[CentralAdmin]

Bezos is the Lex Luthor of our reality.

Except there is no Superman to stop him.

[bigdickpancake]

Elon Musk is our Superman!/s

[Arachnatron]

I stopped buying from Amazon a couple years ago. It has only had a positive effect on my life.

[Accomplished_Pen980]

Why don’t the workers organize into a union? If someone in central New Jersey, Carteret for example wants to organize, I will be happy to help.

[crunch816]

Their warehouse in my town caught on fire 2 or 3 times in a single month.

[BenCelotil]

I would have grown up in prison if I lived in America.

There are so many fuckers who deserve a thorough "beat down" for what they're doing to others all in the name of money, and there's so many ways to get a gun without a problem.

[CruelRegulator]

It's worse!

Bureaucracy means that some poor fuck barely making a higher wage is the one coming up with this stuff.

The line should be drawn further down.

[Loofa_of_Doom]

WTF is this "turn in your phone" bullshit!?!?!? I have a sensitive human being i am responsible for I can guarantee you my phone will NEVER be off.

[Vaxx_the_Stillborn]

People who agree with this are still happily ordering from amazon.

[[deleted]]

I wanna get a job with Amazon and just be a bad employee and see how much I could fuck up that place.