Amazon

[Qqmike]

No wonder the Amazon reps are always so intense when it comes to getting my order straightened out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/te...lace.html?_r=0

[NickStone]

I've been reading a very similar story in the Independent newspaper here in the UK

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...-10458159.html

[GreyGeek]

After that article was printed Bezos himself, as a way of deflecting the article, is quoted as saying that he wouldn't want to work at the Amazon described in the article.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I just saw something about it on the local news. They were comparing how Google, for example, is all about keeping its employees happy, including doing things like having free lunches for them, while Amazon employees are often seen crying at their desks. I love Amazon--as a customer. I'm not so sure I'd love WORKING there, though.

[jlittle]

. I love Amazon--as a customer.

This is shocking, and disturbing. As a non-american, I find employment attitudes and practices in the US generally appalling, and I suppose Amazon's are not so extreme in that context. In New Zealand the practices reported would be quite illegal. I shall be following this story, and if the allegations are borne out, will find myself unable to deal with such a nasty company.

Of course, my idiot government wants to sign the TPPA which in principle could be used by Amazon to strike down our laws.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Originally Posted by DoYouKubuntu
. I love Amazon--as a customer.

This is shocking, and disturbing.

Wait--shocking that I, as a customer, love Amazon? Or shocking about the nasty stuff that's come to light about Amazon's employees?

As a non-american, I find employment attitudes and practices in the US generally appalling, and I suppose Amazon's are not so extreme in that context. In New Zealand the practices reported would be quite illegal.

Please don't lump all states together when thinking of employers in the US! Here in California those practices would also be illegal. Amazon is based in Washington (the state), and I guess its laws are not too good.

I shall be following this story, and if the allegations are borne out, will find myself unable to deal with such a nasty company.

That's what my gut tells me to do, too, but...I order from Amazon AT LEAST twice a week, and honestly don't know what I'd do if I suddenly had to stop using them.

[oshunluvr]

Only twice a week? Amateur...

[Qqmike]

DYK ... but...I order from Amazon AT LEAST twice a week, and honestly don't know what I'd do if I suddenly had to stop using them.

Yeah, I'm not going to stop using Amazon, for goodness sake. Let them work out their problems the way they will; and they will. If you avoid everything that shocks you in this world, before very long you'd be living under a rock. Almost everything we use has a story behind it, and it often isn't pristine clean idealistic. I'm not going to stop buying pocket T's at Wal-Mart either (and I'd be willing to pay a bit more, if that's what it takes to get them made fairly).

[DoYouKubuntu]

Only twice a week? Amateur...

Not so fast, buster! I said: "I order from Amazon AT LEAST twice a week..."

[DoYouKubuntu]

Yeah, I'm not going to stop using Amazon, for goodness sake. Let them work out their problems the way they will; and they will. If you avoid everything that shocks you in this world, before very long you'd be living under a rock. Almost everything we use has a story behind it, and it often isn't pristine clean idealistic.

I hear you. Still, in my day-to-day life I actually do try to be mindful of who gets my money. For example, a pizza chain whose owner has strong views on abortion rights--that are diametrically opposite my views--I will not patronize. After I learned about Walmart's use of Third World labor--people literally making pennies a day, working 10, 12 hour shifts in ungodly conditions--I stopped shopping there. I know I can't possibly pull this off with every single company, but when possible I do.

I'm not going to stop buying pocket T's at Wal-Mart either (and I'd be willing to pay a bit more, if that's what it takes to get them made fairly).

You might want to voice your opinion and let them know that you'd prefer paying more for clothing made under better conditions. It's only when people speak up that changes can happen, because if everyone's quiet, the assumption is that everything's fine and dandy.

[Qqmike]

You might want to voice your opinion and let them know that you'd prefer paying more for clothing made under better conditions. It's only when people speak up that changes can happen, because if everyone's quiet, the assumption is that everything's fine and dandy.

I sign and give my name/address to every petition that comes in to my email about that sort of thing. Skeptics here (and there are some): petitions DO help, they can work to effect change, as do donations -- grassroots can often work.

in my day-to-day life I actually do try to be mindful of who gets my money.

Yep, me, too, but I won't always go way out of my way.
Hobby Lobby? I quit them. Instead: Michael's. Many such examples.
Social, economic change, it happens, it evolves more slowly at times that we'd like, but that's the way of the violent world we live in ("violent" being used in a general philosophical sense, as well as the otherwise sense).

[GreyGeek]

Yeah, I'm not going to stop using Amazon, for goodness sake. Let them work out their problems the way they will; and they will. If you avoid everything that shocks you in this world, before very long you'd be living under a rock. Almost everything we use has a story behind it, and it often isn't pristine clean idealistic. I'm not going to stop buying pocket T's at Wal-Mart either (and I'd be willing to pay a bit more, if that's what it takes to get them made fairly).

+1

[DoYouKubuntu]

I sign and give my name/address to every petition that comes in to my email about that sort of thing. Skeptics here (and there are some): petitions DO help, they can work to effect change, as do donations -- grassroots can often work.

Yes, absolutely, input from individuals definitely can help. Does anyone recall when all over the Internet we'd see "this site only works with IE" (or some such crap)? I do. And as a Linux only person, I took HUGE exception to that nonsense. But instead of just leaving without a word, I'd find contact info and tell them, politely and tactfully, that I did not and would never use IE, and that the Internet was supposed to be accessible to everyone. Remember the "Any Browser" project? I do! Anyway, when's the last time anyone saw an IE-only site?!

Yep, me, too, but I won't always go way out of my way.
Hobby Lobby? I quit them. Instead: Michael's. Many such examples.

I hear that! When I lived in Dallas--and long before knowing about Hobby Lobby's owners' stance on certain things--I LOVED shopping at Hobby Lobby. There was a big store near my house in Carrollton. They had so much great stuff! After moving back home to SoCal I had other things to think about [like a brain tumor], so didn't even think about looking for a Hobby Lobby near me, and then the stuff broke about the owners. Now you couldn't pay me to shop there.

Social, economic change, it happens, it evolves more slowly at times that we'd like, but that's the way of the violent world we live in ("violent" being used in a general philosophical sense, as well as the otherwise sense).

You're so right.

[GreyGeek]

That's what is nice about America. People who disagree with Hobby Lobby's owners stance against being forced to violate their religious faith can shop or work elsewhere. The owners can continue to exercise their 1st Amendment rights. The fate of Hobby Lobby, Chick-Fil-A and other businesses owned and run by Christians will be determined by how much support they do or don't receive from customers. To hear some people tell it, Christian business owners are really evil and serve bad food. Since the SCOTUS ruling attacks on Chick-fil-A have increased, affecting their popularity, which seems to show where most of the people in the US stand on that issue.

Similar issues exist where workers at shops where Unions control bargaining but are not 100% unionized. Non-union members are forced to pay union dues that usually support political positions that they disagree with.

If you hold conservative views at the University of Nebraska, and many other tax supported colleges and universities around the nation, you'd better keep them to yourself, otherwise your Student Union funding could be canceled or you could be expelled from the university, or both. Such a fine haven for freedom of speech and new ideas, if you are a Socialist or Marxist.

All of the cities in the country that are experiencing Black discontent and violence are cities that have been controlled by the Democrats for decades: Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, NY, Ferguson, LA, etc.

And so it goes...

[DoYouKubuntu]

That's what is nice about America. People who disagree with Hobby Lobby's owners stance against being forced to violate their religious faith can shop or work elsewhere. The owners can continue to exercise their 1st Amendment rights. The fate of Hobby Lobby, Chick-Fil-A and other businesses owned and run by Christians will be determined by how much support they do or don't receive from customers.

Honestly, I don't think any company will suffer tremendous losses simply due to their owners' stances on certain issues. In my opinion, which is not based on any scientific data, such as actual statistics, I think that consumers, for the most part, are clueless when it comes to who's behind the companies they patronize. Think of millions of Americans every day rushing around to grab something to eat on their lunch breaks, and there's a Domino's Pizza or Chick-fil-a right there, how many of them actually know anything about the owners? Probably a small handful.

On the other hand, when a place like SeaWorld--a bastion of cruel and inhumane treatment of sentient beings--becomes the target of informational campaigns to let the public know about WHAT they're doing, and WHY it's wrong, well, the results can be very different.

To hear some people tell it, Christian business owners are really evil and serve bad food. Since the SCOTUS ruling attacks on Chick-fil-A have increased, affecting their popularity, which seems to show where most of the people in the US stand on that issue.

The strange thing about that is--and this is yet another random guess on my part!--wouldn't it seem that MOST businesses in the US are owned by Christians? After all, Christianity is, by far, the most prevalent religion in this country, right? I consider myself a Christian...but I'm not a CHRISTIAN, as in ultra-conservative, you know, the 'bad' connotation that goes along with some Christians.

If you hold conservative views at the University of Nebraska, and many other tax supported colleges and universities around the nation, you'd better keep them to yourself, otherwise your Student Union funding could be canceled or you could be expelled from the university, or both. Such a fine haven for freedom of speech and new ideas, if you are a Socialist or Marxist.

That sucks. In my [okay, not really very humble] opinion, universities should be an oasis of free thought. They should encourage and support all views.