Amazon warehouse workers pee into bottles because they are scared of being punished for taking a comfort break

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-have-to-pee-into-bottles-2018-4?r=UK&IR=T

 

• Amazon warehouse workers reportedly have to pee into bottles because they are too scared of missing their targets if they walk to the bathroom.
• Author James Bloodworth went undercover at an Amazon fulfilment centre in Staffordshire and said staff feared being disciplined for "idle time."
• A survey of Amazon workers released on Monday found those who reported feeling sick — even through pregnancy — were penalised for not turning up or taking breaks.
• Amazon said it didn't recognise the allegations as an accurate portrayal of its warehouse working conditions.
• The company disputed the survey findings and said it doesn't time toilet breaks

[Dashinka 24,766]

I believe this has already been covered.  Is there anything new?

 

 

[jg121783 3,921]

Amazon is all about the greed of Bezos. I run a side business selling stuff on Amazon and the way third party sellers are treated and the fees we have to pay are insane (and constantly going up). After fees most of the time I am lucky to get a third of the selling price (before taxes). Amazon needs third party sellers but they act like they don't. Most people don't realize a large amount of things they buy on Amazon are sold by third party sellers (and fufilled by Amazon). Without third party sellers they wouldn't be half the size they are. I think if Bezos remains so greedy something better than Amazon will eventually come along. Everyone thought AOL was invincible and look at what happened with them. It could happen to Amazon too.

 

Ill let you guys in on a secret (not really that much of a secret). Usually you can find things (alot) cheaper at local retail stores than on Amazon. I know of many third party sellers that their whole business model involves taking Ryder trucks with teams of people to retail stores and buying anything they can find that will sell for a higher price on Amazon. That being said there are things on Amazon that can't be found in retail stores but chances are if you can buy it in a local store it will be cheaper there.

[bcking 3,157]

9 minutes ago, jg121783 said:

Ill let you guys in on a secret (not really that much of a secret). Usually you can find things (alot) cheaper at local retail stores than on Amazon. I know of many third party sellers that their whole business model involves taking Ryder trucks with teams of people to retail stores and buying anything they can find that will sell for a higher price on Amazon. That being said there are things on Amazon that can't be found in retail stores but chances are if you can buy it in a local store it will be cheaper there.

I've generally found my household goods/cleaning items to be cheaper on Amazon, or at least roughly equivalent. I've only ever compared it to Kroger/Target though. Beyond those two stores the inconvenience of going somewhere else would outweigh savings. I hate going into Walmart so even if it was slightly cheaper there I would value the delivery to my door.

 

I think Amazon is successful because of a combination of reasonable prices and ease of delivery. They don't have to be cheaper for everything (or even most things) but if they are equivalent, and they get them to you in 2 days...that is compelling. We get our TP/Paper towels/Dish Soap/Cleaning supplies from Amazon. I essentially just reorder the same ones when we run low. We also get our dog food there. Getting a 50 pound bag delivered to your door is much easier than buying it at a store and carrying it to your car, and then driving home and carrying it in.

 

Yes I realize most of this makes me sound incredibly lazy

[Dashinka 24,766]

14 minutes ago, jg121783 said:

Amazon is all about the greed of Bezos. I run a side business selling stuff on Amazon and the way third party sellers are treated and the fees we have to pay are insane (and constantly going up). After fees most of the time I am lucky to get a third of the selling price (before taxes). Amazon needs third party sellers but they act like they don't. Most people don't realize a large amount of things they buy on Amazon are sold by third party sellers (and fufilled by Amazon). Without third party sellers they wouldn't be half the size they are. I think if Bezos remains so greedy something better than Amazon will eventually come along. Everyone thought AOL was invincible and look at what happened with them. It could happen to Amazon too.

 

Ill let you guys in on a secret (not really that much of a secret). Usually you can find things (alot) cheaper at local retail stores than on Amazon. I know of many third party sellers that their whole business model involves taking Ryder trucks with teams of people to retail stores and buying anything they can find that will sell for a higher price on Amazon. That being said there are things on Amazon that can't be found in retail stores but chances are if you can buy it in a local store it will be cheaper there.

Interesting, I did not know this, but I guess it does not surprise me. 

[jg121783 3,921]

15 minutes ago, bcking said:

I've generally found my household goods/cleaning items to be cheaper on Amazon, or at least roughly equivalent. I've only ever compared it to Kroger/Target though. Beyond those two stores the inconvenience of going somewhere else would outweigh savings. I hate going into Walmart so even if it was slightly cheaper there I would value the delivery to my door.

 

I think Amazon is successful because of a combination of reasonable prices and ease of delivery. They don't have to be cheaper for everything (or even most things) but if they are equivalent, and they get them to you in 2 days...that is compelling. We get our TP/Paper towels/Dish Soap/Cleaning supplies from Amazon. I essentially just reorder the same ones when we run low. We also get our dog food there. Getting a 50 pound bag delivered to your door is much easier than buying it at a store and carrying it to your car, and then driving home and carrying it in.

 

Yes I realize most of this makes me sound incredibly lazy

There is something to be said for the convenience of using Amazon. In many cases that makes it worth paying a little more. The other thing Amazon (or I should say their third party selllers) is good for is providing items only available in one region to everyone. I am not trying to be completely negative about Amazon (in fact I make a decent amount of money because of them) but I want everyone to realize behind the veil of great customer service (it is pretty good) are employees and third party sellers who are treated like dog excrement on the bottom of Bezos shoes.

 

I'll give some examples from the perspective of a third party seller (I have never been an employee for them but I have read the same articles as the rest of you). The first one as I stated before is extremely high fees. Another thing is as a customer if you have an issue you can call a US based rep 24/7 and get a quick resolution to your issue. As a seller you get a web form and if you know the back channels you can maybe get someone from India on the phone during business hours who doesn't understand English and doesn't have the first clue about your issue or how to fix it. Another big issue that most Amazon customers are unaware of is how returns are issued. Amazon will accept basically any return no questions asked. The problem is as soon as the customer goes online and initiates a return the full purchase price is immediately deducted from the account of the third party seller and the customer has 45 days to return the item before the third party seller can be reimbursed. At that point the third party seller has to waste a bunch of time and jump through hoops to get the money back. Many third party sellers do this as their only source of income and bring in $50k-$100k a year. This is taking money from their families. So if you have a legitimate reason to return something by all means do it but make sure you do it promptly and make sure you have a good reason for returning it. Okay I'm done preaching now.

[bcking 3,157]

8 minutes ago, jg121783 said:

There is something to be said for the convenience of using Amazon. In many cases that makes it worth paying a little more. The other thing Amazon (or I should say their third party selllers) is good for is providing items only available in one region to everyone. I am not trying to be completely negative about Amazon (in fact I make a decent amount of money because of them) but I want everyone to realize behind the veil of great customer service (it is pretty good) are employees and third party sellers who are treated like dog excrement on the bottom of Bezos shoes.

 

I'll give some examples from the perspective of a third party seller (I have never been an employee for them but I have read the same articles as the rest of you). The first one as I stated before is extremely high fees. Another thing is as a customer if you have an issue you can call a US based rep 24/7 and get a quick resolution to your issue. As a seller you get a web form and if you know the back channels you can maybe get someone from India on the phone during business hours who doesn't understand English and doesn't have the first clue about your issue or how to fix it. Another big issue that most Amazon customers are unaware of is how returns are issued. Amazon will accept basically any return no questions asked. The problem is as soon as the customer goes online and initiates a return the full purchase price is immediately deducted from the account of the third party seller and the customer has 45 days to return the item before the third party seller can be reimbursed. At that point the third party seller has to waste a bunch of time and jump through hoops to get the money back. Many third party sellers do this as their only source of income and bring in $50k-$100k a year. This is taking money from their families. So if you have a legitimate reason to return something by all means do it but make sure you do it promptly and make sure you have a good reason for returning it. Okay I'm done preaching now.

Ya I think we talked about this the last time this story (or a similar one) came up.

 

At the time I was having an issue with memory cards not arriving. Amazon reported it as delivered, but I never got it. They were very quick to resolve the issue by essentially sending me a new shipment.

 

In the end though the original shipment showed up (a day after the new shipment arrived...not sure how to explain the weird delay). So I ended up with twice the amount of goods (Ordered 3 memory cards, so I ended up with 6). The conversation on here about Amazon was contemporaneous to the issue so I was thinking that most likely they just passed on the loss shipment to the seller and they were out that money. It was strangely much harder to coordinate with Amazon to send the second package back then it was to get the second package sent out. They didn't seem to act like it was worthwhile bothering. Initially the guy just said "Why don't you keep them both?".

[jg121783 3,921]

7 minutes ago, bcking said:

Ya I think we talked about this the last time this story (or a similar one) came up.

 

At the time I was having an issue with memory cards not arriving. Amazon reported it as delivered, but I never got it. They were very quick to resolve the issue by essentially sending me a new shipment.

 

In the end though the original shipment showed up (a day after the new shipment arrived...not sure how to explain the weird delay). So I ended up with twice the amount of goods (Ordered 3 memory cards, so I ended up with 6). The conversation on here about Amazon was contemporaneous to the issue so I was thinking that most likely they just passed on the loss shipment to the seller and they were out that money. It was strangely much harder to coordinate with Amazon to send the second package back then it was to get the second package sent out. They didn't seem to act like it was worthwhile bothering. Initially the guy just said "Why don't you keep them both?".

Sometimes as third party sellers in cases like this it is less of a headache to take the loss and have a happy customer than to fight with Amazon over it. I hope you left the seller good feedback as that is highly valued by us third party sellers as we usually don't get much feedback. The more positive feedback you get the better your product is positioned for sales on Amazon. By the way I am talking about feedback for the seller and not the product. Those are two totally different things.

Edited April 16, 2018 by jg121783

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

1 hour ago, Bill & Katya said:

I believe this has already been covered.  Is there anything new?

 

 

The post above is from 6 months ago and yes the article has current information.  

[Dashinka 24,766]

21 minutes ago, jg121783 said:

There is something to be said for the convenience of using Amazon. In many cases that makes it worth paying a little more. The other thing Amazon (or I should say their third party selllers) is good for is providing items only available in one region to everyone. I am not trying to be completely negative about Amazon (in fact I make a decent amount of money because of them) but I want everyone to realize behind the veil of great customer service (it is pretty good) are employees and third party sellers who are treated like dog excrement on the bottom of Bezos shoes.

 

I'll give some examples from the perspective of a third party seller (I have never been an employee for them but I have read the same articles as the rest of you). The first one as I stated before is extremely high fees. Another thing is as a customer if you have an issue you can call a US based rep 24/7 and get a quick resolution to your issue. As a seller you get a web form and if you know the back channels you can maybe get someone from India on the phone during business hours who doesn't understand English and doesn't have the first clue about your issue or how to fix it. Another big issue that most Amazon customers are unaware of is how returns are issued. Amazon will accept basically any return no questions asked. The problem is as soon as the customer goes online and initiates a return the full purchase price is immediately deducted from the account of the third party seller and the customer has 45 days to return the item before the third party seller can be reimbursed. At that point the third party seller has to waste a bunch of time and jump through hoops to get the money back. Many third party sellers do this as their only source of income and bring in $50k-$100k a year. This is taking money from their families. So if you have a legitimate reason to return something by all means do it but make sure you do it promptly and make sure you have a good reason for returning it. Okay I'm done preaching now.

I looked at this relative to a cleaner my brother and sister-in-law rave about that they get in Florida and is not available in Michigan (I cannot remember the name).  Regardless, I looked up the item on Amazon and sure it was there, but it was so expensive that I did not partake.  I wonder now with what you said if it was a 3rd party seller buying the cleaner from a store and re-selling it on Amazon.  Seems to not be worth the convenience.

 

 

[bcking 3,157]

37 minutes ago, jg121783 said:

Sometimes as third party sellers in cases like this it is less of a headache to take the loss and have a happy customer than to fight with Amazon over it. I hope you left the seller good feedback as that is highly valued by us third party sellers as we usually don't get much feedback. The more positive feedback you get the better your product is positioned for sales on Amazon. By the way I am talking about feedback for the seller and not the product. Those are two totally different things.

Good point. I'll look back and see what I did. To be honest I probably do often incorrectly connect the product with the seller. Seems easy to do.

 

The other thing that I've been noticing with Amazon fulfillment recently which isn't a huge issue, but I think Amazon should try to nip in the bud - Incorrect reporting on deliveries. Pretty much every package I get from Amazon documents that the box was "handed to the buyer" or whatever they call it. That has been, in most cases, demonstrably false. Even when we are home they just throw the box over our fence instead of coming to the door (Our gate is unlocked and it's a small front garden...not a long walk).

 

They need to get their delivery people to honestly report how they deliver goods...otherwise they leave themselves open to liability. The memory cards were recorded as "handed to resident" or whatever when they were clearly not. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by bcking

[Steeleballz 7,550]

3 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

I believe this has already been covered.  Is there anything new?

 

 

   Peeing in a bottle is new. Amazon operating as a sweatshop is not new.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

I can't believe all you people taking away jobs from locals. Not very liberal.  And on top of that,  you are doing your local economy a disservice by not paying state and local taxes.  

[Merle 458]

26 minutes ago, IDWAF said:

I can't believe all you people taking away jobs from locals. Not very liberal.  And on top of that,  you are doing your local economy a disservice by not paying state and local taxes.  

Don't forget though that Wal-Mart is evil!

[bcking 3,157]

39 minutes ago, IDWAF said:

I can't believe all you people taking away jobs from locals. Not very liberal.  And on top of that,  you are doing your local economy a disservice by not paying state and local taxes.  

I think I pay state taxes on Amazon...do I not? I pay some sort of tax I'm pretty sure.