A Look Inside Amazon

By: Leonardo Honner

Did you know Amazon has AI that can fire you? From its humble beginning to its working condition rumors, there is much you can see when you take a deeper look.   “I know that Amazon makes a lot of money because they sell a large variety of things, '' says Lorenzo Piselli, 601.

  That is one of the common views of Amazon and it is true. The narrative of a multi-billion dollar entity begins with Jeff Bezos incorporating Amazon originally as a bookstore, under the name Cadabra Inc. An Amazon employee in the early days, would ring a bell whenever they made a sale; however, then it started ringing too often and they had to stop because of his increase in sales. Later, after the company became big, Amazon tried to compete with eBay by creating an auction website. It failed.

Bezos was known for yelling at people and the employees were overworked and understaffed. People were being underpaid in times when they desperately needed money. One woman was paid $90 less from her $540 dollar paycheck. Even worse, she had recently had a baby.  Her paycheck was continuously cut even though she complained about it many times. 

Amazon has also been sued for firing workers who joined unions. For your information, a Union is a company that advocates for the fair treatment of workers. 70 percent of Amazon workers have had to take time off due to pain or exaustion. 30 percent have had to do so three or more times. Working conditions are so repulsive that one man hid in a box fort for weeks during his shift. Another employee, who was about to retire, took a ride down a conveyor belt at the end of his career.  This tends to affect customer satisfaction.

“I know that Amazon doesn’t treat their packages well,” says Benjamin Braxton, 603. 

For anyone who has had a late or damaged package, tracking is possible.  Amazon added a new addition to its fleet of delivery vehicles; more than 10,000 Rivian electric vehicles. Amazon has a goal to roll out 100,000 electric vehicles by 2030. That could reduce the amount of carbon they are creating by millions of metric tons. 

Although it is questionable, something that no one can dispute is that Amazon is really important to many. Many people use it to buy things that sustain their life.