Reality of Deception

The commentary below was created by someone who was confirmed to be a current Amazon employee. They only want to share these notes without specifics about their own situation to protect themselves from Amazon's retaliation again those who expose these abuses.

Amazon.com - The Reality of Deception

Hiring process

• Hiring is always based on attitude and eagerness to please.

• Any dissent from the norm is discouraged actively by Amazon to break the person.

• People are brainwashed into believing the company is the best it can be for them.

Training

• Training is always rudimentary and never complete.

• Workers are required to train themselves despite lack of time due to production norms.

• Any process requires training before getting approval to perform it. Due to lack of approval for trainees, many are trained by watching and using trainer’s credentials. The practice is officially forbidden by Amazon.

• The most important part is breaking a person and having them forget who they are- a total brainwash according to Bezos.

Equipment

• Equipment is outdated, cheap and very prone to malfunction.

• Repairs are made by local Engineering Dept. to save money which leads to most of the equipment broken and usable.

• Computer equipment is outdated (Dell i3-based thin client systems)

• Attempts to improve conditions are strongly discouraged to “train“ people into obedience.

• Many transport lines are from a junkyard to save cost and put pressure on productivity. In effect, there are many serious accidents which are hidden from workers due to bad publicity for the company.

• Most of the work is a repetitive manual labor and kept that way by Amazon.

Work conditions

• Work in FC is extremely noisy.

• Noise levels are measured far away from the work place, most likely at the Manager’s desk, and show values which do not reflect reality.

• Workers are provided with inadequate hearing protection due to the common hearing loss.

• Attempts to measure noise levels are actively blocked due to potential OSHA problems.

• People are constantly put under pressure to make them fear superiors and discourage resistance.

• Slackers are shamed publicly despite official denial of practice by Amazon.

Work loads

• Typical FC has 100-250 K parcels/10 hr shift to ship.

• Time to load a shipment is lowered from 15 min to 7 min and consolidated to 30 min loading periods to maximize profits.

• Packages are delivered broken and destroyed due to loading of 8-16K packages per truck and mangling them by forklifts and loaders.

• Physical demands lead to physical injuries which Amazon actively hides from employees.

• Norms are set for 150-200 items/hr.

• Norms are increased constantly and slackers are let go.

• Shipping clerks falsify bad shipments to make the group look good.

Safety

• Safety is dismaying. Every week there is an accident in an FC which is always covered up by Amazon.

• Talking about accidents is forbidden verbally due to showing problems for the management.

• Safety records are routinely falsified to show improvement and justify progress.

Healthcare

• Health insurance is very basic.

• Private insurance (Aviva) is encouraged despite their drive to actively deny payments for injuries.

• State insurance is discouraged despite their superior performance.

• Healthcare is substandard and based on Ukrainian doctors (PL) to cut down costs.

• Loss of hearing is common and the insurer blocks any claims. Amazon denies the cause by blocking proper noise measurements in the workplace.

Orders

• Orders are managed centrally and the workload is also set centrally.

• FC units use denial of workload to destroy other FC units-total idiocy and lack of any teamwork.

• Due to a general downturn in business, FC units lack direct orders and try to replace them with shipping goods back to vendors.

• Any attempts to highlight lack of work are strongly discouraged by managers during team meetings.

• Orders are increasingly from Amazon employees to drive allegiance and connect them to company. It is a 19th century capitalism (miners in US in Pennsylvania)-earn money here and spent it here.

Vendor returns

• Vendor returns (return to seller) are routinely blocked to maximize delivery of paid orders.

• Goods are routinely late, mangled up and misshipped.

• The policy is the motto of company and everybody knows about it.

• Critique of policy is actively discouraged and dissenters are punished verbally and in denying promotion.

• Management is centralized and totally out of step with demand and reality.

Work management

• Goals are set centrally which is a total disaster.

• Teams to perform work are composed from the least qualified people to have an easy replacement and low costs on training.

• Planning does not exist. It is common to have a group of 20 people put in a process without any training.

• The main part of management is counting heads per job based on norms and shoveling people between positions (‘cross-training’ in their lingo).

Workers rights

• Workers rights do not exist.

• Potential union drivers are fired quietly.

• Selection of workers is towards uneducated women to discourage people from strikes.

• People are exploited to the fullest and then let go if they cannot take the pressure.

• Discussion about working conditions in other centers is actively discouraged to suppress potential resistance.

• Turnaround is 95%+ and is encouraged by Amazon.

• Non-performers are fired quietly.

Theft

• Organized crime is a reality in Amazon. There are gangs stealing goods and composed of managers, leaders and security personnel.

• Presence of organized crime in Amazon is actively suppressed by the management to avoid bad publicity.

• Workers are busted for stealing a bubble gum or eating a candy from a discarded package.

• Electronics is the most stolen type of goods.

Education

• Education of workers is limited to a college degree from a low rated school.

• Cost of education are covered for up 26K PLN/4 years for permanent employees.

Finances

• Yearly turnaround of a typical FC unit is EUR 1 billion.

• Yearly labor costs are EUR 2 mln in Eastern Europe and EUR 6-8 mln in the Western Europe.

• Meals are financed from a social fund for EUR 60/head per year.

• Typical work crew is 2000-5000 employees.

• FC units are set as not-for-profit to siphon off money to HQ.

• EU taxes (EUR 400 mln) are sent to Brussels with an active approval from the state.

• Contribution to local economy is in giving employment and discarded Kindle books/software to libraries. Discarded pet food is another favorite handout.

Nonsence of Bezos’ vision

• Drones are too expensive and there is no market for them in a densely populated EU.

• EU laws forbid drones from entering populated space which breaks Jeff’s “dream”.

• Buttons to order supplies from a customer’s house are a total idiocy.

• Prime delivery is a total bust. Packages are mishandled routinely and supplies can be easily obtained cheaper using alternative services.

• Quality of goods is very low. High quality goods are mishandled routinely and end up late/broken all the time.

• Outdated/broken goods are kept in warehouses for sale to customers.

• Very large part of shipments are sex toys: vibrators, dildos, handcuffs,etc.