TOPIC: Walk 11 miles a shift and pick up an order every 33 seconds: Revealed, how Amazon works staff 'to the bone'

Adam Littler, 23, told of the 'unbelievable' pressure of working for the retailer
Staff are tracked around huge Amazon warehouses via GPS
Previous workers have told how even their toilet breaks were timed
Employment experts have given warnings over workers' conditions

Internet giant Amazon works its warehouse staff ‘to the bone’ in long and relentless shifts, a former employee claimed yesterday.
Graduate Adam Littler, 23, said he walked up to 11 miles as he worked 10-and-a-half hour night shifts inside the online retailer’s giant distribution centre in Swansea.
He was expected to collect a customer order every 33 seconds and told BBC1’s Panorama he was subjected to ‘unbelievable’ pressure to meet efficiency targets.


Cardboard city: This Amazon distribution centre in Swansea covers 800,000 square feet. The complex is approaching its busiest time of the year
Amazon staff have previously revealed how they have been tracked by GPS tags inside the company’s eight UK warehouses and even had toilet breaks timed - claims the firm has denied.
One employee at the warehouse - otherwise known as a ‘fulfilment centre’ - in Rugeley, Staffordshire, likened conditions to a ‘slave camp’.
The American company, which employed 15,000 in its UK warehouses in the run-up to last Christmas, is currently approaching its busiest period of the year.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512959/Walk-11-miles-shift-pick-order-33-seconds--Amazon-works-staff-bone.html

And slavery again - which it is. Dear God, Cameron and his mob have the country destroyed.

Amazon workers have 'increased risk of mental and physical illness' expert claims

Amazon workers could face an increased risk of "mental and physical illness", a leading stress expert has claimed, after being shown undercover footage of working conditions at one warehouse

Night shifts can involve up to 11 miles of walking with staff expected to collect orders every 33 seconds, a BBC investigation has alleged.

Undercover reporter Adam Littler got an agency job at Amazon’s Swansea warehouse where he was employed as a 'picker'. He took a hidden camera with him to shifts for BBC Panorama.

Professor Michael Marmot, one of Britain's leading experts on stress at work was then shown the footage. He claimed the working environment combined "all the bad stuff at once".

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/amazon-workers-have-increased-risk-of-mental-and-physical-illness-expert-claims-8962304.html

I thought this was a warehouse from China, I was mistaken I guess...

What I don't get is why anyone is remotely shocked or surprised.

Amazon is acting exactly as a prime retailer should act. It has established itself as a leader in online retail by providing cheap goods delivered promptly with good customer service. It squeezes every last penny out of its workforce so it can maintain a high level of profit while offering goods at near unbeatable prices. It exists to make money. It;'s not there to make workers happy or give a shit about their health. Where does it say that capitalism is about the rights of workers or their wellbeing? The most important people are the wealth creators, and Amazon is a wealth creator. They should be thankful they have jobs from the go-getting wealth creator Jeff Bezos. Bless you Jeff!
It only cares about customer satisfaction because that potentially affects profit. If the staff get sick, just fire the cunts. They should have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and become an entrepreneur. It is a fine example of capitalist enterprise which is of course what we should all believe in.
It is the future.
These dinosaurs carping about 'effects on health' need to get with the magic of the marketplace. When the NHS is fully privatised and becomes the kind of corporate paid insurance scheme America holds so dear, it's not like Amazon staff having nervous breakdowns will cost the taxpayer money - taxes will be gone by then anyway (apart from for stuff corporations like, like roads and the military) because wealth creators like Jeff don't like them. They can just go sit in a cardboard box with all the others who chose to skive instead of strive.

Given socialism, (real, radical) unions, working class solidarity etc are all apparently evil - just ask Ron Paul or Alex Jones - this is what people asked for, it's what they voted for, it's what they bought their BT shares for, it's what they grumbled about their bins not being emptied by striking low paid public sector workers for, it's what they watched Brian Gerrish talks for, it's what they bought their don't tread on me baseball cap for.

Music Magpie.....their 'secret' warehouse/processing centre whatever is based in Stockport, near Manchester.

www.musicmagpie.co.uk/?gclid=CLrCjdywg7sCFRLMtAodfTIARw

I know a couple of people who worked there (not for long)...said it was a total nightmare. 12 hour shifts - days nights weekends - for the minimum wage....one half-hour lunch break.....and timed by a supervisor if you had to go to the toilet.

I'm not going to buy from Amazon anymore. I usually get my dvds and a few other things from them, but I don't want to support them any longer. I have two ebooks for sale on Kindle - I might take them off, even though they don't need "picking and packing", they just get transferred through to the Kindle reader. Even so, Amazon is making me feel sick. I don't support slavery - of any kind!

WildHorse wrote:
What's a T3 and can it be bought from www.play.com ?

As for feeling shit, WildHorse - me too, but we couldn't have been expected to know about it until now. Now that we do know, we can dump Amazon.