Did you know our filthy abattoir offers tours? Book your place today!
October 13, 2022 11:42 AM Subscribe
Tours of Amazon Fulfilment centers are live in 8 countries. You just have to answer a few questions: How much do you know about Amazon? How do you feel about ordering from Amazon? How do you feel about Amazon as an Employer?
The exact phrasing in the headline I must credit to a private friend of a friend account on twitter. Also, I am definitely going on this tour. Union Yes!
The exact phrasing in the headline I must credit to a private friend of a friend account on twitter. Also, I am definitely going on this tour. Union Yes!
Sounds fun, honestly. I’d like to see how a sausage is made, even a sanitized version.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:40 PM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Going To Maine at 12:40 PM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
I would tour the Amazon place that's only about 5 miles from my house if I could. I'm super interested to see what it's really like in there. There's a certain level of intense physical work that I'm interested in, but not willing to take a job there even for a short stint until I get to see the process a bit more. I doubt I'd want to do it forever, but I'm unemployed right now and could get a job there easily if I felt I was comfortable with the work.
posted by hippybear at 12:51 PM on October 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 12:51 PM on October 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
I feel like the unionization efforts are finally gaining traction, this is great news.
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:03 PM on October 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:03 PM on October 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
LOL, good luck with your anti-union PR, Bezos. Hope it doesn't catch fire during a tour!
posted by latkes at 1:15 PM on October 13, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by latkes at 1:15 PM on October 13, 2022 [4 favorites]
Not to be that person, but North America is not a country.
posted by box at 1:21 PM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by box at 1:21 PM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
Not to be that person, but North America is not a country.
Somewhere an Amazon exec is screaming at someone for giving the plan away too early.
posted by nubs at 1:25 PM on October 13, 2022 [8 favorites]
Somewhere an Amazon exec is screaming at someone for giving the plan away too early.
posted by nubs at 1:25 PM on October 13, 2022 [8 favorites]
Is there a more Orwellian turn of phrase than "fulfillment center?"
posted by vibrotronica at 1:25 PM on October 13, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by vibrotronica at 1:25 PM on October 13, 2022 [9 favorites]
Yeah latkes, those fires!
It looks like they are deliberate tactics to make it easier to fire people who are working to unionize those locations.
There should be massive federal investigations, but I don’t know how likely that is.
posted by jamjam at 1:26 PM on October 13, 2022
It looks like they are deliberate tactics to make it easier to fire people who are working to unionize those locations.
There should be massive federal investigations, but I don’t know how likely that is.
posted by jamjam at 1:26 PM on October 13, 2022
Amazon Tours offers public tours in multiple locations across North America, allowing visitors to experience what it’s like behind the scenes of a Fulfillment Center. Follow an order through six unique processes, and see the great technology and people that make Amazon what it is today. Each site provides multiple free tour dates and times throughout the week. Join our world class Tour Leaders on this fun, educational experience. We can't wait to meet you!
In the non-bizarro universe that we're not in, where these factories aren't just horrific human rights abuses top to bottom, this actually would be a good educational opportunity for kids to learn about how things work. However I think it's better for kids to enter the working world not expecting the abuse, so they don't get trapped by learned helplessness.
posted by bleep at 2:13 PM on October 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
In the non-bizarro universe that we're not in, where these factories aren't just horrific human rights abuses top to bottom, this actually would be a good educational opportunity for kids to learn about how things work. However I think it's better for kids to enter the working world not expecting the abuse, so they don't get trapped by learned helplessness.
posted by bleep at 2:13 PM on October 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
I wonder how many times you could shout JOIN THE UNION before they throw you out?
posted by Lanark at 2:22 PM on October 13, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by Lanark at 2:22 PM on October 13, 2022 [8 favorites]
How much do you know about Amazon? How do you feel about ordering from Amazon? How do you feel about Amazon as an Employer?
Unfortunately, these are multiple-choice questions, and you cannot answer them with
THERE IS POWER IN A UNION
or
LABOR IS ENTITLED TO ALL IT CREATES
or
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE
posted by Jeanne at 2:44 PM on October 13, 2022 [7 favorites]
Unfortunately, these are multiple-choice questions, and you cannot answer them with
THERE IS POWER IN A UNION
or
LABOR IS ENTITLED TO ALL IT CREATES
or
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE
posted by Jeanne at 2:44 PM on October 13, 2022 [7 favorites]
I think singing union songs would be pretty fun! Also asking pointed innocent questions like, "How strong is the electronic zap you get when you're too slow?"
posted by RedEmma at 3:20 PM on October 13, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by RedEmma at 3:20 PM on October 13, 2022 [6 favorites]
I'm imagining staging a Veruca Salt type scene where her rich father takes her on a tour and she starts throwing a tantrum about wanting Amazon workers at home and also wanting to see how the workers are punished
posted by treepour at 3:35 PM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by treepour at 3:35 PM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
I lived less than a mile away from DLX2 for a year. The real Amazon river is known for its fish that can skeletonize a man in under a minute, and figuratively, that is what I believed the company was doing to the people it employed there. (Near the end of my stay in Atwater Village, I came to believe a more literal laborer-to-foodstuff transubstantiation was taking place behind those walls, but that was mostly drug-induced psychosis.)
posted by infinitewindow at 3:37 PM on October 13, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by infinitewindow at 3:37 PM on October 13, 2022 [8 favorites]
In the non-bizarro universe that we're not in, where these factories aren’t just horrific human rights abuses top to bottom, this actually would be a good educational opportunity for kids to learn about how things work. However I think it’s better for kids to enter the working world not expecting the abuse, so they don't get trapped by learned helplessness.
Since this is a PR tour, it’s probably not designed by Amazon to convey a sense of “you are hopeless and this is terrible”. Rather, it probably oversells you on how (relatively) exciting it is to work in a bustling factory. This depends on your definition of “learned helplessness” I suppose, but I can’t think that Amazon will want you to leave thinking that the Primefuture is one of misery and sadness. (Alternately, the assumption that Amazon would show you warehouse workers peeing in bottles and expect the adults on the tour to nod along and tell their kids that everything is fine would seem dangerously overconfident on the company's part.)
posted by Going To Maine at 4:04 PM on October 13, 2022
Since this is a PR tour, it’s probably not designed by Amazon to convey a sense of “you are hopeless and this is terrible”. Rather, it probably oversells you on how (relatively) exciting it is to work in a bustling factory. This depends on your definition of “learned helplessness” I suppose, but I can’t think that Amazon will want you to leave thinking that the Primefuture is one of misery and sadness. (Alternately, the assumption that Amazon would show you warehouse workers peeing in bottles and expect the adults on the tour to nod along and tell their kids that everything is fine would seem dangerously overconfident on the company's part.)
posted by Going To Maine at 4:04 PM on October 13, 2022
Perhaps the real risk here is that, upon seeing a clean abattoir, you will assume that the people who claim the abattoirs are filthy are liars.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:08 PM on October 13, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 4:08 PM on October 13, 2022 [6 favorites]
Don't forget Craig, your tour guide...
posted by zaixfeep at 4:18 PM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by zaixfeep at 4:18 PM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
In 2019 I went on a tour of the downtown Minneapolis Post Office led by a young USPS industrial engineer, and his parents were also on the tour, and it was amazing. I’d be curious to see what Amazon looks like in comparison after seeing the infrastructure that supports the “last mile” delivery. But I feel like it’s different getting a tour from a nerdy public employee vs. a corporate PR person who wants your customer feedback.
posted by Maarika at 4:28 PM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Maarika at 4:28 PM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
I’d like to see how a sausage is made, even a sanitized version.
It starts with big bags of mechanically separated workers being systematically reduced to a slurry.
posted by flabdablet at 10:13 PM on October 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
It starts with big bags of mechanically separated workers being systematically reduced to a slurry.
posted by flabdablet at 10:13 PM on October 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm just surprised they're giving tours at all.
Back when I had a professional interest in warehouse automation, I got a few tours of large regional distribution centers.
But not Amazon's. Amazon was not having it. They were basically "no, and fuck you for asking".
Walmart, on the other hand, pretty much rolled out the welcome mat. "Sure—and what kind of DC do you want to visit? Hardlines? Softlines? You wanna see the robots? Whatever, just don't wear sandals."
I always figured this was because Walmart's people thought they were just so much better at logistics than anyone else that they didn't need to pretend there was some secret sauce. Interesting that Amazon seems to have come around to that conclusion now…?
And I wonder if Walmart is still so open about their operations these days.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:23 PM on October 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
Back when I had a professional interest in warehouse automation, I got a few tours of large regional distribution centers.
But not Amazon's. Amazon was not having it. They were basically "no, and fuck you for asking".
Walmart, on the other hand, pretty much rolled out the welcome mat. "Sure—and what kind of DC do you want to visit? Hardlines? Softlines? You wanna see the robots? Whatever, just don't wear sandals."
I always figured this was because Walmart's people thought they were just so much better at logistics than anyone else that they didn't need to pretend there was some secret sauce. Interesting that Amazon seems to have come around to that conclusion now…?
And I wonder if Walmart is still so open about their operations these days.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:23 PM on October 13, 2022 [3 favorites]
vibrotronica, how about "promoted to customer?"
It's mostly the delivery drivers that pee in bottles, though I have certainly heard plenty of complaints about warehouse workers in general not having long breaks.
posted by Jacen at 12:42 AM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's mostly the delivery drivers that pee in bottles, though I have certainly heard plenty of complaints about warehouse workers in general not having long breaks.
posted by Jacen at 12:42 AM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
I feel sorry for the workers at these locations, who not only have to put up with backbreaking work schedules in bad conditions, but will now have to pretend they like it for the sake of the tourists. I'm guessing perpetual smiles will be a requirement.
posted by Furnace of Doubt at 12:49 PM on October 14, 2022
posted by Furnace of Doubt at 12:49 PM on October 14, 2022
I suspect that Amazon's warehouse system is large enough to contain multitudes: people who have to pee in bottles, and people who are happy to engage with random visitors (or just ignore them as they go by on a distant pathway) for a few minutes every few days.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:31 AM on October 15, 2022
posted by Going To Maine at 12:31 AM on October 15, 2022
Related: Amazon warehouse workers twice as likely as other warehouse workers to suffer muskuloskeletal injuries, because of speed requirements that simply aren't safe
posted by wowenthusiast at 11:23 AM on October 19, 2022
posted by wowenthusiast at 11:23 AM on October 19, 2022
“But then, you know, I love my Prime,” she said. “I love my one-day shipping. To get stuff out like that, people have to be moving really fast.”
It is difficult for us to accept something when our one day shipping depends upon not accepting it.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:49 PM on October 19, 2022
It is difficult for us to accept something when our one day shipping depends upon not accepting it.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:49 PM on October 19, 2022
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posted by meowzilla at 12:05 PM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]