AMAZON on BBC1 Undercover

londonTiger

Andy_L wrote: »

how does it compare to a postie's route?

as I mentioned before a postie walks straight. The amazon picker needs to run in order to achieve their targets. They will have to reach up, bend over. walk laterally, backwards etc. There is a HUGE amount of stress on the body moving like that. I don't think a postie has these types of blisters as shown on the show. Nor have I ever seen a postie so exhausted and shattered during a round like the guy in the video was.

GalaxyStar

bluenoseam wrote: »

Now I'll admit I don't know what size of toy shop you're working at, but there's a difference between that & the operation which Amazon will be running. Every item to be picked will have a 100% set location, they don't need to "find" them, they're told where to go & it'll be there.

I also don't think it's outwith the realms of possibility to cover the 8 miles over the course of an 8-10hr shift, they're walking from one item to the next & depositing it in a trolley. At an average pace they'll cover around about 2 miles an hour doing picking - so 8 miles is perfectly acceptable.

I said it in another thread on this topic, you know what you're letting yourself in for when you sign up to work in an Amazon warehouse. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that you walk a fair distance & are expected to work at a reasonable pace - after all, how many of us have never ordered anything from Amazon! We always expect it within 3-5 days so you're not expecting an average picker to take 5 minutes to find your item unless you're living in some dream world!

If you don't want to do that sort of job there are other options, but I'd suggest you look outside warehousing - which also rules out certain retail jobs as well.

I know there's a big difference between working in the store I work in and working in an Amazon warehouse, I was saying I couldn't do it and I admire those who can, never said I wanted that kind of job or am looking for it just wanted to give my view is all

bap98189

londonTiger wrote: »

as I mentioned before a postie walks straight. The amazon picker needs to run in order to achieve their targets. They will have to reach up, bend over. walk laterally, backwards etc. There is a HUGE amount of stress on the body moving like that. I don't think a postie has these types of blisters as shown on the show. Nor have I ever seen a postie so exhausted and shattered during a round like the guy in the video was.

So what - the job is different to that of a postman.

First off it will have been exaggerated for the purposes of TV. Perhaps the guy did get blisters but these would cease to be a problem if he had a) better footwear and b) more practice of doing the job. I seriously doubt all Amazon's staff have permanent blisters on their feet.

As for walking 8 miles - well 8 miles is not a long way to walk. It may seem a huge distance if you have never done it before, but any fit, able bodied person could walk 8 miles. Do it a bit more regularly and you wouldn't even be tired afterwards.

A lot of manual jobs are hard for people who are not used to doing them, but after a period of time people get fitter and find the work easier. Crikey if you think that job is hard, try picking celery - walking through fields, bending down to the ground constantly for 10 hours at a time would make walking around the Amazon warehouse seem like a picnic.

AP007

Atidi wrote: »

5 shifts a week @ 10.5h per shift would exceed permitted hours under EU directive (unless worker voluntarily chooses to work such extra hours.)

I would imagine there is no choice.

brendon

Another thing I don't understand is that if people really don't like the job, why don't they simply look for another job elsewhere? It's a tough world -- you have to adapt to the job, not the job adapting to you. If a job doesn't fit with you as a person, you should pack you bags and go somewhere else to be blunt. There are plenty of unemployed people who'd be over the moon with this job.

makeyourdaddyproud

paulineb wrote: »

11 miles is what it said in the independent newspaper I believe. Cheap labour is about right I think (not saying its right, saying that amazon don't treat their workers very well by all accounts)


Seriously, no one is ever allowed to be sent home sick? 3 times and you are sacked? How lovely.

I admit it's not great but that's the price you pay for cheapo goods.

I am personally against amazon because 1) it's an American company and 2) their operation mothballs every British high street.

If I was in power there are two websites I would restrict: eBay and amazon.

Nowadays we are encouraged to spend, spend but not many British companies are on the receiving end of this bonanza. So sad.

Funny thing is, with all this cheapo merchandise, no-one respects it. In days of old we saved for a British product and made damn good use out of it. Nowadays, it lasts 2 weeks and were bored .

John1993_2

londonTiger wrote: »

A busy driver does not walk 8 hours of the day and get severe blisters.

You do keep trying to change the point under discussion, don't you? I was responding to comments about management being controlling, and when I gave examples that disproved your point, you just try to switch and talk about another aspect of the job.

This is a pretty weird way to debate a point. You must not be used to dealing with very switched on people if you think that it ever works...

Anyway, if you don't like Amazon, don't work there, and don't shop there. I'm incredulous at how soft people seem to want to be treated at work, and think Amazon are fine, so am happy to keep giving them my business.

John1993_2

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

A lot of unemployed people are very well prepared for working life which includes being able to spell words like horribly and working for a start.

Oh dear...

Those are what is referred to as "typos", or typographical errors. I can spell both words just fine, thanks.

You, on the other hand, managed to post this howler only a short while ago;

OP your heading for the sack if you carry on like this.

You probably don't know why that's wrong, so ask one of your friends to point it out to you, but it does make it funny that you'd try and pick me up on my English...

John1993_2

brendon wrote: »

Another thing I don't understand is that if people really don't like the job, why don't they simply look for another job elsewhere? It's a tough world -- you have to adapt to the job, not the job adapting to you. If a job doesn't fit with you as a person, you should pack you bags and go somewhere else to be blunt. There are plenty of unemployed people who'd be over the moon with this job.

Well said. The Amazon job's one that I'd happily do if the banking job disappeared, and the 8 miles a day seems fine. At the moment I don't get out of my seat much during my eleven hours at work (no breaks, at all, in that time) so have to fit in my daily run after work. A job where you got the exercise as part of it would be great, certainly not a reason to complain.

falko89

londonTiger wrote: »

OK fair enough many warhousing jobs are comparable. Manual labour jobs are all more or less like that. The problem is when the company dos not give a damn about morale or worker satisfaction. Sees the workforce as nothing more than a machine.I thought we went through all that with the dire car manufacturing plants in the UK. Where the workers in the assembly lines were seen by managed in a similar manner where as the Germans and Japanese made every worker from every level be part of the greater vision.

The problem are many fold
1. the set packets per hour to a high unrealistic number, nobody seemed to achieve the numbers. Everyone seemed to fall short of their 110 target. Even management were not at all surpised if workers didnt hit it and they just set personal targets and made workers aim for 10 more of whatever they were currently doing. These is clearly set up for point 3 below.

2. there is no team work what so ever, it's a solitary job and workers can't even exchange more than a couple of words. Everyone needs to be productive at every second of their shift

3. There is no job security at all, the whole model seems to be designed to get new blood into the team. Get every drop of blood out of them. They will inevitably crash and burn and rack up the points and as soon as they do, they'll be sacked.

Guy got 1/2 point for being 2 minutes late!! 2 minutes.

We are a nation of lunatics. We let these blood sucking canibalist monsters into the country. They pay no tax, they contribute nothing back into the UK, devolved governments bend over backwards and pay for their warehousing. They destroy UK industry and we let them do all that because we can buy cheap goods.

Sounds a bit like my own employer to be honest. But as said I think all warehouse factory work is like this, you are treated like carp and there is damn all you can do about it.