‘Amazon was a prison,’ says former worker

“To online shoppers, Amazon has become an indispensable part of their lives,” Jason Del Rey reports for Re/code. “To some former employees and business partners, a deal with Amazon is a threat to their livelihoods.”

“In a documentary called Amazon Rising, which premiered Sunday evening and will re-air on Monday night, CNBC exposed a darker side to Amazon’s business practices,” Del Rey reports. “While CNBC found warehouse employees who were thankful for the pay and benefits that come with a job at an Amazon fulfillment center, several spoke out about against the unrelenting pace of work and unreasonable expectations that take a physical and mental toll on employees. ‘I felt like Amazon was a prison,’ one former female worker said in the documentary. She and others interviewed reported tough working conditions that include being timed on just about any action imaginable, from bathroom breaks to packing boxes to picking products off of shelves.”

Full article – with a clip from the documentary of two former Amazon execs dishing on what it’s like to work for Amazon’s tiny little man, Jeff Bezos – here.

MacDailyNews Take: Well, now, there’s a ringing workplace endorsement.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]

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35 Comments

  1. haha!

    so, Steve Jobs was a childish tyrant compared to Bezos?

    funny, in arabic, Bizo means tit.
    so, maybe Bezos can attribute his fury on not having sucked his mommy’s milk enough as baby?

    “Amazon Rising”
    documentary premiere on CNBC Sun June 29, 2014
    http://www.cnbc.com/id/101763562
    Amazon docu is not even listed on IMDB!
    (guess because amazon owns imdb ; )

    Amazon’s tyranny is akin to WalMart’s
    see Walmart exposed in 2005 documentary by
    ••Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price••
    http://www.bravenewfilms.org/walmartmovie
    exposes how the USA’s godly corporation is not really improving local economies but destroying them!
    it took guts from director Robert Greenwald as it’s nearly a blasphemous subject in USA to deride Walmart or Amazon for that matter ; )

  2. I think you’ll find any large corporation looks to ways to squeeze every bit of efficiency it can out of its workers. Apple is also a tough place to work. They expect the best from each worker, and monitor objective criteria methodically to keep the pressure on.

    In short, that’s the way successful businesses operate. Get used to it.

    1. You surely aren’t comparing Apple’s California engineering headquarters to that of Amazon’s warehouse, which basically that’s all Amazon is, a giant warehouse.

    2. …. and when the populace has had enough of this tyranny, the monied class gets personal with the guillotine. I hope YOU and your masters can get used to that.
      The best thing a worker can do with a Damocles sword over ones head is ram it up the fascist bosses ASS! ALL TOGETHER NOW SHHHHOOOOOVE!!!!

    3. Your blanket, indiscriminate statement that all large corporations are the same is laughable, failing to acknowledge the well known fact that Apple is one of the most sought after jobs, and Amazon a well known hell hole. Hard work can also be inspirational, not that Bezos would care.

  3. NEWS FLASH! EXPLODING ACROSS THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE! APPLE ABUSING ITS WORKERS! SEE HOW WORKERS SUFFER FOR YOUR IPHONE! WILL THIS AFFECT APPLE’S STOCK PRICE?!

    Wait… Amazon? Oh. Amazon. Not Apple.

    Never mind. In other news, Kim Kardashian farted…

    ——RM

  4. Hmmm. Work hard for paycheck. Interesting concept.

    Not happy with the work? Find new job.

    Don’t have the skills for a better job? Should have gone to college or night school.

  5. My grandfather worked in a steel mill because that’s what u did back then when you didn’t go to college. Now steel is made in China so if you don’t have a degree in the US you work at an Amazon warehouse, McDonalds or WalMart. Quit your bitchin’ and stay in school kids!

    1. Think what a comparison this job is to a steel worker or coal miner. I saw a woman on the news talking about how she was darn near an invalid from working at Amazon for seven years. The fact that she was about 100 pounds overweight had nothing to do with it, I’m sure.

  6. In almost all these “documentaries” they find people that whine about the working conditions. Yet, thousands of people work for Amazon or Walmart every day, if it were really so bad, they would leave. most don’t, so it seems that something is being exaggerated. And of course, the “documentary” never seems to completely collaborate whether its as bad as some of these people imply. I know people that work at Walmart, they like it there.. they think its a good place to work, is is for everyone, probably not..

      1. leave and go where??????
        why of course the competition !!!!!!!…..

        oh
        wait,
        i missed,
        they are all gone….

        another double-sided row of empty shells hollowly representing a recently bustling main street painted by the god of profit to look like hell, where once we actually saw each other so we could identify with, and therefore care about, each other. (know your pharmacist anyone?).

        sad world when profit sings louder than prophets

        Quiet your mind and listen to your heart, if you can not hear your heart, please, quit your mind altogether

  7. I read this report recently, that ranked each tech company’s performance on workers rights etc. in their organisation and supply chain.

    Nokia was first, with an overall score of B+, Apple was close behind with a B+ as well. Samsung scored a B, and one of the worst companies was Amazon (Kindle manufacturing) who scored a D in each catagory except one, in which they got an F. That was workers rights.

    Click to access Electronics-Industry-Trends-Report-Australia.pdf

  8. Amazon bought Kiva Systems which uses little robots that pick up shelves in warehouses, and deliver the shelves to the person who is packing the boxes. (If you haven’t seen it, it was on an episode of 60 minutes and can be found on Youtube) . . . which means that Amazon workers who are in earlier versions of Amazon warehouses, where they literally walk miles every day picking up boxes, may have their job replaced by robots sooner or later.

  9. There was a documentary about amazon on tv in the UK a while back and boy was it an eye opener.

    The company is literally a concentration camp. So many employees suffering from stress.

    Amazon makes the sweat shops in chin and India look like a holiday camp.

    Just another reason to buy local!

  10. Here’s a bit of interesting justice in the air:

    Amazon tells FTC: If you want to fine us for kids’ in-app cash blowouts, we’ll see you in court
    Don’t tar us with Apple’s brush says Bezos & Co

    Amazon has said it won’t acquiesce to the Federal Trade Commission’s plans to punish it for not preventing kids from running up in-app purchases on mummy and daddy’s credit card.

    The FTC is seeking a punitive fine from Amazon, similar to the one levied on Apple. The agency says Amazon wasn’t quick enough to crack down on unauthorized purchasing by children within applications running on its Android-based tablets and smartphones. Such purchases are usually extra weapons, map packs and similar gumble for games, and naturally Amazon takes a cut.

    Please proceed Amazon. I’m reserving a front row seat for the show.

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