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How Amazon delivers for customers at the expense of workers

Amazon has the image of an innovative tech company, but current and former workers reveal brutal working conditions that are common in the retail industry.

Amazon is one of the most customer-centric companies in the world, but what does that mean for the workers? From how employees describe it, the point is to fulfill orders at any human, not financial cost.

In a New York Times exclusive, ex- and current workers tell of how they were first dazzled by the company, but were burned out by its unrelenting demand on the time.

“Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk,” book marketer Bo Olson told the Times.

Amazon follows a set of values, as described on its jobs webpage and expects its hires to “obsess over customers” and “accomplish more with less.”

Amazon’s success in the retail industry, which has slim profit margins, was to extract as much out of workers as possible. When workers collapsed from exhaustion or simply needed a break, they were told to keep going.

The demands were sometimes irrational where workers who were putting in long hours were criticized if they weren’t available 24/7 to answer emails and texts.

Elizabeth Willet arranged to work from 7:30 am to 4 pm and then take a break to pick up her new baby. Willet would then be available to work from home at her laptop. Even though her manager approved the hours, he began to complain:

“I can’t stand here and defend you if your peers are saying you’re not doing your work,” Willet told the Times. She left the company soon after.

Hires are encouraged to work more and harder. The company culture “If you’re a good Amazonian, you become an Amabot,” one employee told the Times, using a term that means you have become at one with the system.

Those who quit or are fired are regarded as failures and not meant for the company.

The company has 10 levels of worker hierarchy, says Bloomberg, with manual laborers being paid an hourly wage to work in warehouses known as “fulfillment centers” at the bottom.

These laborers are the ones who pick, pack and ship items to customer doors.

Warehouses are controlled by electronic systems to make sure people are packing enough boxes an hour. Amazon is developing packing robots with the claim that orders can be delivered faster than ever. That may be true, but it’s also a cost-cutting plan to replace humans with technology.

New hires, usually recent college graduates are a level above hourly workers. The penultimate position is reserved for vice presidents. Jeff Bezos himself has his own level at company — positioned at the top.

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