Amazon to Hire 80,000 Workers for Holidays

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Amazon announced today that it will be hiring 80,000 people to handle the holiday rush this year.

Amazon.com Inc. said it plans to hire 80,000 seasonal workers for its warehouse network in the U.S., representing a 14% increase from last year as the company brings its massive distribution facilities closer to urban centers.
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I know someone who worked last year for Amazon, he lasted one day and said it was the worst job he ever did (and he used to work in a factory making switchboxes and handling dyes, etc).

The turnover rate is extremely high and they lose employees hand over fist.
 
Proof that X-mas has been far too commercialized, we don't even celebrate the birth of X anymore.
 
Ducman69 said:
Proof that X-mas has been far too commercialized, we don't even celebrate the birth of X anymore.
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To be fair DMX has been getting arrested a lot these days. But I'd say he's still an okay rapper and we should probably celebrate his birth.
 
I read a pretty interesting article somewhere (god knows where) about Amazon's warehousing strategy. Basically, it's completely unorganized to the human eye - nothing has a "spot." But everything is tracked with computers and it does all kinds of neat things - like knowing how big an object is vs available shelf/spot space and placing an item there. Or intentionally splitting like objects apart (red pens there and blue pens over here) to minimize confusion (can't get the wrong color because there's only one color here). Lastly, the computer plots out efficient paths for workers to take through the warehouse to maximize their trips. Al in all - pretty darn cool.

However, this basically amounts to an Amazon warehouse workers job being: Pick up your route at the computer thingy, go this way, get this, go there, get that, etc., drop it all off in this boxing area, repeat. It's just a glorified fetcher job. I mean it sounds boring as shit, but is it that much worse than flipping burgers or any other minimum wage factory job? What's so terrible about Amazon - I can think of worse jobs...
 
Thank god, or else that unemployment rate would be higher, and we can't have THAT before elections...
 
Kongar said:
Lastly, the computer plots out efficient paths for workers to take through the warehouse to maximize their trips. However, this basically amounts to an Amazon warehouse workers job being: Pick up your route at the computer thingy, go this way, get this, go there, get that, etc., drop it all off in this boxing area, repeat. It's just a glorified fetcher job....
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I for one welcome our computerized warehouse overlords....
 
Kongar said:
I read a pretty interesting article somewhere (god knows where) about Amazon's warehousing strategy. Basically, it's completely unorganized to the human eye - nothing has a "spot." But everything is tracked with computers and it does all kinds of neat things - like knowing how big an object is vs available shelf/spot space and placing an item there. Or intentionally splitting like objects apart (red pens there and blue pens over here) to minimize confusion (can't get the wrong color because there's only one color here). Lastly, the computer plots out efficient paths for workers to take through the warehouse to maximize their trips. Al in all - pretty darn cool.

However, this basically amounts to an Amazon warehouse workers job being: Pick up your route at the computer thingy, go this way, get this, go there, get that, etc., drop it all off in this boxing area, repeat. It's just a glorified fetcher job. I mean it sounds boring as shit, but is it that much worse than flipping burgers or any other minimum wage factory job? What's so terrible about Amazon - I can think of worse jobs...
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I worked for just over a year with the guy in charge of handling the automation deployment Amazon will be implementing soon to eliminate these workers entirely. The robots will optically follow lines on the ground buzzing around able to pick up objects from a warehouse using camera systems that identify what is what from overhead. I couldn't figure out the entire logistics of it, but ultimately the plan is that a human will only be involved in boxing the picked up product which will also serve as a quality assurance agent to double-check the product isn't damage and is the right thing. Sounds really cool, and would be crazy efficient with lots of little robotic arms running around like on Wall-E.

I tell ya, it won't be good to be a retard in twenty years, as automation is really kicking into hyperdrive and should quickly eliminate a lot of necessary but mindless repetitive jobs.
 
I ain't buying shit this year. I still have stuff from last Black Friday that isn't opened.
 
Amazon to Fire 100,000 workers immediately after holidays. Hope they're paid up on their credit cards.
 
Seasonal hiring isn't anything new.

I work at UPS and every year we hire seasonal people. They know full well they are only going to work there a few months. If they get lucky and a spot opens and they're good at their job they get the option to stay.
 
Ducman69 said:
I tell ya, it won't be good to be a retard in twenty years, as automation is really kicking into hyperdrive and should quickly eliminate a lot of necessary but mindless repetitive jobs.
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I can't wait until fast food is automated. Maybe I'll finally get a correctly made burger whenever I decide to be a fatty for the day.
 
Dildonose said:
Wow, I hope those jobs pay well so they can afford to buy more gifts and services and further boost the economy. Sweet!
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Amazon doesn't exactly pay their permanent warehouse workers well, what makes you think these people will make jack shit?
 
Grahamkracka said:
Amazon doesn't exactly pay their permanent warehouse workers well, what makes you think these people will make jack shit?
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I heard they make around $12 an hour, but how difficult is it to put stuff in a box? We had one of our high ups leave our company a little while back for Amazon, and he told us they pay a fortune for him where he didn't even bother asking if our Fortune 500 could match it.

So Amazon pays according to your skillset, and stuffing stuff in a box is really a skillset as a temporary job for a kids and highschool dropouts IMO.
 
Ducman69 said:
I heard they make around $12 an hour, but how difficult is it to put stuff in a box? We had one of our high ups leave our company a little while back for Amazon, and he told us they pay a fortune for him where he didn't even bother asking if our Fortune 500 could match it.

So Amazon pays according to your skillset, and stuffing stuff in a box is really a skillset as a temporary job for a kids and highschool dropouts IMO.
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I wasn't really making a point on whether or not they deserve to get paid more. I was just pointing out that they don't get paid jack shit and therefore probably aren't spending a lot of money outside of just surviving. I agree with you in regards to compensation for low skill/low risk jobs.
 
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