Amazon Air Conditions Centers After Criticism

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There is a follow up to the story we ran the other day (here) about the brutal conditions at Amazon distribution centers. The company bought $2.4 million worth of air conditioners for the distribution centers reporting problems. Wouldn't it be funny if they bought the air conditioners on Amazon so the workers had to sort them before they were installed? What? C'mon, That was funny! :D

Amazon said it spent $2.4 million to install industrial air conditioning units in four of its distribution centers following a media report last week detailing sweltering conditions in a Pennsylvania warehouse. The Allentown Call reported that current and former warehouse workers said temperatures soared in the facility on hot summer days, sometimes rising above 100 degrees during heat waves.
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Wow...missed the earlier story, but dick move by Amazon not doing this before. $2.4M is a bargain compared to the lawsuits they would have gotten when someone passed out and hurt themselves due to heat exhaustion.
 
TheBuzzer said:
4 warehouse of ac cost 2.4 million?
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Do you realize the cooling capacity needed for a warehouse? You gotta think about the dead air space in those things as well as sq. ft. Its not like cooling a 10' ceiling house.

Not only that, you just cant go and install small AC units and be good to go. An AC unit for my 1200 sq ft house (either seperate AHU or all in one unit) would cost around $6000-$8000.

How big are their warehouses? HUGE.
 
Has anyone set foot in a large distribution warehouse, it is practically impossible for a company to effectively Air condition a warehouse especially with dock doors being opened and closed all the time for unloading and loading of trucks. I work for the IT department of a large distribution warehouse and they don't AC the building either and we are in Oklahoma but there is massive amounts of air flow throughout the building and the warehouse employees get plenty of breaks and the company offered free water and electrolyte replenishment tablets to the worker.
 
Then take into account of all the docking base there are in these facilities. We have one in Northern Kentucky. These warehouses are massive. Most of that cool air will be flowing straight outside. Thus, these are mostly going to be be a waste of money to run.
 
ccmfreak2 said:
Then take into account of all the docking base there are in these facilities. We have one in Northern Kentucky. These warehouses are massive. Most of that cool air will be flowing straight outside. Thus, these are mostly going to be be a waste of money to run.
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*bays

Man, I can't type today.
 
Most places like that don't have a/c. I think this is an image smear attempt by the states wanting the sales tax
 
Steve said:
There is to the story we ran the other day about the brutal conditions at Amazon distribution centers. The company bought $2.4 million worth of air conditioners for the distribution centers reporting problems. Wouldn't it be funny if they bought the air conditioners on Amazon so the workers had to sort them before they were installed? What? C'mon, That was funny! :D
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Air conditioners???

For huge facilities you need an extremely expensive boiler-chiller type system. This is the only way to properly air condition large buildings.
 
Also agreed. It's very rare for a facility like that to be air conditioned. Big ass fans? Yes but AC? No way. I worked in a warehouse like that for 3 years. Only mine and my supervisors small office spaces along with a break room were AC'd.
 
Most warehouses here are evap cooled. I worked at a plastics co early on in my career where I soldered together 12 humidity controllers for their evap coolers in the warehouse. It helped until the monsoon season hit in full force, then it was just as hot and muggy as it was outside.
 
I still believe it is the workers fault for collapsing on the job from heat exhaustion by them not heading to the warning signs and not drinking enough water, because if you are working in a warehouse you know that doesn't have AC and there is a heatwave you best be smart enough to drink lots of water and Gatorade not sodas.
 
As someone who has been a lot of warehouses, I can say with authority that the vast majority are not cooled, even in much hotter climates than Pennsylvania. I have been in warehouses that were a lot hotter than 100 degrees. The fact is it is really hard to cool them due to their very design. In many cases products like glue, paint and chemicals go bad because of the extreme heat or cold that warehouse temperatures operate at. 2.4 million sounds pretty cheap for an A/C system that would make a dent in summer temperatures in a warehouse. Usually the best you can hope for is a ventilation system that will suck the hot air up fast enough to create a breeze in the warehouse.
 
"....the new air conditioners are scheduled to be install and operation by mid December."

At least those Amazon employees aren't jumping off the roof to catch a breeze.
 
Amazon now has some of the nicest warehouses to work in it seems.

Also, Pennsylvania has a seemingly feeble population... Nothing new here IMHO :)
 
I've only worked one air conditioned job in my life and that was a tech support call center job... I had no idea that a person HAS to have air conditioning or it would be a lawsuit... I have to wonder how, as a species, we survived before AC, Facebook, and all of the other non-essential crap people sue over now days...
 
As a mechanic all we get on 120+ shop days are a giant fan. The only problem is when you're in a shop theirs metal particals everywhere. So you either die of heat or you get metal shards in your eye. I got the latter.
 
Astronomica said:
As a mechanic all we get on 120+ shop days are a giant fan. The only problem is when you're in a shop theirs metal particals everywhere. So you either die of heat or you get metal shards in your eye. I got the latter.
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Or you could have worn appropriate eye protection that's mandatory in most cases in situations like that.
 
Ha nice. That seems like an insane amount of money though. I realize there is lot of area to cool, but they don't have to turn it into a fridge either. Keeping the temp at 20-25C is good enough.
 
imagine how much their monthly power bill is going to climb thanks to these industrial sized AC units...
 
SomeFknGuy said:
imagine how much their monthly power bill is going to climb thanks to these industrial sized AC units...
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I've heard our warehouse in Houston costs over $115K a month just for air conditioning. :eek:

I don't know that for sure, but it seems like a lot for a building with only four people a shitton of rocks.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Wow...missed the earlier story, but dick move by Amazon not doing this before. $2.4M is a bargain compared to the lawsuits they would have gotten when someone passed out and hurt themselves due to heat exhaustion.
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Bollucks, AC is not typically provided in a warehouse. Would you, as a worker, seriously work until you pass out without complaining, taking a break, or drinking some water? This is only in the news because Amazon is the company to hate right now. Even OSHA said it was "potentially, maybe an issue". It isn't like the board of directors sat down and said "How can we potentially harm some workers to save $2.4 million a year?", warehouses just don't have AC most of the time.

Drink some water, or say "Boss, it's too hot".
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Bollucks, AC is not typically provided in a warehouse. Would you, as a worker, seriously work until you pass out without complaining, taking a break, or drinking some water? This is only in the news because Amazon is the company to hate right now. Even OSHA said it was "potentially, maybe an issue". It isn't like the board of directors sat down and said "How can we potentially harm some workers to save $2.4 million a year?", warehouses just don't have AC most of the time.

Drink some water, or say "Boss, it's too hot".
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;) Duly educated by all the posters in here saying it's the business standard. All the more reason not to work in a warehouse.
 
This is ridiculous. If you want AC, work at a grocery store making less money.
 
Mr34727 said:
This is ridiculous. If you want AC, work at a grocery store making less money.
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I don't know of any grocery store in my neck of the woods that pays less than twelve an hour. Bare minimum with these unions is 17/hour+
 
Greg-O said:
Has anyone set foot in a large distribution warehouse, it is practically impossible for a company to effectively Air condition a warehouse especially with dock doors being opened and closed all the time for unloading and loading of trucks. I work for the IT department of a large distribution warehouse and they don't AC the building either and we are in Oklahoma but there is massive amounts of air flow throughout the building and the warehouse employees get plenty of breaks and the company offered free water and electrolyte replenishment tablets to the worker.
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According to some of the articles, Amazon did not open any doors for airflow (and closed any loading doors when loading/unloading was not taking place), and when asked why by workers with warehouse experience, managers replied they were concerned with theft.

Here is the original article that prompted the first one that HardOCP linked:

http://articles.mcall.com/2011-09-1...7_1_warehouse-workers-heat-stress-brutal-heat

I worked in a warehouse in my teens, and another in my twenties, picking product for orders made at a retail establishment that was part of the same facility. My job was fine; I was expected to move quickly, especially during times of demand, but even though I wouldn't call those workplaces great, it was an okay job, and I think I get the gist of what working in a warehouse is (or should be) about.

After reading the nine-page article above, I have to question whether to order from Amazon again. It would be an impact to my own life not to do so, but I don't know that I can support any company that treats its employees like cattle, at least when I know it is openly going on.

I'm very disturbed by what I read --if there is one thing in this world I hate with a fury, it is people that treat other people like they aren't human, just ones and zeroes on a balance sheet. This ever-increasing fundamental lack of respect is something that explains a whole lot about the way society in general is headed, and I don't know whether to be sad, furiously angry, or both at the same time.

"I don't like bullies. No matter where they come from." Steve Rogers/Captain America
 
P.S. Everyone who hasn't worked there and is bandying about words like "pussies" and "grow up" probably needs some ten-hour-a-day work experience some place with a 90-110 heat index. Especially when that work involves being pushed to work as fast as a human possibly can.

I think a week's worth of time should be enough.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Drink some water, or say "Boss, it's too hot".
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Read the article I linked --people were written up for slowing down and taking the tame to get drinks, or say "Boss, it's too hot". Write-ups lead to firings.

Those I read about in the article I linked sounded like they had a very dedicated work ethic.
 
LoneWolf said:
P.S. Everyone who hasn't worked there and is bandying about words like "pussies" and "grow up" probably needs some ten-hour-a-day work experience some place with a 90-110 heat index. Especially when that work involves being pushed to work as fast as a human possibly can.

I think a week's worth of time should be enough.
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So, warehouse work needs to be made easy enough, even an overweight pregnant woman can do it with ease? Some jobs are harder than others, if you don't have the physical fortitude to work a demanding job, you shouldn't be doing it. You'd be a liability.

Employment is also at-will.
 
LoneWolf said:
P.S. Everyone who hasn't worked there and is bandying about words like "pussies" and "grow up" probably needs some ten-hour-a-day work experience some place with a 90-110 heat index. Especially when that work involves being pushed to work as fast as a human possibly can.

I think a week's worth of time should be enough.
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I did this for 5 years, I got used to it and I was in better shape than I am now that I sit in an airconditioned room. :p
 
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