Conditions at Amazon UK
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25034598

I'm looking forward to this on tv tonight.

I worked there a few years back and whilst you can't really complain about paid employment in this day and age the conditions there are awful. I don't understand how the reporter managed to get a hidden camera in there as they have airport-style metal detectors for every member staff as they leave the shop floor.

The place is swelteringly hot and they do provide water stations but you need to drink loads which leads to a lot of toilet breaks. The toilets are tucked away in the corners and the place is so large (around 3/4 mile square) that a round trip (just the walking) is 7 or 8 minutes and this eats in to everyone's target times, which management will then hassle the staff about.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Wonder if it'll stop anyone using Amazon.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Not in a million years.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Unfortunately not or at least if it does then the effect will be minimal. Amazon is generally regarded as one of the best places to shop online, they sell almost everything and they are giving people much-needed employment. People will see a different side to Amazon tonight but it's unlikely to change shopping habits.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

No I didn't think so either. Some folks might boycott some coffee shop or other for a couple of weeks but seem rather more forgiving when the company concerned supplies all their nice goodies at reasonable prices...

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Yes indeed Osem as l am not going to deny that we ourselves have picked up many a bargain on Amazon and we have no intention of changing that habit.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

The metal detectors are obviously there to stop people nicking stuff. If you're losing water by sweating, you won't be passing it out as urine.
I suppose if they didn't have time related targets, the danger is that some staff would take the proverbial and do very little work.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

They make it very clear during the induction that all staff are under suspicion as potential thieves.

If you drink lots, you're going pass it out more.

Time related targets are healthy, nothing wrong with them but at Amazon people get disciplined for dropping below them too often. No excuses are accepted so if you need to go to the toilet a lot or if you have back pain etc (there are a lot of stairs there especially in the Stowing Tower) it makes no difference.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Oh right. I guess Amazon aren't so bad after all!

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

My daughter's BF works at the Swansea warehouse, and he is really ticked off with their practices, but a job is a job, especially in that part of the country.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Results of an Open Market Economy and Capitalism

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

One of my brothers works for a company in Hampshire and l cannot say their practices are any better then Amazon but its a job.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I'm sure Panorama didn't just choose to pluck Amazon's name out of a hat.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I honestly thought the whole 'picking' process was automated by machines. Had no idea there were real people involved in the process.

Who knew the cost of labour was cheaper than the all-in cost of designing a system to automate the process?

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Off course they didnt, they targetted someone they thought everyone would know, for their ratings.

Few people would be interested if it were about "JoeBloggins Ltd".

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Not Tesco, Asda, Argos, John Lewis etc etc?

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I'm sure others are just as bad or worse but Amazon is huge and while the name is well known it's not a shop you can walk into as see so it's "hidden" hence it make a good story.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I don't shop with them, they don't pay tax.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Just for clarification, Amazon don't pay much Corporation Tax (which I think they should pay more of) - they do, however, pay the rest of the applicable UK taxes...

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I doubt very much if any big firm is clean nowadays regarding staff conditions/wages. They will always take advantage given the chance. But Amazon still have some of the cheapest prices around, so people will still buy from them.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

It's just been on the BBC news, they're like robots. Counting down how long it took him to walk to pick an order.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

It's been 2 years since I was there and it hasn't changed a bit.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

its warm and dry - my job isnt ;)

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I started boycotting amazon nearly three years ago after a friend was treated horrendously by them it might be costing me a few quid more for things now and then but as consumer's we have to draw a line somewhere. These days I prefer eBay although I'm sure there are some gits involved in that they are not as prevalent as the bad treatment that exists within amazon.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I fell a sleep before it came on and woke up @21:30 :dunce::dunce::dunce:

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

That's ok then Hugh, seeing as I pay vat I don't think I'll bother with income tax anymore, didn't realise we had a pick and choose tax policy these days

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I think Hugh was just pointing out the perception (by some) that Amazon pay little or no tax in the UK is incorrect.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Yes Hugh was but it's irrelevant imo, they ain't paying what's due and therefore won't get my patronage

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Amazon might be a major company, but l read they hourly rate is £6.50 and you get treated by like crap.

The problem with them could be that in Swansea, where employment could be poor, they are just paying a meagre wage as they know they will get the staff if needed.

I worked in a warehouse picking for my delivereies and we used a computor to select and collect the goods. It seems this company prefer ' slaves' to collect there goods.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

That was luxury to what I did, It was job start to job finish, which normally was 9am to 8pm lunch was 1 hour, drinking when you could.

But I had a period leading up to Christmas I did 17 days from hell 7am start to 11pm finish and no time to stop for food or drink, I was eating 3 sandwiches a day and 5 cuppas spread over several mouthfuls.

This was before minimum wage, and I knew about heath & safety.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Hom3r. No one should work like that. I worked for a guy similar to that, but drove all over the UK.
I would start at 5am driving to Thamesmead from Twickenham each day to get Loaded at 6.30am then travel all over UK and not finishing until 8pm at night and then start all over again.

When my wife was nearly killed in a crash, my boss didn't give a damn and threatened me with the sack, it made me ill. I took him to court and won.

Employers will take there workers all the way, as at the end of the day its the profits they make, they thrive - not the worker who works his butt off to live on a measly wage.

You work to live, not the other way round.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

It's not often I'll say this Arthur but you are expertly spot-on with that.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I watched it yesterday on catch up, them managers wanted a swift kick in the swingers. They were sat at their desks stating how many picks they needed to do, half a point for going home ill, a point for being ill and phoning in, half a point for clocking in 2 minutes late. That place needs a nuke.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

They weren't managers, they were the agency reps. It's their job to 'monitor' (a.k.a. hassle) the workers. If someone's stats were low for the previous day they get off their behinds and go looking for them and 'advise' them of the situation, we got to see that happening on the programme a few times too.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

It's horrible there i work in the Rugeley distribution centre i started as a stower then out of the blue they moved me onto packing and didn't even give me pack school.
Luckily i have previous experience in packing and the girl next to me was quite helpful too.
As you correctly state the heat in there is beyond a joke and you do need to make regular visits to the water station , then you get hassled by either your leader or agency manager.
BBC aren't the only ones who want to show Amazon for their true colours http://www.channel4.com/news/anger-a...ing-conditions

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

That's what I was doing - pushing 9 full totes around on the trolley in blistering heat with the managers bipping on in your ear is enough to give you a negative attitude.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Packing is pretty tough only allowed 3 errors then it's sacked. What grinds me aswell is when they get security to escort released staff out of the centre it must be embarrasing.
What bbc didn't show is when security come around and do a random search on you , this also interferes with you meeting the targets too.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Yeah I'd forgotten about the random searches, maybe the reporter was lucky enough to not get one - I had 3 or 4 each week.

It turns out that you're not even allowed to wear hoodies in there now. It's too warm for them anyway but apparently people try to smuggle things out in other people's hoods then try to pick them back out if the person manages to clear security.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

They allowed us those santa hats last year but we had to hand them to security upon leaving to be checked and searched.
They said it'll be same policy this year , hoodies aren't allowed but caps are.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

It's still on bbc IPlayer if anyone wants a look.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ind_the_Click/

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

That girl who said it took her 15 minutes to walk to the canteen then 15 minutes back for her half an hour dinner break??????????????? It's never that big is it?

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

It was 11 minutes each way in a 30 minute break when I was there. The Swansea place is 3/4 of a mile square and you can only walk along certain routes for H&S reasons.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Yep normally takes about 5 minutes to walk to canteen but you lose another 5 minutes getting through security so your 30 minute break becomes 15 minutes. I had one 30 min break as i was on 8 hour shifts 5 days a week , 6 with the compulsary overtime they forced us to do.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Bloody hell and there's only the one canteen?

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

Yep and as mentioned above you have to queue up to get through the metal detector doorways too, which can be over-eager and go off even when you're not carrying anything metallic. When that happens add another few minutes for being taken in to a side-room to stand with your arms out and have a handheld detector run over you, there's normally a bit of a queue for that too.

Obviously the canteen staff aren't aware of time constraints so there's more queuing there too so on a 30 minute break it's not unusual to only be left with 6 or 7 minutes for actually eating lunch, toilet etc.

Re: Conditions at Amazon UK
 

I've just watched it and found it appalling. In my past life I was a warehouse manager and stock controller but this is something else entirely.

I wouldn't last a day in that kind of environment. Shocking.