Damn, this is a really interesting statement from AMZN:
"The use of warehouse management systems is standard industry practice: they are necessary to ensure safe, quality and efficient operations and to ensure inventory tracking and package processing on time and in accordance with to customer expectations.”"
They're saying: human beings (warehouse workers) are not capable of providing adequate work without oversight by machines, AI, and other human beings. They may well be right.
> human beings (warehouse workers) are not capable of providing adequate work without oversight
There may be some disagreement about "adequate work". Amazon's idea of adequate has forced workers to urinate in plastic bottles for lack of bathroom breaks.
With that in mind, I think it's probably true that most workers will not voluntarily urinate in bottles in order to work a few extra minutes without draconian oversight.
I think we should take these stories with a grain of salt given that workers still seem to prefer to work at Amazon Warehouses over small mom-and-pop stores in many markets that have thriving economies and worker shortages.
Not to mention, Amazon has programs that encourage you to upgrade your skills and shift from line worker to supervisor ... and ultimately even out of the warehouse into management and operations. These are not career paths usually available in other employment settings for workers who did not prepare adequately after high school for work.
Amazon reportedly has a 150% annual employee turnover rate. That seems to say that lots of people want to work there, but few want to stay once they've experienced it.
For instance, if Amazon hired ten people in January, retained 5, fired 5 in February, and replaced them. Then, I fired 3 in March and replaced them. Then fired 2 in April, and replaced them. Then, fired 1 in May and replaced them. That's consistent with having candidates that only meet job requirements 50% of the time. But it would show up as 100% turnover.
That's not the same thing as people not wanting to work there. Warehouse jobs are demanding, but pay relatively better for unskilled labor than other jobs. And the workforce that is available for those jobs is often not the best in terms of skills and work habits.
These are things you learn when you run a small business. The American domestic high school educated workforce in most cities is very unreliable. You have more luck with immigrants, but if for some reason you can't hire illegals (like Amazon) then you are kinda at the mercy of having a workforce that often doesn't show up for shifts, has difficulty reading and following instructions, etc.
I encourage everyone that wants to fight for more worker rights to start a business that uses unskilled labor and provide those workers with some more rights.
Hiring American top-25 college grads to work in a startup isn't the same thing.
I read this as it being not that people are incapable. But at scale it's hard to track accidents, so tech needs to be used otherwise it's impossible. To do so at scale inside of a warehouse like Amazon's
This tech is absolutely not about accidents, it's about making sure workers spend every single second of their time producing revenue and not talking to each other, going to the toilet, having a break, discussing their shitty working conditions, that kind of stuff.
You must not have worked around warehouse workers. They can, but they won't consistently do it to a speed and quality acceptable to Amazon without some oversight. Maybe French workers are unicorns, but this definitely provides the US customer with a lower price.
"The use of warehouse management systems is standard industry practice: they are necessary to ensure safe, quality and efficient operations and to ensure inventory tracking and package processing on time and in accordance with to customer expectations.”"
They're saying: human beings (warehouse workers) are not capable of providing adequate work without oversight by machines, AI, and other human beings. They may well be right.