Remember this the next time......

[Racket_Man]

you order something on-line.

Blas should be able to somewhat realte to this post.


We have all heard about the company called FoxCon --- this company in China produces most if not all of Apples products. the pace is very fastg, the working conditions are questionable at best, no benefits, and they have had to install safety nets outside of their dorms.

Now, take that same type of environment and put the company smack in the middle of the USA. NOT POSSIBLE you cry. well you would be wrong. and it is perfectly legal.

Sitting in your pjs and surfing some online retailer's site , you spot that perfect item or gift. with a few clicks and a CC, you order that item and wiat with baited breath for it to arrive toot sweet. AND you didn't have to expend all that much effort or use any gas or shuffle around in a huge store.

BUT do you ever think of how that item gets from where ever to your door????

Online fulfillment warehouses are the new business model. FREE shipping and if you order by 5pm today, said item will be at your door by 10am tomorrow.

Warehouse Wage Slave (a 4 part article)

A Visit to a fulfillment warehouse

most workers are temps from a agency meaing no benefits, crap "insurance", harsh and unbending work rules, unbending time requirements, no job security, little or no OSHA protections, 10 - 16 hour days (the longer ones during the holiday season), no time off, being fired for suffering heat stroke, and a turnover rate that makes fast food places seem stuffy and old.

Yes times are tough and enough companies are taking advantage of it.

[blas87]

I have no concrete proof, except the fact that I never order anything online usually (this was the first time in over a year at least), use ATMs maybe a handfull of times a year, and never pay at the pump. Although it's possible the last time I went to a fast food window, they took my # down, I'm more than certain it was this online transaction I did with a popular brand of makeup company.

It's a legitimate site and I DID get my products shipped to me. Then two weeks later (two weeks after ordering, one week after receiving product), I was several hundred dollars in the hole in my bank account.

Someone at work, pretty decent with computers, told me about contractors and others who work for these legitimate online businesses, but will steal your number and put it in a phony account just to use and discard when they have what they want.

BEWARE. BEWARE!

If I EVER order online anywhere again, I'm using a disposable debit card.

[Ginger Tea]

I've been meaning to set up a 2nd account with limited funds just to do online purchaces just incase something were to go amiss

[crashhelmet]

UPS and fedEx have begun setting up warehouses like this over the last 10 years. They work with online companies like NewEgg and Amazon to do direct shipping. I can't speak for FedEx, but in UPS's case every worker is either a member of the Teamsters Union or has the option to be.

The National Labor Relations Board ruled that temp workers can unionize, so these other companies better watch out. This is a job that can't be outsourced to another country. Only lost to a competitor.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Excellent read. I worked in a factory for awhile during a summer in college, but I was lucky enough that it was unionized. Though the place was hot and the work was repetitive and physically demanding, we were treated reasonably well.

The job I have now is similar to a point. However, I'm not unionized. Fortunately this company treats its employees well and respects laws and regulations. I didn't have any problem taking time off under FMLA when my grandfather died last year.

One thing that's becoming ridiculously commonplace and I tell my wife this all the time (she runs a home based business, so she hasn't worked in an office or factory or retail environment in some time) is companies who have no problem whatsoever pushing their employees to ridiculous lengths productivity wise.

The demands on workers today are probably higher than they've been in a long time. It's beyond being expected to work your ass off, it's being expected to work yourself so hard you just keep enough sanity to show up and clock in the next day.

[Andara Bledin]

Companies wouldn't get away with these sorts of demands on their workers if they couldn't fill the positions; it's up to the workers to stop taking and keeping these jobs. Or, at the least (since everybody needs to eat), they need to be reporting the OSHA/labor/health violations.

^-.-^

[crashhelmet]

Companies wouldn't get away with these sorts of demands on their workers if they couldn't fill the positions; it's up to the workers to stop taking and keeping these jobs. Or, at the least (since everybody needs to eat), they need to be reporting the OSHA/labor/health violations.

^-.-^

This is very true. Disney treats their park employees like crap, knowing they've got thousands and thousands of applications on file.

[AdminAssistant]

Disney treats their park employees like crap, knowing they've got thousands and thousands of applications on file.

I think it depends on which employees. One friend worked as a waiter in one of the restaurants and basically hated it. There's just so much pressure from above to create the 'perfect' experience for guests, and guests are much more intolerant of things going wrong. "Whaddya mean we have to wait for a table?!?! It's Disney World!!!"

Another friend has worked at both Disney World and Universal Studios (Orlando and LA) as a cast member and has had basically good experiences. The pay may not be extravagant, but it's steady and they give her a very flexible schedule so that she can still do commercials, TV work, film, etc. Added bonus of auditioning for seasonal roles (Grinchmas, for example).

The plural of anecdote is not data, but there it is.

[crashhelmet]

I think it depends on which employees. One friend worked as a waiter in one of the restaurants and basically hated it. There's just so much pressure from above to create the 'perfect' experience for guests, and guests are much more intolerant of things going wrong. "Whaddya mean we have to wait for a table?!?! It's Disney World!!!"

Another friend has worked at both Disney World and Universal Studios (Orlando and LA) as a cast member and has had basically good experiences. The pay may not be extravagant, but it's steady and they give her a very flexible schedule so that she can still do commercials, TV work, film, etc. Added bonus of auditioning for seasonal roles (Grinchmas, for example).

The plural of anecdote is not data, but there it is.

I worked as a musician and rigger at the parks in Orlando. I was in somewhat of a "protected position" as auditions are harder to conduct than interviews, but of my friends felt like they were on thin ice all the time. Call out sick? Doctor's note or don't come back. Can't volunteer for overtime? We'll find someone more willing.

Kill yourself for them and they'll love you. The first time you can't, they'll throw you under the bus.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Companies wouldn't get away with these sorts of demands on their workers if they couldn't fill the positions; it's up to the workers to stop taking and keeping these jobs. Or, at the least (since everybody needs to eat), they need to be reporting the OSHA/labor/health violations.

^-.-^

This would ideally be the case of course, but in today's challenging economy it's reached the point where people are desperate to hold on to their jobs. These people are afraid to rock the boat for fear of being fired.

Since the majority of U.S. states are "at will" that means most employers can fire you any time they want to, without even having to give a reason.

I remember when people spoke out and challenged the status quo at the call center I used to work at: They were fired. That's usually what happens.

The reason the companies can fill these positions is because so many people are looking for anything resembling a decent job these days they are willing to take just about anything. Therefore we have a large labor pool competing for a limited number of positions.

Sadly, this gives corporations and other businesses even MORE power to treat us like slaves and cut back our benefits.

[XCashier]

Warehouse Wage Slave (a 4 part article)

A Visit to a fulfillment warehouse

Dear God. That's beyond horrible. The fact that this is happening in America is just obscene.

[Glados]

Unfortunately, it would take an incredibly large number of employees to scare a major corporation into treating the employees better. The call center that I worked for years would simply close a center and open in another place if too many employees quit and they couldn't get more people to work. They would fire people over nothing and then force the others to work excessive overtime or be fired as well. We were expected to live for the job and they wanted control over us totally...even off the clock and when we could go to the restroom. If we did not comply to there demands...we were fired.

It would take almost all Americans to step up and refuse to work in poor conditions. Sadly, I worked with many people who drank the company kool-aid and believed that companies are justified in treating employees this way. They believed that illness, family obligations, etc. that got in the way of work = bad employee. One employee was PROUD that she finished helping a customer while HAVING A HEART ATTACK. She honestly thought that it made her a good employee to risk her life in order to help a customer understand a bill.

[XCashier]

One employee was PROUD that she finished helping a customer while HAVING A HEART ATTACK. She honestly thought that it made her a good employee to risk her life in order to help a customer understand a bill.

That is some serious brainwashing there. I sincerely hope she got help, and not just for the heart attack.

[AdminAssistant]

It's just a different mindset. I could see my Dad doing something like that, actually.

[Andara Bledin]

My ex's uncle worked himself into the hospital.

^-.-^