DD#1 worked in an Amazon fulfillment center for about a year. She quit because it was tiring work that wasn't that mentally challenging, but she never ever felt like she was mistreated. And she's quite the little SJW in her own way, so I'm sure she would have complained if she thought it was at all unfair.
Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Hi. I worked at Amazon corporate for a few years and spent time in Amazon fresh launching delivery food service for a few cities. Ask me anything
Does Amazon purposely pick the dumbest motherberkeleyers they can get for shipping?
In reply to mndsm:
Please describe more.
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:
Do you think with this merger that Whole Foods will drop prices at all? Whole Foods seems like it's kinda "overpriced something in the store, then sell it dirt cheap to reseller a week away from expiration."
I used to buy a lot of organic stuff from a reseller called "Smart Shopper" in Pennsylvania. I'm pretty sure that stuff was coming from Whole Foods or something similar, just much much cheaper.
RossD wrote: In reply to Ian F: Low margins? Are you looking at Amazon.com? Because I don't find them to be the lowest price very often at all. And I pay them monthly whether I order something or not. Usually it is a decent price and it's very convenient.
Apparently it's the margins as related to overhead costs. I'm getting this mostly from a couple of investment newsletters I subscribe to who generally consider Amazon massively over-valued and the stock price is based on hopes and dreams (more than usual stock evaluations). Regardless of whether their prices are the best, the company doesn't really make much money and usually operates in the red. That means their margins are too low.
Not that I do any direct stock investing, but it's fascinating to read their pure-money views on business and national/world politics in general.
Fueled by Caffeine wrote: In reply to mndsm: Please describe more.
Any time I get something from Amazon, it is questionably packaged and hand delivered by the slowest mouth breather money can buy. Examole- bought a chest freezer. Watched two of FedEx grounds worst carry the damn thing out of the FRONT door of the FedEx truck, drop it, ans try and pretend the dent was already there. This isn't a FedEx thing, either. I've seen every delivery service imaginable, from all services, do stupid E36 M3 like that. It's incredible.
In reply to mndsm:
Much of the Fed Ex Ground deliveries are completed by sub-contractors in privately owned trucks that carry the Green and Blue logo. My understanding is that the Orange and Blue are true corp owned.
I will bet that your issues have been the product of "lowest priced contractor" more than it is a genuine Amazon problem.
John Welsh wrote: In reply to mndsm: I will bet that your issues have been the product of "lowest priced contractor" more than it is a genuine Amazon problem.
Yep. I recently went through the whole interview, driving test, urine analysis BS to try to become a Fed EX contracted employee. They had me do a forward and reverse slalom, while telling me I was never to back up in the field if I could avoid it. The owner of the contracting company texted me with the frequency (and respect for business hours) of a teenage girl. We're talking texts up until 9:00 at night. After I jumped through all their hoops, the contractor said I'd have to come to his home that weekend to pick up my uniforms (note, at this point, I was a week and several hours into trying to get hired, and STILL, hadn't met the contractor). Finally, this genius asks me to promise to never leave. $600 a week, salaried, so they could get free OT, no benefits. He still hadn't hired me, mind you. Trying to make me promise to stay was the last straw. I told him we'd have to go our separate ways.
I've been holding that rant in for a couple of months now. Apologies for the self serving thread jack.
P.S. Out of 20+ applicants, I was the only one who could drive stick shift.
In reply to mndsm:
For $715k you can buy 5 Fed Ex routes and 7 trucks in the Orlando area.
John Welsh wrote: In reply to mndsm: For $715k you can buy 5 Fed Ex routes and 7 trucks in the Orlando area.
If I had that cash, id do it. Delivery around here is sorely lacking.
Basil Exposition wrote: I swear I've been in Trader Joes a half dozen times and never found anything to buy. My wife went once and came back with some cheap wine that was just awful. What's the attraction?
Groceries?
It's a grocery store. If you buy things like food and drinks, you can find that there. I understand if you run solely on high-octane gasoline and synthetic lubricants you might not find their selection acceptable. But I like to buy, in no particular order of preference, things like produce, deli, meats, and snack foods.
dculberson wrote:Basil Exposition wrote: I swear I've been in Trader Joes a half dozen times and never found anything to buy. My wife went once and came back with some cheap wine that was just awful. What's the attraction?Groceries? It's a grocery store. If you buy things like food and drinks, you can find that there. I understand if you run solely on high-octane gasoline and synthetic lubricants you might not find their selection acceptable. But I like to buy, in no particular order of preference, things like produce, deli, meats, and snack foods.
Well, that's a smart ass answer, but maybe I should clarify: I haven't seen anything in a Trader Joe's that would make me want to go to one vs. a "regular" grocery store. In fact, what I've seen at Trader Joe's make me see them as a small boutique grocery with fewer selections than the large "usual" stores around here, like Randall's, Kroger, and HEB. Maybe it is different in other parts of the country where there aren't big stores, but TJ strikes me as a store you would go to for specific specialized stuff that the other's don't carry rather than all your groceries all the time.
They don't carry many national brands, to be sure, but they carry pretty much everything you might need, and in better quality than most stores at the same price point. That's a hard concept to communicate clearly - what I mean is that if you aren't buying the bottom of the barrel stuff at a regular grocery store (ie, Kroger) then you're probably paying about the same or more than you would for that item at Trader Joe's.
They also have awesome prepared meals if you like packing frozen lunches they're way better than the stuff you can get at Kroger. Like, really good Lamb Vindadloo, Pad Thai, etc.
dculberson wrote: They don't carry many national brands, to be sure, but they carry pretty much everything you might need, and in better quality than most stores at the same price point. That's a hard concept to communicate clearly - what I mean is that if you aren't buying the bottom of the barrel stuff at a regular grocery store (ie, Kroger) then you're probably paying about the same or more than you would for that item at Trader Joe's. They also have awesome prepared meals if you like packing frozen lunches they're way better than the stuff you can get at Kroger. Like, really good Lamb Vindadloo, Pad Thai, etc.
Got it, thanks! Someone else mentioned the frozen foods as being particularly good. Since I'm playing bachelor for awhile that may be particularly useful. There's a TJ not far from where I live.
wheelsmithy wrote:RossD wrote: <blockquotMaybe I'm naive, but why is Amazon evil?
There are two local "Fulfillment" warehouses. I got the skinny from some guys who worked there. These two guys had been there a while, and they said new employees generally lasted 13 days on average, or something equally obscene. 1/2 hour lines, off the clock, on the way in, and out- to go through a search.
The above is, of course, hearsay, and should be taken with a grain of salt. There do seem to be jobs constantly advertised.
Unrelated note: A friend of a friend apparently ordered a six pack of cold coca cola delivered, and had it in a couple of hours. Society has officially fallen.
I think there are 3 Amazon fulfillment centers locally and a number of my friends have worked there at various points in time. This all sounds very similar to what I've heard from them, super tight security, outrageous turnover, ect.
They do ALWAYS seem to be hiring, but I think something like 90% of their work force is hired through temp agencies. They do direct hire some staff, but you have to have been there X number of months through the temp agency (maybe even a year or two, I forget), have pretty much a spotless record, recommendations from supervisors, ect. It's quite a process and seems designed to exclude much of their work force as a matter of rule. One of my good friends did ultimately go through the direct hire process and he seems much happier since doing so, get's pretty decent benefits for what the job is and they're pretty liberal about letting him take leave to do touring with his band and stuff, but the overwhelming majority of the people I talk to who have worked there came away with a bitter taste in their mouths. YMMV, of course.
In reply to mndsm: Pakcaging and shipping decisions are hard coded into their transportation software. Choices are made on speed, quality and size of the shipment.
Are these drop ship items? Or are they shipped and sold by Amazon? Third party sold and shipped items are up in the air.
As someone who has packed boxes for Amazon. The system tells you the size of the box to use based upon the items being shipped.
In reply to pheller:
I don't know. The high end super market business and grocery business is growing slowly but aldi is growing quickly. I think this is an experiment with Amazon. They need to sell food to grow and most efforts to sell food have not worked well. Amazon fresh is a massive money loser for the company.
One hard thing about any on line store- especially Amazon- way too many choices, and it's really hard to make a decision.
For instance (and I'll start a thread about it, soon)- I want to get some bluetooth speakers I can use outside. But doing a search of that- it gives me thousands of choices. From the cheap one piece ones, to multi hundred dollar ones. And since I can't hear them, it's basically impossible to decide. Thankfully, there are forums like this who have some very diverse experience to help.
On the other hand- you can get some pretty obscure items on Amazon.
I still have not run into anything evil about Amazon or Whole Foods.
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