Amazon.com did not create the notion of buying things online, but it has done more than any other retailer to move the experience into the mainstream. It has exceeded its customers' expectations so often it must constantly struggle to top itself. "At first people were incredulous that the mouse on their computer was connected to their doorbell," the Amazon executive Russell Grandinetti said recently. "Now they say: 'It's been 12 hours. Where's my stuff?' "
All that stuff doesn't magically fly to your house, even if the goal is to have it seem that way. The Morning Call, a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pa., delivered a grim picture last weekend about what it is like to work in the local Amazon warehouse, sorting material for delivery to millions of eager customers. In eastern Pennsylvania, like just about everywhere else, jobs are lacking, and Amazon is one of the few places that is hiring. Many workers are brought on by a staffing company as temporary workers ("Are you interested in working in a fun, fast-paced atmosphere earning up to $12.25 per hour?" the ad asks.) This transient status gives them little incentive to complain, even as the heat boiled upward over the summer. The result was an environment that, one employee told the paper, resembled "working in a convection oven while blow-drying your hair."
In a lengthy and heavily reported article, The Call said a warehouse employee contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on June 2 to report that the heat index in the warehouse had reached 102 degrees, and that 15 workers had collapsed. The employee also said workers who were sent home because of the heat received disciplinary points....
There's more in the article. The replies from people are sometimes hilarious.
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