"Books from amazon" by Aurelijus Valeiša
Azerbaijan hosted a Formula 1 race Sunday and will host the 2020 Euros this summer (I know, it melts my brain, too). Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hopes, it appears, this will cast a more favorable light on a country scoring shockingly low in things like “freedom” and “democracy.” Then there are the alleged war crimes, the prisoners of war that may have been held within shouting distance of the racecourse and, the cherry on top, this.
As such, there were articles just like the one I’m writing now about the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. I watched the race anyway without submitting a long list of excuses. The actions of the Azerbaijani government are absolutely appalling and, it appears, unimpacted by my race viewership. It’s difficult to find an action item at all, beyond giving money to the independent news outlets linked above (which I’ve done). I could go on about there not being any good nation-states, that there’s not a good country to race in and that comparison shopping war crimes tends to do more for assuaging the guilt of those shopping than those victimized by criminals. But! You didn’t come here for Formula 1 chat (probably). Here’s the difference between watching a race, listening to the song by the person you think is a deadbeat or … frankly, shopping at Walmart.
Vice published another stellar piece of reporting about Amazon, outlining its new build-your-furniture-for-you service. It’s not a unique add-on, as companies like Taskrabbit, Wayfair and Home Depot all offer something similar — but Amazon has a way of taking something pretty bad for labor and making it substantially worse. From Vice:
The program has already sparked ire among some drivers who say they've been offered no meaningful training on furniture assembly, and that the time Amazon has allotted for these deliveries vastly underestimates the labor involved in transporting items to customers' room of choice anywhere in their house, unpacking boxes, assembling these items, hauling away the packaging, and occasionally repackaging the item on the spot if the customer isn't satisfied for any reason. Motherboard obtained a bizarre Amazon video explaining the system to employees. It is narrated by a monotone robot, and at one point features two animated Amazon employees named Steven and Amy, who also have robotic voices.
And, one more:
Amazon drivers will not be paid extra or allowed to take tips from customers for assembling furniture, according to the two drivers whose delivery contractors are participating in the program in Virginia. In April, Bloomberg reported that Amazon is piloting this program in Virginia and two other markets.
You should read the whole piece, which includes a couple of anecdotal examples from their sources. Amazon asks for lightning-quick builds from employees (11-minutes for an Ottoman in one instance) who have not been trained to put furniture together. That’s not uncommon in the low-wage worker world, where training plans are devised by someone three or four steps away from the action and implemented by someone who will never have to do the job.
It’s far less surprising that drivers will not get a pay increase for adding this service to their toolbag. It’s important to remember that Amazon frequently contracts companies to hire its drivers, so it seems all the extra money from this premium transaction goes to the owner of the contracted company and Amazon while all the labor is done by the worker (and the algorithm of course).
This is why it’s time to opt out of this godless, blood-sucking corporation. There are no good companies, and there is no such thing as ethical capitalism. But every dollar spent at Amazon actively furthers a project that makes the lives of workers worse. It’s not enough to delete your account and cancel your Prime membership, because a company this large is not going away (did you know Chrysler is still a thing?) You need to support Amazon laborers, and all low-wage workers, and not just when their union drives end up in the pages of the New York Times.
But it’s a start. Because your money is not reaching their hands — and it’s been years since it did. There aren’t easy, clean choices about how to act or where to spend your money and there never have been. But any time you give Amazon your money, you’ll be making excuses.