[gregatragenet]

When I was 14 I worked a warehouse gig assembling sunday-morning newspapers (the news printed that morning is combined with a larger pre-printed section of want-ads, etc). The hours were 3am-6am, it was poorly ventilated, the pay was bad, and the work tiring. The lesson I took away from that job is that if I wanted something better I had better improve myself and get some marketable skills. Skills that'd add value to what I do for an employer, and that'd cause the employer a loss of value if they were to let me go.

I'd hope current warehouse workers would walk away with a similar lesson - but apparently not in this case since the employee at the opening of the article is 34.

Basically, if you are an unskilled worker don't show surprise at the fact that your employer can and will easily replace you with someone else who'll do more work at a cheaper price.

If not, I'll provide different advice that I learned in the Army. Drink more water if it is hot.

[Klinky]

Not everyone will have the chances or make the right choices to "better themselves". That doesn't mean they deserve to work in unsafe or unhealthy conditions.

[mindstab]

that's the problem of the american entitlement. There are still huge chunks of the rest of the world who would jump for those jobs at those wages. This is why most of these jobs that haven't been automated have been outsourced. This one remains for locational reasons.

Sure it'd be great if they didn't deserve that, but it's not just americans making $11 or $12 an hour. It's huge chunks of the world living off less than $1 a day

[Klinky]

Not sure why anyone can justify anyone being forced to work in unsafe or unhealthy conditions for low pay. Regardless of what country they're in.

People making $1/day shouldn't be faced with it & the people making $12/hr shouldn't be faced with. Also let's not pretend that cost of living is comparable between all countries.

Now this isn't to say that people aren't faced with these conditions, but just because that's the way it is, doesn't mean that's the way it should be.

[absconditus]

It can be justified because our entire economy would collapse otherwise. If most of the people in the US want to continue to purchase goods at relatively low prices then this is what is necessary. Go ask the average person why they do not shop at Whole Foods. Now imagine what would happen if every company paid their employees as well as Whole Foods does for unskilled labor and put as much effort as Whole Foods does into sourcing products that are better for those producing them (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/whole-trade.php). What happens to those on the lower end of the earning scale in that situation?

[mindstab]

true, I may have been a bit harsh. More what I was going for I guess is that there are several larger problems than just some american amazon warehouse workers. Both larger problems in america of which this is just a symptom and larger problems in the world where this is rendered unnoteworthy. We need to attack those problems, not do something too focused like harangue on Amazon specifically.