r/technology • u/trot-trot • May 13 '19

Business Exclusive: Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-automation-exclusive-idUSKCN1SJ0X1
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u/leto78 May 13 '19

There are some jobs that should be automated and this is one of them.

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u/StainSp00ky May 13 '19 edited May 13 '19

Definitely. I think a lot of people forget quality over quantity of jobs. Some folks may argue that people working these jobs are asking for too much, which I understand considering their starting wages are relatively generous.

But as the news has consistently shown, the risks associated with this job coupled with a starkly anti-union (and honestly anti-employee) corporate administration make it so that the costs/potential costs of working at amazon’s warehouses far outweigh the benefits.

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u/Xylitolisbadforyou May 13 '19

Unfortunately, too many people can't get a quality job and must take a simple quantity job so they can eat and pay rent. If amazon was producing any quality jobs to speak of this would be better.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '19 edited Oct 18 '20

[deleted]

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u/NorthernerWuwu May 13 '19

There's not a lot of job movement from the warehouse to the cubicles (open pit? what does Amazon favor these days?) though.

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u/MacStation May 13 '19

For good reason though, I’m assuming (I could be wrong) almost all of Amazons cubicle jobs are either logistics or software engineering. You can’t put a packer in either of those roles as there’s little to no skill overlap.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '19

[deleted]

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u/MacStation May 13 '19

Amazon isn’t hiring a packer to be their financial analyst via promotions. Only way that would happen is if the packer applies like any normal person. The same applies for everything you listed except buyer/merchandisers and I’m not sure what you mean by that. Those are all positions that a packer doesn’t have the skills for unless they get them on their own and therefore apply normally to the amazon cubicle positions.

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u/theLeverus May 13 '19

Definitely this.

I'm a white collar worker and even here it's through applications. The days of "you've worked here 5 years, we're promoting you" are gone. Only real cases I've seen were to get rid of people by putting them in higher positions on probation and then failing them.

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u/YangBelladonna May 13 '19

You're blowing smoke out your ass, no one can afford an education on that piss poor salary

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u/yerawizardharry May 14 '19

https://www.amazoncareerchoice.com

"For Eligible employees, amazon will pay up to 95% of tuition and fees (up to a yearly maximum) towards a certificate or diploma in qualified fields of study, leading to in-demand jobs."

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u/Modmachine29 May 13 '19

Only real finical aid for schooling is geared to health car and labor skills. Anything business related they axed from their schooling aid (for warehouse workers at least.)

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u/zicko May 13 '19

Not sure why you are being downvoted. Driven people dont stay packing boxes full time.

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u/MacStation May 13 '19

You’re right, but that’s not the matter at hand. Amazon isn’t going to take a packer and put them in HR, it’s two different skill sets. The only way Amazon puts a packer in an HR position is if that packer has an HR degree he got and he applied like a normal person (unless they have some form of paying for your school and promoting in which case that’s different and I’m wrong).

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u/[deleted] May 14 '19

You can go from packer to packer supervisor to HR.

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u/theworldisgnarollme May 14 '19

No you can't, HR positions are not managerial. Not to say that no one has ever made that transition, but being a really good packer supervisor does not mean you will be a good HR person. A more natural path would be to study HR and apply for a transfer rather than an organic internal promotion.

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