Most folks I know seem blissfully unaware or uninterested in these realities behind their next day delivery. Even supremely liberal folks in boston and new york seem to think that complaining that their prime delivery being a day late or poorly packed is reasonable to gripe about, totally ignoring the human cost behind such offerings.
This. This is what customer service is about -- taking care of the customer when things go badly. In the span of five weeks, Amazon had A) "lost" two packages (in reality, they were shipped to the wrong distribution center and weren't rerouted), B) were two days later on one, C) four days late on another, and D) EIGHT days late on the fifth.
For every single one, I contacted customer support and complained. As performance got worse, I actually got on the phone.
* The first time I was comped a month of prime. $8.
* The second time I was comped $20 in Amazon credit, and they reshipped the package ($55 in goods). I was told if the other one showed up, to keep both. The other one showed up the next week.
* Third time I was comped a month of prime ($8) and package was reshipped. This was $160 in electronics. I was told if the other showed up, to keep both. The second one showed up 2 weeks later.
* The fourth time I called I asked why I was paying for prime. After 10 minutes, the rep agreed. They refunded my entire year of prime ($100).
* Fifth time they didn't care. They admitted their performance was awful, and were confused how their logistics operation was doing so poorly, but if I didn't like the service I should go elsewhere.
To their credit, I was compensated $351 for five failures in five weeks, all of which were not in peak season (this was 60 days in advance of Holiday shopping season).
I posted this article, and I purchase from Amazon often. I'm not blissful, nor unaware. But it's sort of all-or-none, right? Like the workers in these towns who either work for Amazon (or its contractors), or don't work at all, I can't order anything from Amazon at all without aiding this system.
What I mean is, there isn't some sort of ethical slow-lane when I go to checkout on amazon.com, right? There _is_ slow, free (non-prime) shipping, but anecdotally, that's not serviced via a separate pipeline anymore. I don't _mind_ waiting 5-8 days, I don't _complain_ about the shipping delays. But choosing free shipping also isn't any sort of boon to social justice.
I could certainly just stop shopping from amazon.com, and buy locally (though still from big box stores, often, since that's locally the only options left). But I don't harbor illusions that my conscientious abstention will register on Bezos' balance sheets.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's a fix. Certainly not an obvious one, nor easy. As the article discusses, cities _need_ the business, at least for the initial few years. And people _need_ jobs. Structurally, though, what are we as simultaneously consumers, citizens (voters), and people in the workforce going to do? The article discusses attempts to unionize. It discusses cities' attempts to lure Amazon business. It discusses what hard-working people with families do, and think, about the situation on the ground. It even gives responses from Amazon PR. The solutions are subtle, hard to enact, and slow to take effect.
Why do you feel these workers are not entitled to basic human dignity and respect? Why is it that any time the workers try to get some piece of the massive prosperity that they've contributed to building, they get threatened with automation? Why should they not share in the rewards for the company they helped to make prosperous?
