- Credits:
- strongstown.org
Helen’s Place LLC Update: July 28, 2022
When this article was first published in 2017, Amazon showed promise as a company with the potential to help end poverty in America.
Since then – as a comic on the Trevor Noah show put it on July 27, 2022 – “Jeff Bezos has become a dick with a dick rocket.” How unfortunate.
Yes, Jeff Bezos has received some bad press in recent years about the way he regarded his workers like second class citizens, fought with those trying to unionize, and maintained a policy of firing employees regularly so as not to have a career workforce.
As a result, the average Amazon worker lasts only about eight months before burning out and quitting.
In short, Amazon had to come off the list of potential companies to help end poverty in America.
Just as it was portrayed in the film “Nomadsland,” Amazon, by its own making, must be viewed now as a temporary, non-ideal workplace, but hopefully at least a stepping stone to a better job.
But let’s not give up on the ingenuity of America to put everyone back to work through shopping!
Back in In 2017, many people were transitioning from working in retail stores to e-commerce fulfillment centers.
This trend exploded during the Covid-19 pandemic, offering jobs for people, ranging from warehouse worker positions to highly technical jobs programing warehouse robots.
Today, brick-and-mortar stores are having a bit of a resurgence. People, as it turns out, like the activity of shopping in person, as well as online, and some retail stores are cashing in by offering both.
Additionally, stores are offering the option of curbside pickup, where customers place their orders online and then drive to a location to pick it up.
For consumers it’s all about having shopping options.
Businesses in the future will need to keep up with this trend. It’s estimated by the Labor Department, that there will be a 7% increase in warehouse and e-commerce jobs in the next 10 years.
The trend to purchase goods on the Internet will continue to allow warehouse workers to pack, ship and/or deliver to people directly. Some of this work will be done by robots, but more will be done by people.
The best news about fulfillment centers is that anyone willing and able to work, including high school or college dropouts, able-bodied homeless people, or the nearly homeless living with family and friends, might find fulfillment center jobs that they can manage.
Workers in rural and urban America might find work in regional locations to accommodate faster deliveries to customers, including fresh food.
People needing to work part-time while in transition to start a business or attend school, might find flexible working hours in 24-hour operations.
The fulfillment center industry is especially ideal for anyone who finds themselves down but not out, and needing to find a job fast.
It offers the advantage of working away from the public eye where no formal clothes, or a special, expensive wardrobe is needed, and where a pair of clean pants and a T-shirt would do.
These jobs also don’t require people to be young, beautiful, or have perfect hair, teeth or makeup.
Today, many fulfillment center workers can earn a sustainable wage of $15 per hour or more, and health benefits.
The best fulfillment center CEO’s have learned that by paying their employees a living wage, they are adopting a modern version of the Henry Ford model, which allows workers to afford to buy their products; some offer employee discounts to do so.
As competition for workers increases, wages with continue to go up.
Companies with employee retention programs, might also offer perks like on-site gyms to promote physical fitness, bathroom areas with showers and laundry facilities, and cafeterias offering decent, hot meals.
Additionally, they might offer computer skills and management classes to allow employees the chance to learn and move up in the company – starting at the bottom as floor workers and promoted up to data analysts, website designers and managers.
If the trend continues, it may be proven in the next decade that e-commerce fulfillment center jobs really did help reduce poverty in America – unfortunately, at the present time it just won’t be Amazon.
Related audio/video interview recording:
Show based on the 2017 nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, staring Frances McDormand as a widow who leaves to travel around the United States in her van as a nomad, working part-time jobs. Loss, family, estrangement are themes:
YouTube, Majorfilmevents, April 15, 2021, “The Making of Nomadland”
Other related article you may be interested in:
Helen’s Place LLC, “You’ve Dropped Out of School – Now What?”
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