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Why is Amazon shipping so cheap? - YouTube
Channel: Our Changing Climate
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this video is sponsored by curiosity
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stream get access to my streaming video
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service nebula when you sign up for
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curiosity stream using the link in the
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description about a month ago Jeff Bezos
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announced that his company Amazon
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donated 1 million dollars towards the
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Australian fire relief efforts for the
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average person 1 million Australian
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dollars or 690 thousand US dollars is an
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extremely generous donation because
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let's face it that's a lot of money but
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for Jeff Bezos whose wealth hovers
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around 110 billion dollars it's not six
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hundred and ninety K is how much money
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he makes in roughly three minutes in the
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words of journalist Brian merchant this
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is the equivalent of someone worth fifty
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thousand dollars gaining media headlines
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for donating $30 and as we applaud Bezos
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for throwing us this chump change his
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company is in the shadows stepping on
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our throats
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Amazon's relentless hunger for growth
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continues to generate environmental and
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social consequences across the United
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States and the globe for that reason
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it's important to take a step back and
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understand how Amazon's business
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practices create this environmental and
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worker strife so today we take on Amazon
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mountains of cardboard and thousands of
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tons of carbon dioxide in the air these
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are just two of the environmental
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consequences of the convenience Amazon
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provides a massive ecommerce company
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exploded in size over the last decade
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and with that size comes more shipping
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processing web storage and a plethora of
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shiny new electronic toys each with
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their own contribution to the growing
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problem of climate change so first let's
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start with one of the core strategies of
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Amazon's convenience based business
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model it's tireless efforts to ship
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items from their warehouses to customers
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homes as fast as possible
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although Amazon provides a spectrum of
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shipping options that range from slow to
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fast it's now 150 million plus Prime
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members can enjoy the perks of free one
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day or even two hour shipping if they're
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in the right location these extremely
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fast shipping models not only lead to
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more vans and trucks on the road but
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also fuel a growing transformation in
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consumer behavior that trends towards
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overconsumption Amazon successfully
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eliminated all the barriers of shopping
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so that the instant gratification of
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one-click shopping and quick shipping
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means that our distant once can easily
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be treated as our immediate needs but
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Amazon claims that they're doing an
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environmental service by streamlining
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this shopping process they're replacing
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the multitude of trips customers might
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make to brick-and-mortar stores with the
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efficient route of a single Amazon
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delivery van while that may be true for
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Amazon's slower shipping options it's
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not the case for the prime today or
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fewer options I did a whole video on
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online shopping and needless to say
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Amazon is doing more harm than good
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their growing fleet of small vans and
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trucks are adding to the rapid growth of
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the transportation sectors emissions
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which sits at 29% of the United States's
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total emissions and according to a study
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by data analytics firm fast markets
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online shopping added 1.5 million tons
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of cardboard demand to the market
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between
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2014 and 2017 civil engineering
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professor R deci Faudree put it past in
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an interview within New York Times
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online shopping has not helped the
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environment it has made it worse on top
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of creating a company that satisfies
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your every want in a matter of days or
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even hours Amazon also deals in a
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business of web services
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Amazon's data centers compete
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head-to-head with googles and
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Microsoft's for cloud and web hosting
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but they are far behind their
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competitors in terms of sustainability
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while Amazon has announced a goal of
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reaching 100 percent renewable energy by
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2030 and net zero carbon by 2040 the
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specifics of their plan are hard to find
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and progress towards reaching those
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goals seems slow
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in addition Amazon's rapid increase of
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data centers and states like Virginia
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for example have far outpaced their
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procurement of renewable energy
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according to a Greenpeace report the
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same report goes on to assert that in
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response to the 59% growth of Amazon's
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data centers in the last two years
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virginia's regional electricity company
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Dominion is seeking to invest 8 billion
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dollars to build the Atlantic coast
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pipeline which would transport fracked
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gas essentially amazon's energy demands
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might lead to the construction of a
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costly fossil fuel infrastructure that
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would lead us deeper into climate change
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to top it all off amazon offers AI
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technology among other services to major
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oil and gas companies like BP to help
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them quote identify potential reservoirs
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faster and cheaper so in terms of Web
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Services Amazon lags far behind others
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in the field and yet in the face of it
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all it still seeks to whitewash it's
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dirty image with lofty goals that they
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don't even seem to be working towards
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and have even gone so far as to silence
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employees critical of Amazon's climate
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policies this silencing is typical of
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Amazon's relationship with its employees
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in fact when we understand the corporate
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culture and the inevitable social
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consequences that permeate out from
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Amazon's goals of creating ethical
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standards and achieving sustainability
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targets seem even further out of reach
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because at the center of Amazon's Empire
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and indeed what is allowed it to become
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such a far reaching company is a growth
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at any cost
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mindset a mindset that pushes those in
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the corporate offices to work late into
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the night
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sabotage fellow employees and fulfill
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Jeff Bezos dreams in a punishing
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environment one Amazon employee claimed
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nearly every person he worked with he
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saw cry at their desk but this cutthroat
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corporate culture isn't contained to
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headquarters it permeates many Amazon
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operations resulting in exploitative
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labor practices for workers and Amazon
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warehouses and delivery drivers as well
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as tax evasion by financial sleight of
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hand with the rapid growth of Amazon's
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reach comes increased scrutiny of its
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operations multitudes of exposes have
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revealed a worrying trend of constant
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injuries
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riddling amazon fulfillment centers
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because Amazon warehouses are all about
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speed that two-day shipping order often
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takes higher priority than the
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well-being of workers scrambling to
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fulfill it especially during peak
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seasons like Prime Day or Black Friday
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according to an investigative report
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from reveal Amazon serious injury rate
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reached nine point six per 100 full-time
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workers in 2018 when compared to an
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industry average that year of four that
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number is unacceptably high
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Amazon's employee abuse is exemplified
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by the story of Candice Dixon reveal
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states that Dixon worked at Amazon as a
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quote-unquote stoer
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every 11 seconds she had to grab items
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from moving warehouse shelves scan them
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and then place them in the correct bin
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to hit her quota if she didn't keep up
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that pace for hours on end she could
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lose her job as a result of this
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ruthless pace which at all times was
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being monitored by managers via amazon's
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proprietary app adapt Dixon was forced
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to move at an unsafe pace sometimes
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jumping to high shelves or sack
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if I seen the health of her back to haul
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heavy bags of pet food from the bottom
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shelves
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according to reveal after just two
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months of working at the Amazon
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warehouse Dickson suffered a back sprain
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joint inflammation and chronic pain that
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according to an Amazon doctor was 100%
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due to her job employees across Amazon's
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fulfillment centers have voiced similar
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complaints like Kay Johnson my knees my
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back my hands they're never gonna be the
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same anymore because the Amazon you each
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paints an ugly picture of a company that
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treats its employees less as humans and
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more as easily replaceable parts in a
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large speed hungry machine another part
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of Amazon's strategy of growth involves
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the expansion of their delivery services
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if they are able to control the last
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stretch of the shipping process the
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logic goes then packages can reach
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customers at an even faster rate but as
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Amazon replaces more secure driver jobs
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at services like USPS with part-time
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contractors for programs like Amazon
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flex they can get away with providing
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fewer and fewer benefits to their
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employees while Amazon does seem to be
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creating jobs the caliber of those jobs
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in terms of stability and pay can vary
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greatly one Amazon flex driver in the
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San Francisco Bay Area omits how hard it
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can be to deliver for Amazon you barely
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make enough as it is and then given the
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cost wear and tear on your vehicle and
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just a low pay and everything
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make a living according to Business
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Insider amazon also outsources some of
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its employment of delivery drivers
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through third-party courier companies
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they call delivery service partners or
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DSPs this means that while Amazon
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controls the routes packages and
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basically everything else the DSPs set
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wages benefits and insurance so
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theoretically the wage could fall well
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below the often touted $15 an hour
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Amazon minimum this kind of corporate
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loophole is again mirrored in Amazon's
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tax history in fact it seems like
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exploiting tax loopholes is their bread
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and butter in 2017 Amazon paid zero
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dollars in federal taxes in 2018 once
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again it paid zero dollars and now for
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the 2019 fiscal year Amazon is finally
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paying taxes a whopping 1.2 percent of
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its income a percentage well below the
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already miniscule 21 percent average
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corporate tax rate so when it comes to
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the Amazon model of growth and speed yes
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they are providing unprecedented
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convenience to customers but to reach
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that level of convenience
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they must sacrifice environmental health
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step on the back of workers and
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ultimately Rob the American public
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through tax evasion when we look at
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corporate behemoths like Amazon a cold
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truth comes to light companies this
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large wreak havoc on the environment and
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their workers with impunity all in the
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name of growth and we swallow these
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bitter consequences because they give us
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sweeteners in the form of convenience
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and job growth yes we certainly should
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avoid shopping with Amazon if possible
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but ultimately it is not our fault that
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Amazon decided to embrace a business
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model that sacrifices workers and
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environmental health in the name of
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growth and speed to truly make sure that
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companies like Amazon don't work
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employees to the bone and pollute the
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atmosphere into oblivion regulatory
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bodies need to act decisively this means
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a global crackdown on tax havens and
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loopholes strong support of workers
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unions and just climate policies that
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hold the health of the world on equal
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footing with the money in corporate
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accounts
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