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[Aquamarine]

So much better than Google.

 

[mordecaii83]

There was a programme over here (UK) with hidden cameras where staff would complain about really long hours, and incredibly tight deadlines to pick all of the required stock from the shelves. These are usually one sided, and it didn't have a comparison of what it's like to work in any other highly demanding warehouse.

I used to work in Sainsburys whilst I was at college and that was pretty demanding, especially around peek times and seasons.

Are you in the US? Maybe it's worse where or something.

Yes, I am in the US. Yes, they do have a set rate they have to make, and a lot of that depends on which building you're in, because different buildings have different amounts of product they have to ship out. But I can tell you, I've seen 300lb 50+ year olds make rate in some of the most demanding job areas without a problem.

What people need to realize is that it is a warehouse job, so you are going to have to physically work fairly hard. They pay well for a warehouse job, however, and give some of the best benefits around so it's worth it.

 

[codhand]

i cant wait for my future children to tell me that amazon is evil just like i told my parents that walmart was

 

[TouchMyBox]

You just made me sad.

How have they mishandled Comixology? I as a casual user haven't really noticed anything negative.

 

[anddo0]

Interesting twist.

But Twitch already adopted some of Googles practices by restricting music/soundtrack playback during pre-recorded video. Sorta self policing itself.

I guess Amazon is better than Google on paper. We'll see.

 

[mordecaii83]

howcome it takes so long, considering its on kindle fire?

I can't say for sure, but the obvious guess would be because they want people to buy their Kindle products.

 

[Nokterian]

wut?

 

[Amir0x]

I keep seeing people say stuff like this, but in my 2 years of working at Amazon I haven't seen anything remotely like this. Sure, during peak season (Christmas) it gets a little hectic and you work some long hours, but most of the year you work a standard 40 hours a week with amazing benefits and relatively good working conditions. Free gatorade, 2 breaks and a lunch, air-conditioned buildings, free on-site medical care if you do get injured, etc. Some of the job positions can be physically challenging, but no more so than any other warehouse job.

So again, I'd really like to know why people have this impression. Also, I've worked at 5 different locations, and they have all been very similar with working conditions, so it's not just that one building is ok and the rest are terrible.

I mean this is why we don't use one person's reports alone (not discrediting your account whatsoever, but saying we need to look at what the average report looks like to get a clear picture). The reporting over Amazon's abominable treatment of employees has been extremely widespread, they're everywhere. Many of these practices are even acknowledged by Amazon, as ways they improve their "efficiency" at the expense of employees happiness.

I mean, you're listing gatorade, 2 breaks and a lunch and air conditioned buildings (this last one should basically be mandatory unless you're working in a foundry or some shit) as proof that a job is good. Almost every job I had has had 2 breaks and a lunch, and my job has a library and a movie store that you can rent even new releases for free. Many major companies also offer free on-site medical care, because they can get sued much worse if they don't, and because they have a higher employee turn around for going back and continuing working.

I'm not trying to say there aren't benefits to working at Amazon. As I said, if you need a job and there's no alternatives, there's no shame in it. But they have got to update the way they treat workers, if the majority of the reports we receive are true. I am sure there are some warehouses that are the exception, and perhaps you even work at one of them. But we workers need to stick up for our rights more. We shouldn't be celebrating air conditioning like it is some extreme generosity, and I'm sad for any person in the world who has to deal with uncomfortable, sweaty environments because their employer wants to save a few dimes. Thankfully Amazon does that much ;P

Anyway, this is why people have the impression they do. And this. And this. And this. And this. And of course this. And don't forget this.

The list goes on and on. Endless minor and major media outlets have covered what it is like for the average Amazon employee, and the picture it paints is bleak. The impression we therefore get - from the mouths of the employees themselves - is that on the average, it's a shitty place to work. And of course thinking of Unionization? Amazon is destructive as shit.

Of course everyone can be wrong. It's a possibility! And you may be the one who has the right of it. But I strongly suspect you're more likely to be an exception than the rule, judging by the endless reports from both the media and the individuals who work there.

 

[Woody Invincible]

Hopefully this will make for a better EVO broadcast next year.

 

[Nokterian]

I don't know how to feel about this at all. Seems weird sure better then google but i suspect this will end no good in due time seeing amazon's history how horrible it is to work for them.

 

[Battersea Power Station]

Interesting twist.

But Twitch already adopted some of Googles practices by restricting music/soundtrack playback during pre-recorded video. Sorta self policing itself.

I guess Amazon is better than Google on paper. We'll see.

Twitch was always going to start doing the DRM stuff as they became more popular. I have no idea why people were blaming Google for that.

 

[GavinGT]

I still think Twitch will continue down the ContentID road. Being bought by a huge company just means they'll be an even larger target for lawsuits, since litigants will know they can afford to pay up.

 

[Truespeed]

Glad it was Amazon. Now they can continue to bleed Amazon.

 

[Darknight]

Will anything change for console implementations of Twitch by any chance? Just curious.

 

[Squirts Macintosh]

Awesome, glad to know we won't have to start signing up for Google+ to use Twitch.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Amazon is pretty cool for customers.

 

[mordecaii83]

I mean this is why we don't use one person's reports. The reporting over Amazon's abominable treatment of employees has been extremely widespread, they're everywhere. Many of these practices are even acknowledged by Amazon, as ways they improve their "efficiency" at the expense of employees happiness.

I mean, you're listing gatorade, 2 breaks and a lunch and air conditioned buildings (this last one should basically be mandatory unless you're working in a foundry or some shit) as proof that a job is good. Almost every job I had has had 2 breaks and a lunch, and my job has a library and a movie store that you can rent even new releases for free. Many major companies also offer free on-site medical care, because they can get sued much worse if they don't, and because they have a higher employee turn around for going back and continuing working.

I'm not trying to say there aren't benefits to working at Amazon. As I said, if you need a job and there's no alternatives, there's no shame in it. But they have got to update the way they treat workers, if the majority of the reports we receive are true. I am sure there are some warehouses that are the exception, and perhaps you even work at one of them. But we workers need to stick up for our rights more. We shouldn't be celebrating air conditioning like it is some extreme generosity, and I'm sad for any person in the world who has to deal with uncomfortable, sweaty environments because their employer wants to save a few dimes. Thankfully Amazon does that much ;P

Anyway, this is why people have the impression they do. And this. And this. And this. And this. And of course this. And don't forget this.

The list goes on and on. Endless minor and major media outlets have covered what it is like for the average Amazon employee, and the picture it paints is bleak. The impression we therefore get - from the mouths of the employees themselves - is that on the average, it's a shitty place to work. And of course thinking of Unionization? Amazon is destructive as shit.

Of course everyone can be wrong. It's a possibility! And you may be the one who has the right of it. But I strongly suspect you're more likely to be an exception than the rule, judging by the endless reports from both the media and the individuals who work there.

Ok, I'll grant you that there are no doubt plenty of circumstances where employees have been mistreated, subject to long hours, etc. However, let's also consider that Amazon employees well over 100,000 people at any one time. Let's also consider the fact that they employee a ton of temps just during the holiday season, when hours are going to be long and people are going to have to work harder to get customer orders out.

So, considering those numbers there are bound to be people who were not treated properly. That will happen no matter what company you work for. I can give you horror stories of web designers forced to work 80 hour work weeks and only being paid for 40 hours, etc.

My point is this: Amazon as a company does not mistreat its workers. Their official policies and guidelines are very pro-employee. Whether some buildings stray from this, or some managers go against what they're supposed to, it has no bearing on what Amazon as a company stands for.

Also, I'd like to respond to your comments about benefits you've had at a job with this: Most Amazon jobs are in their warehouses, you're not going to get things like a free rental store in a warehouse. And Amazon does have plenty of other perks to working there, but I was mostly commenting on the working conditions which are nowhere near horrible. You can't apply for a warehouse job and expect to make $50k a year, get a cushy desk job, etc... It's all about the job quality relative to similar job positions at other companies, and I feel Amazon is as good or better to work at than most other warehouse buildings.

Edit: Also, I'd like to add that I've heard the stories of Amazon thwarting its employees trying to unionize, going against the will of its employees, etc... But you don't ever hear the other side of the story... In at least two cases that I know of, that push was led by members of a union who started working at Amazon purely to try to get the union access into Amazon. It even got to a vote, but the majority of employees turned down the union, because the only people that wanted that were the members of that union. You don't hear about those things from news outlets, it's not as interesting of a story.

 

[Stormhammer]

Perhaps now they can live stream your drone deliveries! :O That aerial view

 

[Recall]

Still sucks about how twitch is dealing with the vod music nonsense.

 

[Orayn]

I still think Twitch will continue down the ContentID road. Being bought by a huge company just means they'll be an even larger target for lawsuits, since litigants will know they can afford to pay up.

The thing about Twitch's plan is that is puts all liability for those things onto Audible Magic, which is both good and bad.

Still sucks about how twitch is dealing with the vod music nonsense.

What choice do they have, though? Just let people do whatever and then get sued into a crater when some record label decides it's not okay with their music being in VODs?

 

[Recall]

The thing about Twitch's plan is that is puts all liability for those things onto Audible Magic, which is both good and bad.



What choice do they have, though? Just let people do whatever and then get sued into a crater when some record label decides it's not okay with their music being in VODs?

It was working fine for 3 years without a single issue, but I guess you're right. Audible Magic is a terrible service though It manages to class clapping as copyrighted music?!?

 

[Tabris]

Amazon is apparently a horrible company to work for on the software-side of business.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Cash...? I'm sorry, but were they also presented with the money in a big black briefcase over a drama soundtrack?

 

[RPGCrazied]

What could Amazon possibly do with Twitch? Really odd purchase.

 

[GavinGT]

It was working fine for 3 years without a single issue, but I guess you're right. Audible Magic is a terrible service though It manages to class clapping as copyrighted music?!?

It worked alright in the beginning because they were still small. Nobody will sue HitBox because they can't afford to pay gigantic settlements.

 

[Iadien]

What could Amazon possibly do with Twitch? Really odd purchase.

Promote sales of games on Amazon.

 

[vasametropolis]

Promote sales of games on Amazon.

I already buy my games off Amazon, but I agree this is a good idea.

 

[El Sloth]

Q&A about deal on now:

www.twitch.tv/twitch

 

[_Ryo_]

Is this an M. Night Movie twist?

 

[Orayn]

It was working fine for 3 years without a single issue, but I guess you're right. Audible Magic is a terrible service though It manages to class clapping as copyrighted music?!?

Twitch was rapidly expanding through those years, so the danger was getting bigger and bigger as time went on.

That's not to say their implementation is perfect; there's a lot of work to be done, but doing nothing was never an option.

 

[Zoned]

Didn't Google offer 3 billion $? Deal went down?

 

[AudioTechnica]

Amazon basically treats non-prime users like gutter trash now to force them to sign up. I'm predicting we'll see twitch prime with the same idea.

 

[Setsuna]

I hear alot of "we are getting access to" but what is this going to cost Twitch

EDIT: As the interview goes on i dont even think twitch knows if amazon will help or not with anything

 

[hesido]

Hell of a company. Within 3 years, it became this valuable.

 

[Face it Tiger..]

Will there be a #DanboKappa?

Awesome, glad to know we won't have to start signing up for Google+ to use Twitch.

they are basically putting google+ out of it's misery slowly, they don't integrate + into anything anymore.


EDIT: this is Danbo.. and you already know what a Kappa is.

 

[DodgerSan]

They'll probably make it a mandatory part of Prime membership, and double the subscription cost again.

 

[CaptainSlow]

Much better than Google.

They get to operate independently still (hopefully, fingers crossed) but have access to Amazon's servers to help streams. I just hope this gets rid of the ridiculous lag.

What I do see is links to buy the game being streamed on Amazon.com which to me would be a pretty neat feature.

With all the talk of the Google deal allegedly falling through, I wonder if the loud, negative outcry against it on the internet played a part of it, if it DID really happen.

It was only a matter of time before they were bought out. For people wondering why it was $1 billion, this is why...

 

[Cyrano]

Twitch was rapidly expanding through those years, so the danger was getting bigger and bigger as time went on.

That's not to say their implementation is perfect; there's a lot of work to be done, but doing nothing was never an option.

If they were in fact getting bigger and bigger, they could have simply fought the DMCA in court. It certainly doesn't seem like there's a company big enough anymore that would fight the ridiculous copyright law.

I think there's way too much passivity regarding this. Much like many other laws, there's no way the DMCA is a reasonable law, but since it's never gone to the supreme court, everyone just keeps twiddling their thumbs about it, running from it rather than facing it, even when they have the power to do so (and winning the case would be a landmark for better protections against false claimants, as well as saving an extraordinary amount of money in fees).

Producing shoddy technology to "solve" shoddy laws is no way of fixing the problem.

Tangentially, given that I support unions, most large companies tend to just come off as bullies whenever the issue is brought up.

 

[hitgirl]

Whoa, I thought Google deal was like done? People were even complaining that the new Twitch implementations were because of Google takeover, heh.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Amazon basically treats non-prime users like gutter trash now to force them to sign up. I'm predicting we'll see twitch prime with the same idea.

Honestly, if you're a habitual Amazon user, there's no reason to not have it. The shipping alone has paid off for me.

On topic, my big issue with this is that Amazon bleeds money every year. I don't see what this does for them really.

 

[Sandfox]

If they were in fact getting bigger and bigger, they could have simply fought the DMCA in court. It certainly doesn't seem like there's a company big enough anymore that would fight the ridiculous copyright law.

I think there's way too much passivity regarding this. Much like many other laws, there's no way the DMCA is a reasonable law, but since it's never gone to the supreme court, everyone just keeps twiddling their thumbs about it, running from it rather than facing it, even when they have the power to do so (and winning the case would be a landmark for better protections against false claimants, as well as saving an extraordinary amount of money in fees).

Producing shoddy technology to "solve" shoddy laws is no way of fixing the problem.

Tangentially, given that I support unions, most large companies tend to just come off as bullies whenever the issue is brought up.

You make it sound like that would be some small thing lol.

 

[Nzyme32]

I somehow feel more optimistic about this knowing Amazon are involved rather than google, considering all that youtube became. That said, I have no idea where Amazon will take this or whether they will improve upon twitch while keeping the gamer audience at heart or if they will mould it into something entirely different...

 

[Cyrano]

You make it sound like that would be some small thing lol.

It wouldn't be a small thing, but that's precisely why a company like Google or Twitch would be the only ones that could actually contest it and have a chance of winning. It would be an expensive fight, but one they could certainly win, and the amount of money they could save over time would be extraordinary, with its overturning.

 

[StanleyStutters]

That's a shock. I thought for sure Google would end up with Twitch, but I love the idea of Amazon running things instead.

 

[Cipherr]

You make it sound like that would be some small thing lol.

Exactly, or that success is actually guaranteed when theres so much reason to feel otherwise. These massive multibillion dollar companies aren't enraging their users and building these copyright detection software because they are to lazy to go to court..... They are doing it because they probably know the odds of getting things changed right now are slim to nil.

Trust me, companies that are willing to go to court over shit like rectangular tablets and slide to unlock aren't afraid of courts. Not even a little.

 

[Orayn]

It wouldn't be a small thing, but that's precisely why a company like Google or Twitch would be the only ones that could actually contest it and have a chance of winning. It would be an expensive fight, but one they could certainly win, and the amount of money they could save over time would be extraordinary, with its overturning.

I want to agree with you in principle, but I think you're underestimating the costs and overestimating the chance of a favorable outcome.

 

[BruiserBear]

I'm happy seeing Amazon over google. It's better when one company doesn't get too much power in the same space.

 

[Pattycakes]

That's a shock. I thought for sure Google would end up with Twitch, but I love the idea of Amazon running things instead.

Not sure I love it, but I certainly don't hate it.

 

[devonodev]

Wow plot twist

 

[Sandfox]

It wouldn't be a small thing, but that's precisely why a company like Google or Twitch would be the only ones that could actually contest it and have a chance of winning. It would be an expensive fight, but one they could certainly win, and the amount of money they could save over time would be extraordinary, with its overturning.

There is honestly a pretty good chance of them losing, and if that happens they would be pretty screwed.