Appreciate Your Job

Scott Hardie | February 29, 2012
Mother Jones sent reporter Mac McClelland to work for a hyper-efficient online retailer warehouse for a week and had her write about the harrowing experience afterward. It's not as bad what sweatshop workers in other countries face, but it's still awful. Even with her background doing that kind of work in her youth, it was exhausting and dehumanizing. We can blame corporate mindsets for squeezing every possible penny of profit out of their workers like this, but the real blame lies with us, the consumers who think nothing of deep discounts. I pay $79/year for Amazon Prime and order tons of stuff with free shipping, and now I have a vivid picture of exactly how those savings are possible. It's a lot to think about.

Steve Dunn | February 29, 2012
I thought the article was well-written, but a little overbearing with the condescension toward working people, referring to them as "drones" and so forth. I noticed also she never mentioned how much she got paid.

All those people will someday be replaced with robots, and Mother Jones will undoubtedly run an article bemoaning that as well.

Scott Hardie | July 13, 2012
Steve: Someday is now.