Features May 28, 2014 at 4:00 am

Since the Company Won't Respond to Press Inquiries, We Tracked Down Living, Breathing Amazon Employees Outside Their Offices

The car had no comment. The Stranger

Comments

1
Yet another biased piece of yellow journalism from junior reporter Ansel Herz.

Herz loves to make every issue into class warfare (note the photo of a mid-70's Porsche as the photo for the "article"). Funny thing is, Herz is a privileged white kid himself, who is NOT the proletariat he wants us to think he is.

His childish, reactionary writing is dragging down the already bad news department of The Stranger. Herz is just a kid, but that shouldn't excuse such bad, biased writing. Has The Stranger no standards anymore? Apparently with Herz, they don't.
3
"I said that a lot of people worry that Amazon is depressing prices and monopolizing the e-book market, and once they've done that, they're going to jack up the prices on e-books."

The Slippery Slope: a classic logical fallacy. And I'm not an Amazon employee.
4
Huh I see nothing wrong with this article.

He explained the photo...the guy was parking when he was there and he asked if he could snap a photo.

There was also nothing about class warfare in this piece. It was about how rarely Amazon comments on anything, and trying to see if a comment could be had that was worth anything.

Some people read way too much into things...and I say this as someone who analyzes crap constantly.
5
but..... it IS a class-war. We just aren't necessarily fighting it ourselves. We're all pawns.
6
I'm not sure why there's this desire to paint Amazon as "ruthless" or "predatory" or to compare traits not related to their core business with other companies like Google or Microsoft (see references to the quality of the food/perks). I prefer to see all corporations as neutral organisms that do what they have to do to survive and profit.

Why doesn't Amazon offer free food vs just coffee? Probably because someone calculated how much free food costs vs the amount of employee loyalty/productivity it creates and decided it wasn't worth it. Why don't they give to charity? Because they barely break even, profit wise at all. It's EASY for Apple to give away money, they make a ton.

I don't work at Amazon but friends do and I've interviewed there on occasion. They see like normal humans. They want to make products and services customers want, efficiently. They use their economy of scale and pull to work big industry-wide deals and price concessions (like any company). I'm not defending them, I'm just saying I don't see what they've done that's hugely out of line with basic business practices. EXCEPTION: the warehouse conditions. That's just cruelty. I bet that's a case of someone thinking "we outsourced that. Not our problem" (like Apple building things in China for pennies on the dollar) and not having some decent human empathy. THAT, they need to fix.
7
Did you ask them about the working conditions for their unpaid interns?

Oh, wait, Amazon pays its interns. It's the Stranger interns that are unpaid. My mistake.

Keep fighting the good fight, Ansel.
8
There is a distinct chance that I agree with what you have to say but when I get to the point where you completely dismiss two people by calling them names I lose all interest in what you have to say. Try treating people with a little respect and giving them the benefit of the doubt and your message will reach a wider audience.
9
I must say I've never actually encountered one of these customer first kool-aid drinkers in my experiences with Amazon. I get sent into endless customer service hell where each representative claims to have no knowledge of the issue I've been pursuing and then offers no help after I explain it again. Then they bounce me to another person and we repeat.
10
"That was all I got after two hours of standing outside Amazon headquarters."

And the Stranger paid you $15 an hour to do that, right?

11
It says a great deal about The Stranger staff that they not only hired Herz to report, but that they keep him on and accept the inflammatory stories he writes.

He's a bomb thrower with the writing ability of a high school student (e.g. - the constant name calling). He's also a privileged little white kid himself, working through guilt issues - hence the constant barrage of "attack the system" pieces.

He's a joke and is making The Stranger a joke by bringing down the already questionable standards of The Stranger.
12
@3 That isn't a slippery slope at all. That's the predatory pricing model. Amazon may or may not be engaged in it, but it is a thing.
13
@7 - Nailed it.
14
Brogrammers? Really? This article is garbage.
15
It's very important to the publishing world for Amazon to not be in control of always forcing prices down to the extent that they eliminate all competition due to ruthless tactics that keep books from being sold on their site. This is truly an extremely unfair advantage for Amazon and, unregulated, it seems the antithesis of fair play for the book business. It's nearly impossible to stop them from imposing crippling practices and controlling revenues so that writers don't get paid well in order to further their own agenda, which is unfair and should be stopped by a legal process. I'm grateful to see this article and I hope people continue to buy books, but shop at independent bookstores or, in the case of ebook, alternative outlets!
16
"The Stranger Gets Amazon Employees to Comment—Here's What They Said!"

Wouldn't it have been easier, as well as more honest to follow that with "Nothing of interest"?
17
As a customer, I like Amazon. As employees, a number of my friends also like Amazon. Many of my other friends, including two published authors, also like Amazon.

The Stranger's incessant efforts to portray any successful company as evil are really getting old, uninteresting, and predictable.
18
@16 — Excellent. Shouldn't that be the slogan of the Stranger: "Nothing of Interest."
19
Amazon is such a huge company with so many different departments that I would be shocked if you actually spoke to a person who has anything to do at all with what you're asking them about.

Good job actually trying to report something for once though.
20
Let's be honest: Amazon Employees are the very demographic Tim needs to support his ads for restaurants that charge $45 an entree.
21
@7,

The Stranger no longer uses unpaid interns, moron.

@13,

You too.
22
I'm shocked so many people actually spoke with Ansel.

Names or not, their physical descriptions and job duties are probably enough to identify them. No doubt Amazon's NDA includes a standard clause about talking to the press, and they could be fired.

23
@6,

I prefer to see all corporations as neutral organisms that do what they have to do to survive and profit.


EXCEPTION: the warehouse conditions. That's just cruelty. I bet that's a case of someone thinking "we outsourced that. Not our problem" (like Apple building things in China for pennies on the dollar) and not having some decent human empathy. THAT, they need to fix.


Can't make up your mind, huh?
24
A campus full of thousands of people and you couldn't find one person to actually talk to you? Maybe you should have tried harder. I give this article an F minus.
25
@7, OK, but do they pay them $15 an hour?

26
I stopped at "brogrammers". Jesus Christ, what are you, 12? Everything you write is just dripping with contempt for your subject matter. That's some high school newspaper nonsense.

Maybe you should go work for Gawker, I think Hamilton Nolan would really dig your style.

27
I suspect Ansel accidentally sent this article to The Stranger instead of The Onion. It's clearly a send-up designed to highlight the arrogance of a stereotypical Capitol Hill hipster who biked for five minutes to find a totally different world, shocked at the clean sidewalks and pleasant-but-busy urbanites constantly checking their watches and wearing polo shirts and driving red sports cars. It was the casual use of "brogrammers" that finally convinced me of this. Oh, and after a whole two hours of pounding the pavement, the bulk of the actual commentary comes from... some dude on Facebook? Oh yeah, that's some rock solid parody right there!
28
Authors are the ones being affected by Amazon's culture. Great, cheap books, but WHO wrote those books? The authors did and they are the people affected by cut-throat pricing. I haven't read about the problem with Hachette, but I have known about the nature of their bargaining tactics for years now and have chosen not to give them my money. It's like getting amazing and cheap coffee at the expense of the growers.
29
Wut n ntrestng aretickle.! Eye whish whee whur aul so smart as to go and antagonize people attempting to make a living in a town with a ridiculous cost of living, rising taxes and now everybody and their mom makes $15 an hour.. But hey, if we all have Lamborghinis, the value of the car will increase like a mofo, right? Great plug to throw in that they're not given food or coffee either. You’re a true Robbin’ Hood. Anzel knows business would have been a more attractive title to this puking of words - you’ve wasted too many virtual trees with your article.

Now that I’ve lowered my brain a few levels closer to you… if you're so disgusted by the likes of major corporations making such a profit why wouldn't you take another opportunity to blame corporate employees for likely being paid more, therefore paying more taxes than you? Tell me, when you took your midday bike ride (on a company provided bike, I hope; with company provided safety gear and water canteens to quench your desired thirst - perhaps some kamchata {organic, obviously} [and if those assholes at The Stranger aren’t paying to import you fresh guava from some exotic shit-hole where some laborer isn't supplied with a cool bike, reflective gear, water canteens and a small taste of that hard earned kamchata that some guy may have taken a shit next to yesterday because there wasn't a bathroom in sight, then you know what? At least you're not working for (and making more money than you are now) those elitist entry level employees that have cool headphones; work in a brand new developed area of a cool town; and could care less about the likes of your ground-breaking investigative journalism - you'll make it to the top some day with an article like this... just keep in mind that not everyone is fishing from Pluto (almost as big as the moon, so you're good). Anyhow, I forgot where I was with my punctuation-un-all flare - 50 pieces? Way to flipping' much. Frankly, I don't give a shit. You know why?

You guessed it. Here's the next paragraph. Change of idea (still think your article is about as worthless as a penis and vagina with a massive electrically charged steel wall in between them - symbology?? You bet your ass it is... I digress) to highlight the effectiveness of your "Christopher Columbus-like" trek into the dangers provided by the South Lake Union dwarves (shit, not scary enough...) COMMUNISTS! (wait, they don't like to share their massive amounts of money with assholes who think Capitalism is fairness for everyone)... You boldly rode your bike into the depths of (I hope you had a spare tire with you! I heard there is some faulty granite there in South Lake Union and a lady was terrified in her transit through there up to the spoils of Capitol Hill and slipped on a spilled latte. And she died. But was revived and given a bandaid - gluten, allergen and estrogen-free, of course). So, back to your arduous, but sacrificial gamble with your life, during a midday bike ride to torment and disperse the wicked, and fight for the simple man!!! Let's close this gap of wage inequality and fight for a stellar atmosphere that embraces employee's utmost desires, even if it costs us profit required to stay in business!! Fight the man!! YEAH!! Then what..

I'll tell you what. You're on a role here. Then you complain about a company with the infrastructure that said "empire" requires, leaving downtown, and scary hobos moving in and getting your lady hooked on downers and she steals your pedals and seat to put in hawk for more downers... and liquor (gotta be Rainier shit! We drank local only). Jobs are outsourced; businesses realize how much of a pain in the ass pains in the ass like you are, and want to just go make money in a country where folks will be shown the back of their boss’ hand just for showing up late. Let’s be realistic.. let's pretend for a moment that when you were the first one (cause I believe you when you tell people that you were) to know about Whole Foods, you didn't want their foods in every hole you have?? - hey, they're organic. Let's pretend. Where would you shop? What influence would poor little Anzel and his cohorts at незнакомец (El Extrano) have over those honorable "small-businesses" that would move in like HPV and make you $.99 GMO rich, glutton friendly, sucka free soy/wheat/white rhino organic ass hair paninis? .. Long story short, and because I'm pretty damn sure that you're getting my vibe, like it or not, Amazon is about you.

Yep, shrank that paragraph just like a turtle head into a shell - get your mind out of the gutter before you go to aych-ee-double-hockey-sticks. Amazon happens to care about you there buddy. Yes, they do. So much that they've taken your "grunge" .. sorry, "hipster" .. snaps, that was so thirty seconds ago ... "digster" shit, "SAMSONITE!!" style and magnified it by the umpteenth power, just ... to .. be .. you. They’dun done it so well that even you're sick of them. Be proud. I’ve just highlighted that your patriotic disgust with them, is equal to America's love for, you... #Murica

Welp, I said it. (it has to be said)

Thee Media. Reporting is an art form, I assume(?). I stopped giving a shit a few presidents ago, but I would say that it takes quite the imagination to take a stance against a company and just go and fuck with their employees to highlight your point... or are we talking about the heroes at Westboro Baptist Church here ...? (If you don't get my sarcasm there, well... well, you need to be riding your bike on a cargo plane flying rubber dog shit to Honk Kong - by the way, you won't have coffee for the ride, and your girlfriend took your pedals and seat to get 1.25 more downers; it's a bumpy ride so bring your organic Adderall "to help you focus"). Here's where we wrap this bullshit comment up - yes, I agree, with you. But by agreeing with you, I have taken an oath to see your intelligent article, and raise the intelligence level with one additional shit (virtually) created by a(n also virtual) bull in hopes of you getting this through your head. Corporations are like the children of emo parents... cute and shit, until they go on a shooting rampage and take all of your money (or just life). Going after a corporation's employees for being “asshole” employees of an “asshole” company much cooler than your or your “so-not-an-asshole” company, is like going after Ronnie James Dio for making Holy Diver with a belief that you'll stop an emo nation. Not to mention, it helps all of us (your readers - not really yours, or a reader of this barffartshit, but just someone who happened to scroll down a Facebook feed and see some shit about a guy that waltzed into the ghettos of Mexico and Afghanistan under the cover of darkness to ask a guy with a fucking porsche if he works for amazon.. cause that shit is not riding a bike and sleeping on some dude's couch that will wake up with you and smoke of a bowl of month old weed and shit, from a "gnarly tornadorizing-hurricanidorian-blowzephit" bong and shit, brah) know exactly who the hell you are. And I hate to say this too, but you don't deserve any better because you can tell on another company's employees in a manner that would make Michael Moore’s penis soft.

That said Anzel, impress us. Be original. Not 9,000th guy in line to be a correspondent on the Jon Stewart show. It's been done. Satire is now Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and whatever other acronym you can think of. Satire (sorry, ehh… Investigative Reporting for the younger generation) is the fucking swap meet that goes to other swap meets and buys the cool stuff to bring back and sell at their swap meet. So you went to Amazon, asked a question and got a dodgy response... slap your boss for agreeing to this assignment. Or were you picking up his weed while you were at it? Cause then it's cool, but say that shit at the beginning of the article son.

If you're as straight-edge as your myopic articles though, it's not cool. Jimi Hendrix did drugs... just saying'. Fool was open about it too… If you're not going to get high as shit and scribble some madness to the tunes of the Star Spangled Banner, then perhaps read a book - preferably a business book. Know that the gap between you and the highest level employers of these people that you are screwing with is widening like Smith in The Matrix 2 was duplicating. Know that it's a battle we've already lost, and all that we can do is slow it down now. A man named Peter Drucker (you're lucky I feel bad for what I've just done to your ability to write down your ideas at work anymore - even on the shitter walls, they're going to check there too) said that CEOs (Drucker just happens to be founder of Performance-based Management; working the GM to assist their decentralized structure in creating a ridiculously agile, profitable and long-term business operation) and management teams that treat employees as customers to a business, rather than workers for said business are much more profitable because they enjoy their jobs… Employees of these types of business environments have emotional investment in their product, or their area of responsibility within the product lifecycle, to do doing a good job; they are not satisfied with cutting corners and fight to achieve customer expectation… (#Murica…). He also believed in limiting a CEO's pay to 20 times the average entry-level employee in his/her/shis field.. maybe 25 times more if the CEO was Russell Wilson or Pete Carroll, you know? Before you respond, google that mess son. Or a read a book by a founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Company.. You’ll know, it’s more than Enough when a guy like him is calling BS on how the US handles “investments.”

Before you go all psh-ah! surfer bro on that idea, know that it's worked (start your investigative reporting here - Herb Kelleher…). Know that you pestering employees for working to drink beer every friday night, or have a car that will take them (maybe their bike and a lady too??) to a place where they can ride in the real woods, or find a spot where the kamchata flows like powered sugar in a dehydrated mouth, is much like you talking to a weasel of an investigative reporter that's obviously looking to be 9,001 in line for the Jon Stewart Show… when you're late for a dumb meating (<—— I know “meeting”) and you’re trying to finish up early so you can get your ass up to throw a football over a mountain and run the hell out of some trail from sun up to sun down.... And drink Rainier, for no other reason than you've seen a mountain named the same thing. See what I'm getting at here...?

Come on.. You wouldn't stop to talk to yourself if you were them. Why? Because your message is annoying. I read it. And then I wrote this shit.. If I were your web-designer, I may swap your story and make it a comment, sorry, after-thought, to this comment… You’re joining the Squatch hunters, and could do better. Don’t be safe and just turn in some bullshit work to keep your lights on for another month… Go stand in front of a Lincoln Town Car at Amazon and ask the person that gets in the back (before his chauffeur closes the door preferably) questions like, "Bro, you're cool with your company's practices and stuff?" “Can I take a picture of you with your red porsche??” “You taken it off of any sweet jumps?” That’s like me asking you, "So the company is cool with Skylar and Juntai making out in the broom closet??" Who the hell is Skylar and Juntai?? Instead, ask them why they use latex condoms, and not lamb-skin if they’re all love the earth and shit, you know? You picking up what I'm putting down here, chief?

Be passionate about the source of an issue and stop following big media’s path of “reporting the news” when you’re only adding to the distraction of more people from the higher-level issue. And have the courage to figure out who/what you can highlight to influence change, or be passionate about shutting the hell up and leaving folks alone while they plan out some cool shit to do this because work sucks, and they don’t get coffee or doughnuts with weed in them even though that mess is legal now. You hear me knocking?

Well let me in.
31
Why was this published before there was any kind of story or anything of interest?

At least allow another day or two to try to get someone to open up. Not like this is breaking news here.
33
So what did Hachette/Time Warner have to say about their desire to raise the price of their ebooks when you called them?

Simon & Schuster, Random House, HarperCollins and others are not currently disputing with Amazon. What did they have to say about their competitor's desire to raise prices? Have you given them a call?
34
@33 - Ansel Herz doesn't work like that. You are expecting him to be a journalist. He's not. He's just a young kid, trying to impress his bosses by writing highly inflammatory, biased articles that get a ton of comments.

His themes are as follows: Class warfare, urban cycling, anything with a "David and Goliath" theme (he thinks he is David).

This particular piece has no point, he didn't manage to acquire any new info - it's just another platform for him to pretend he's a proletariat, a fighter for "the working class", but he's no Studs Terkel. He's just a kid reporter who can't write. He's also a product of a comfortable upbringing - something he does NOT want us to know. Essentially, he's the product of the system he so wants to tear down. What a sad little kid he is.

Fortunately for him, he's found a place that rewards shitty, biased journalism, and he's found a buddy in Paul Constant.

Keep it up guys. You have become the FOX News of the left - and saying this as a lefty myself, your "news" department is comically bad: Writing by kids for kids. Grow the fuck up Ansel, or quit writing.
35
I always thought it couldn't ever possibly get any worse than Erica C. Barnett. I was wrong. Then I thought it couldn't ever possibly get any worse than Dominic Holden. I was wrong.
36
This is one of those stories where a writer says, "I invested half a day on this dumb idea and I'm going to wring some kind of story out it no matter what." He should have cut his losses and shitcanned the idea.

Yes, his hipster contempt oozes throughout. A pair of tech workers are "brogrammers." A clean, new restaurant is "garish." And -- gasp! -- the sidewalks are clean.

Someday our Ansel will grow up and write like an adult. Perhaps soon, when the Stranger will be forced to pay him $15 an hour -- or maybe he'll start with the training wage.
37
It was basically a fair article and it made Amazon look good.
The extended Q&A was persuasive in its favor -- so well done I have to guess that it was from Amazon PR Department.
38
@35
And you keep reading!
Who's the joker, now?
39
So, why use a picture of an old Porsche that costs about half of what a new minivan does?

Is it because cars are bad and your sense of bike-induced righteous entitlement really got the creative juices flowing?
40
Yo, Stranger staff - LISTEN UP: Your SLOG commenters are telling you that your newest hire, Ansel Herz, is NOT working out.

Really, he's dragging down your department with poor writing and childish name calling. (What's the matter with clean sidewalks? Brogrammers...really? And I know the sushi place he was referring to - garish? Bullshit...it's just a normal sushi place. He's an idiot with a HUGE chip on his shoulder).

He's a joke, so the question is: What will it take for you to give him the sack? Most of us want him gone or at least limit him to one article per year.
41
@39 - You nailed it on the head! Or rather, you nailed it right on Herz's little pinhead.
42
Oh all the butthurt people in here that love to treat Ansel poorly. It's hilarious.
43
@42 - It's not "butthurt" (whatever that is), it's requiring a higher standard of journalism than is currently being put forth by this junior reporter/bomb thrower named Ansel Herz.
44
@40
The Stranger is perfectly attuned to you, Ms/Mr @40.
The Stranger is making mucho bucks because it has its market pegged.
The Stranger offers exactly the quality that its readers deserve.
If you didn't like The Stranger you would not be "supporting" it by helping its owner and staff make $$$ (via advertizing -- that's why you are here in case you didn't know.)
45
@43 Yes it is. His writing is clear and well formatted.

You just don't agree with his views. There is a difference between not being able to right an article, and not writing an article that people agree with.

So as I said...butthurt.
46
@32 so since they didnt pay their interns in the past (LIKE EVERYONE ELSE) they're terrible? And since they decided to start paying them... they're STILL somehow terrible?
Shut the fuck up you fucking moron.
47
Pardon me...write...not right. Stupid autocorrect.
48
@46 Actually many of the companies up here have paid their interns for years, and even paid for their college tuition via reimbursement.

I don't hate Amazon, but don't try to paint all of their actions are pretty.

Although I will say that the name you've chosen for your anonymous post suits you very well. :)
49
@34 "Ansel Herz doesn't work like that. You are expecting him to be a journalist. He's not. He's just a young kid, trying to impress his bosses by writing highly inflammatory, biased articles that get a ton of comments."

Aside from all that, Goldy did it better. What happened to that guy? Why did the Stranger downgrade?
50
I don't get why Amazon is necessarily any bad or worse than Hachette is. Hachette isn't some mom and pop publisher. They are the SECOND LARGEST PUBLISHER IN THE WORLD and have been around over 100 years. I'm sure they have their own history of treating customers, employees, and vendors like subhumans from time to time.

If I had to choose, I'd choose Amazon since it contributes mightily to the local economy. One isn't worse than the other.

This is a tempest in a teapot on a good day.
51
@35 Stop it, Dominic is probably the best writer on staff. ECB was pretty bad. But Silver Spoons here takes the cake.

52
@51,

Yeah, forget all about that Pulitzer that Eli Sanders won.

53
Well Ansel, it's initiation time from the people who complain but continue to read. Just take the money and "igbore" them.
54
@49

They fired Goldy because he wanted to refer to Uber, Lyft, et al as operating "illegally" in Seattle, and fought back when Legal squashed the word. Plus other as-yet unspecified "editorial disagreements."
55
"Brogrammer" is a commonly accepted colloquialism to describe a certain kind of young, male (usually white) douchey software worker. If you are at all familiar with the tech industry, you've come across the term. Just because you are a square or don't know the term, don't get your panties in a twist. Even HBO's new comedy "Silicon Valley" name dropped the term in its first episode.

That paragon of amateur journalism known as "Bloomberg" even did a profile on it - http://www.businessweek.com/articles/201…
56
And then there is the "techbro" - http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/201…
57
Funny you should mention Amazon not responding to press inquiries. I've been HOUNDING you with the simple question "What is the racial/ethnic make-up of your staff" for several days and you just keep deleting it and stonewalling the question. Wouldn't be an issue if you hadn't run pieces dissing Google and the GOP for being all "white guys". When you are (unless you want to deny it) WAY whiter. I don't think you have anybody but whites on your staff actually. But you wont address the question, which would take about two minutes to answer. So don't get all superior about another company not answering press inquiries. God I hate how self-righteous and defensive hipsters get.
58
I know it's downhill, but there's no way you can make it from The Stranger to Amazon in five minutes by bike. Maybe at 3am, but not in the middle of the workday.
59
@55 - Straw men are easy to prop up and so much fun to knock down, aren't they?

People are well aware of the meaning (and insulting intent) of the word, and are simply objecting to Ansel's name calling or, best case, juvenile stereotyping. They said 12 words to Ansel and he's ready to pass "douchey" judgement on them?

I look forward to Ansel's next article where he rails against the "stuck-up bitches" that wouldn't agree to his interview request.
60
Not sure what's up with all the Ansel-hating. Thought it was a fine, atmospheric piece about an insular and arrogant company.

All you Amazon employees, put down your android phones, get the fuck back to work and ship my orders. And do something about your fucking plague of third-party drop-shipping middlemen.
61
The Stranger spent more than 20 years using unpaid labor.
62
'"Of course", he explained.' Ha.

There is nothing more beautiful than a 911. That photo's worth the article.
63
@57,

Mudede is black. Larry Mizell, Jr. who writes for the paper at least occasionally (I don't know if he's considered "staff") is also black. I don't know about support staff, but you can probably determine the racial makeup of the people on the masthead by googling their names.
64
@57,

Also, have you even bothered contacting The Stranger directly, or are you just whining in the comments?
65
I just love how he met all of these skilled workers - one of whom pushes the sweet red Porsche - and then compared Amazon pay to Wal-Mart pay.

Amazon is a donor of literature to me n other readers. my homie gave me a kindle all of the classics r free
66
If you want to have a lengthy discussion with an Amazon employee,go stand in line at one of the many food trucks in the area.
67
Ordered 5 things on Amazon Prime last night. Probably saved me 2 hours of driving around looking for the stuff and saved me $ in both price and gas. Instead I'll spend the time with my kids in a park.

What exactly is the problem?
68
"Mudede is black"

He's African. Big difference.
69
This is kind of like stalking Boeing employees in Everett wanting information about their military division. You'll get a few random people from the tanker program who won't say anything, and the rest will look at you like you're nuts.
71
Why all the butthurt about the word "brogrammers?" It's a real phenomenon. Relax, some of you are just nerds or normal people; not all tech (guys) are brogrammers.
72
Amazing, this person lives in Seattle and yet knows no Amazon employees. Everyone I ever met who worked at Amazon despised the place with a passion.
73
@ 3 - A Slippery Slope is not necessarily a logical fallacy, it is just usually unsupported. In this case there is no logical fallacy. If Amazon created a monopoly they could take advandtage of that by raising prices. Walmart is famous for doing this when they move into a new market.
74
@ 54 - Because he wanted to describe them as they very clearly are? That is kinda frustrating because I feel like the fact that they are operating illegaly is often not understood by the public (I guess because nobody in the media is allowed by their legal team to say so out loud). The reason they are cheaper is partially because they are essentially organized pirate taxis that don't pay the fees and such associated with legit taxis.
75
Amazon lists my book online, Raise the Flag: Lean Thy Arms, at jamesmorebooks. and they white collar rob me of profit but they do little of nothing to try to sell this title, when I pay to publish from a judgment against cops who beat me senselessly without cause for arrest and they hold me prisoner in jail, but I am not guilty. So I make something better when I publish those stories 5 of which are autobiographical, true to life stories. I would feel better if they actually do something to help sales.
76
@55: Yeah, we know it's a thing. But he immediately pinned it on these guys when he admittedly had about a 30-second conversation with them. Cheap bullshit.
77
Maybe no free food but Amazon does have fucking insane holiday parties. They rent out the entire Century Link Stadium for these events. The whole thing, not just the field or a couple sections. The whole fucking thing. With real bands like Imagine Dragons or Vampire Weekend. There's unlimited gormet food, acrobats and performers, clowns, puppet shows,celebrities, carnival games, free booze (two drink tickets) - you name it. I went to a few and they were so decadent that people were commenting how it was so fun it actually made you feel a little guilty, like doing the last whippet at an LSD party.
78
@63, I was all ready to add Danielle Henderson to your list, but then I went to the masthead and saw her name is gone.

What happened to Danielle?

Anyway, other people that work at the Stranger that are most likely POC, based on their names: Krishanu Ray (calendar editor) and Sherman Alexie (columnist). There may be more, but I'm not about to Google-stalk everybody.

By my count, 4 out of 31 editors and editorial staff are POC. The diversity issue is more complex than that, of course... 9 out of 31 are women, and I have no real idea about the sexuality/religions of the editorial staff.
79
"Because they barely break even, profit wise at all. It's EASY for Apple to give away money, they make a ton." - brandobean

That's uhhh, VASTLY inaccurate. Even if we a strictly talking about the profits gained from physical products and digital content...Amazon is rolling in profits...If you consider the Amazon Web Services...Amazon is swimming in profits. They don't completely ignore charities, but next to Microsoft and the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation...Amazon's charitable donations are pitiful.
80
My Anusel Hertz!!!!!
82
I'm trying to care, man. I really am. But I can't work up the outrage. Do you know how many towns in this world would love to have Amazon flooding it with cash and investments?
83
@78 Danielle just upped and quit, baby! It's on her Twitter.

I would say Sherman Alexie is a *former* columnist, as The Stranger hasn't had his mini-short stories (which were quite good) in a few months.
84
The Stranger would blame Ford for putting the buggy whip industry out of business.

Out of curiosity, how many people does Hachett employ?

Amazon?

Yeah, think about who you are backing in this one.
85
I think I just got whip-lash from rolling my eyes so hard. I almost feel bad for Herz, trying so hard to find something to accuse someone of.
86
Porsche?

It looks like an editor smooshed a late 70's Datsun 280z together with a Porsche, or else that is the ugliest rear side of as Porsche that I've ever seen. It probably has a VW emblem on it and it's some sort of "THING"
87
I get that there's a general outrage about the 1% and all of that- but this is an internet bookseller that started out of a local guy's garage. This isn't big oil or monsanto- and a decade or two ago the self-righteous accusations I hear being hurled at Amazon would be hurled at the publishing cartels this stance is aligning with. This isn't a mom and pop bookstore vs Barnes and Noble- that was the self righteous battle of the 90's.

This is a local online bookseller- that has a far lower bar of entry for writers btw- did you know Amazon will sell your e-book for you and give you a larger cut than the publishing industry? 50% vs 10 -20.

I want to sell a graphic novel, videogame, a bicycle or just some books and I can create a free marketplace- easier to set up than e-bay. Try coming off the street and working with one of the publishing cartels that gets defended by kneejerk attacks at this successful local company.

I get the valid anger at wall st excess and an oligarchy that just doesn't care about the world or anything else past next years profit- but I have to say- and I don't work for them but I know people that do- Amazon isn't the big monolithic monster you'd like it to be. The more biased articles I see from well meaning papers- especially this one- I have to say it just sounds desperate and half baked. Like police harrassing a pot dealer because the crack dealers are too dangerous. I don't expect anyone to just roll over and deliver positive pr puff pieces to a successful local employer, but I am glad to hear people stick up for them too- thank you for publishing this at least.
88
I'm glad Bezos donated 2.5 million to help fund the gay marriage fight win in this state. I'm even happier he helped turn a high crime ghost neighborhood (SL Union) into a thriving business district. Not happy about the extra car traffic, but who ever is.
89
85: Look Dude it is a fact that there are detriments to big business, including but not limited to the artificially high rents. We moved to shoreline and rented a house instead.

85: Look Dude that is a vintage 911... I'll give the owner some serious daps for not buying a new Porsche like everyone else. It *COULD* be a 912 but even if it is a 912 it's still a great car. If it is a 911S or E it's awesome, even a T is ok.

Ciao.
90
on my kindle the classics r all free

plus I can buy physis of stuff that my bookstore would never carry

sure distro is complex and infrastructure is important but there's a usps. monopoly would b pretty hard to pull off on the internet. how much could prices go up? it's not like the demand curve won't rejigger for pricey books. people don't read books, anymore
91
@90--"people don't read [physical] books, anymore" Not true. Not yet, anyway.

Please wait...

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