Let's see Mr and Mrs Bezos out there volunteering first. It's a wholesome honeymoon activity!
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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Amazon asks corporate workers to ‘volunteer’ help with grocery deliveries as Prime Day frenzy approaches
(www.theguardian.com)
And here’s a reminder that it’s actually illegal to volunteer at the same company you’re employed at. Specifically to prevent situations exactly like this, where employers attempt to pressure their employees into volunteering, so they don’t have to pay overtime. If you’re working for your employer, you’re required to be on the clock.
Given, that only works if the rules are actually enforced. And this administration has done a good job of dismantling agencies that would be enforcing this.
Easy, you're a salaried employee and "seasonal duty: light warehouse work"
Boom, it's part of your job.
There are specific requirements for being exempt from overtime, even for salaried employees. There are three big exemptions, and each one has multiple requirements; You need to meet ALL of the requirements for any exemption in order to be legally exempt. I’d advise you to check the requirements here, because employers regularly misclassify workers and lie through their teeth about it to avoid paying OT. Intentional misclassification is one of the most overt ways that employers steal wages, but also extremely common in many industries.
Also, there’s a blue-collar clause that says all manual labor positions are non-exempt. So if they’re dumb enough to write manual labor into your job description, you’re non-exempt no matter how highly paid you are.
next youre gonna tell me something crazy like how the most theft in america is from unpaid wages or whatever
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I think you're mistaking volunteering for a different task as them not being paid - these employees are salaried, they're being paid for this. It's basically just doing 2 hours of warehouse work instead of 2 hours of their usual corporate job. Potentially some people would have to do additional work after hours to make up for work they didn't do in those two hours, but I assume busier people wouldn't volunteer.
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Would somebody please think of the billionaires!?
Sorry, I was distracted be the profits.
The funniest thing about this is that Prime day is a "holiday" of their own making. It's not like it's the Christmas push caused by consumers.
One of the core rule of business is that you don't sell what you do not have. Because that is basivally the definition of fraud (at least one of them).
If you don't have the manpower to deliver "Prime Day", don't offer "Prime Day", as simple as that.
I'll volunteer some more work if you volunteer some more pay
Well if it’s voluntary and the staff gets paid their usual wage - one would assume a higher one than the warehouse folks get - I don’t really see the problem. It doesn’t make sense to try and hire folks for just a few days of peak workload. Not if you can manage it by shifting some folks around. Heck, I’m sure some will appreciate the change of scenery.
If theres one thing we all know desk jockeys appreciate its the opportunity to do manual labor
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Guys we don't have enough delivery drivers for the holidays. Come on down and "volunteer" or you might just find yourself passed over for future promotions. You might think differently but you're just a disposable peon. The night of the delivery you might feel a slight sting. That's pride fuckin' with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts. It never helps. You fight through that shit.
Lol promotions. Sure boss, be right there. Wait for me.
"Promotion" means "not being fired".
I thought we were boycotting bezos? Why are people still buying on Amazon?
Because we are in the smallest minority of people that care enough to change our shopping habits or willingly pay more for something to avoid Amazon.
I know literally nobody in real life that shares my views and most will think I’m a weirdo for being so vocal about avoiding certain companies, taking part in boycotts, or protesting.
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Corporate people should spend some time periodically in the trenches anyway. Otherwise, they're totally clueless about how everything works.
Yes, but not volunteered
It's business hours Tue-Fri. Sounds like the volunteer isn't for unpaid work, but for volunteering to do this instead of their normal duties for the week.
Tho I'm sure they'll get dinged on their performance review if their regular work output reduces, so I'm guessing they will end up needing to put on unpaid hours to compensate.
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I guess bezos had to recoup his wedding costs. Some that, for him, could be done in the time it took me to write this snark.
Um, no dude. You hired me to code your cloud infrastructure. You have an army of delivery people. Leave me alone.
Hey, that's socialism.
why would anyone volunteer to do amazon warehouse work
Desperate fear of termination. There's like a 5% chance this will help.
What kind of brainwashed loser would fall for this
Plenty. If you've ever worked retail you'd know the answer to this question. the "lifers" will volunteer. You know the types if you've worked in retail. They'll do it thinking it'll look good to some upper manager and allow them to get promoted for simply showing loyalty to the company. The ones who believe and tell you constantly how the company can do no wrong, how great it is to work for said company, and how the company has their best interests in mind.
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I have a salaried job, and from time to time when there's a big order we are asked to help out the manufacturing team, which is paid hourly. It tends to be repetitive assembly-line stuff, but it can be a fun change from the office work.
It's not unusual during specific times to redeploy people temporarily where they are needed more. The alternative is to hire a bunch of seasonal staff. You have to train them anyway, but at least by redeploying existing people you at least know they are reliable.
That's a big nope from me. If it's not in the job description I was hired to do I'm not doing it unless we renegotiate my salary. This is how they take advantage of people.
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I'm sorry, are you not a multi-billion-dollar company dominating the global markets? Are you suddenly confused and thinking you're running a charity that requires regular donations? Are your 99% tax exemptions not enough to cover your bases? What world do you think you're living in?
"No, no, they're not slaves. They're highly skilled workers with short-term contracts. And they even get food.". This is how I see it.
volunteer to cover our glorious CEO's wedding costs and be a part of history!
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How about paying your staff for the work they should do?
How much money does Bezos make per hour? Ah yes, about 7,9 million USD. (2023).
Stop making rich people richer.
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The manager said volunteers are “needed” to work Tuesday through Friday this week, in two-hour shifts between 10am and 6pm in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, where the company operates a warehouse as part of its grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh.
Sounds like they're getting paid but I'm really hung up on the word "volunteer". If I'm paid my regular wage and can fit it, really not a problem.
I run a ransomware recovery department at my company. We don't staff the department beyond us three managers. When we get an IR, we ask for volunteers in the normal staff to work for us. They get 1.5x + $25/ hour and a $50/day Uber Eats credit for working 4 hours OT.
We get a lot of volunteers.
I doubt Amazon is doing anything like that. If they don't get enough volunteers, I could see them switching to "volunteer or else."
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You mean "buy nothing day"? Cuz that's my plan.
I would never volunteer one unpaid minute for any employer. I don't see them volunteering any money because your personal life is going through a rough patch.
That's until the Amazon robots take the jobs and staff are downsized https://www.wsj.com/tech/amazon-warehouse-robots-automation-942b814f
Great – when there’s a service outage you can help the engineers!
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