Another $3 million building permit application filed to fit out this structure.
Another $3 million building permit application filed to fit out this structure.
Actually I love that other retailers are so dedicated to compete with Amazon. I just bought a point-shoot camera (I have some DSLR's but I don't always want to bring them for casual photograph and my phone doesn't have a good enough camera). Amazon had the cheaper price on both the camera and memory card. But I don't have Prime and Amazon's free shipping would take 5-8 days. BestBuy was offering free 2-day shipping and price match. I went ahead and ordered through bestbuy so I could get the free 2-day shipping, and then I called BestBuy and got the price match retroactively with no hassle. I would have just gone to pick it up in store but it was out of stock.
Amazon's price power makes it actually better to avoid Amazon and just use Amazon to get price matching at more competetive retailers when you can make it work.
More details on this facility:
I have some comments about the threat of Amazon to local economies.
I do worry sometimes about the negative economic effects of ecommerce, and Amazon in particular with how much control of online retail it has. However, I think some of the most significant benefits of ecommerce don't come into this conversation often enough. For instance, the immeasurable selection of products offered online can increase competition*(always a healthy economic force), help people to find and choose products they are more satisfied with, and help people live healthier lives. I think what's more exciting than any of that, though, is that ecommerce can enable people anywhere to start and grow thriving small businesses. More on that in a minute.
After my wife and I got married a few years back, we were quite happy to peruse the aisles of Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond looking for just the right whisk or cutlery set. We used to buy practically everything from Target. Now, however, because of our evolving values and priorities, we rarely spend any significant amount of money at stores like these. We walk through aisles and marvel that, without the slightest exaggeration, 90-95% of the items on the shelves – from clothing to housewares, furniture to grocery, personal care to office supplies*– are things we have no interest in (due to materials, quality, source, etc.). This comment was actually going to be about this shift in our lifestyle and how it's affected by ecommerce, but I discovered that's way too lengthy of a subject to explore properly here. Suffice to say that we've discovered ways of living that we enjoy much more than what's possible with the mass-produced, race-to-the-bottom quality, plastic-everywhere Chinese imports that fill local store shelves. And it's not that we buy a bunch of luxury products or anything. Shopping online gives us access to reasonably-priced products that fit with our particular values, tastes, standards, etc. And those products are more and more often from small businesses in the US, whether purchased from third-party sellers on Amazon or directly through their own websites. And that brings me back to my comment above about small businesses. For a variety of reasons, Americans' buying habits are changing, as mine and my wife's have been (though we may be a little ahead of the curve). The age of Americans just buying whatever brick-and-mortar retailers choose to put in front of them is ending.
The way ecommerce is evolving gives ordinary people opportunities that they wouldn't otherwise have to develop, market, and sell more narrowly-targeted products than what's practical for traditional retailers and distribution systems. Few people are going to get rich doing this, but many can make a living. I know of a woman that sells handkerchiefs on Amazon. There's nothing flashy or terribly interesting about them*– just plain cotton handkerchiefs – but according to reviewers, they're made from soft, thick flannel and they do the job better than any others. The customers are loyal (judging from outcry when the products temporarily went out of stock) and the seller has a successful business. This kind of thing requires investment and hard work just like any good business does, but the opportunities are there and growing. And growing along with the opportunities is the potential for local economic growth as new ecommerce businesses start and grow throughout the country.
Will things play out that way? Who knows? But the potential for the economy to shift even a little more toward smaller, more geographically-distributed businesses is exciting to me at least. Amazon isn't just a behemoth retailer. It's also a platform for others to gain exposure and sell their products.
^^Some interesting points I hadn't considered.
^^^^^ +2
I've heard rumblings at my warehouse job that this sorting facility is starting new employees out at $18/hr. That would be more than my employer pays, less than Purina and DEF less than Tinker.
No one will want to work there for $11-12/hr. May be more realistic to see them starting at $15 or $16/hr. We'll know in another year when the facility opens.
Roof going on.
Everything but the white roof is a metal mesh support structure.
For scale, keep in mind each one of those openings on the side facing Council are truck docks; they go all the way around the north and east sides as well.
Whats crazy is the warehouse just south of the intermediate school is even larger than this thing! I dont recall what it is, but it's massive.
At least in these two cases, it's because someone is building them to occupy them. Whereas the other large warehouse spaces built across the street from here, were speculative, and still sit empty. A third new construction is still on-going, and that's great. But what gets me is that they chose all this over using the existing Will Rogers. So there must be something unattractive about the space they had.....i mean it did get torn down except for one section.
I think some developers over-anticipated an energy warehouse upturn. But all those folks that got hurt in the downturn are just going to be that much more careful now. Glad to see a more diverse group of companies moving in the area.
They are holding a job fair in OKC on 8/2:
http://amazondelivers.jobs/about/our...obs/okc5-jobs/
I wouldn't be surprised. Amazon isn't exactly known for being some amazing employer. I mean it is a warehouse position, not a tech office position. I dont know why anyone would think they would be different from any other similar sorting facility employer.
It's an absolutely abysmal place to work whether one is salaried or not. 100% turnover in any given position is the marking of a company that doesn't care about it employees, contractors, etc.
http://www.ibtimes.com/amazoncom-has...panies-1361257
Yet, we all want cheap stuff so in the end Walmart and Amazon do massive business that drives the need for these jobs.
I saw the same thing in California over and over again... People claiming to care about the field workers but not so much to actually pay more for produce.
The high cost of low prices...
It looks like they are offering health care to even part time workers though. That's nice.
similar to UPS, so that's cool
I don't be know about what the policy will be here, but didn't Amazon win a case that allowed them to keep staff for unpaid time to go through a long security process after their shift?
Amazon's Jeff Bezos is now the richest man in the world
I cannot even fathom those sums of money.
My stepson and his wife both work for Amazon in Seattle and have for a few years. They work in the HQ building and an adjacent building. They love their work, people actually will bring their dogs to work. They are on a come and leave as you go basis. They both make over 100 k a year. They also received 200 shares each as an incentive.... the share price was $1,058 yesterday. They have to work 4 years to get the full amount as it's partially awarded I believe on annual basis. They said not every person can work for them, they see people come and go, but they seem to be somewhat happily employed.
yea, I suppose it might be a bit better in Seattle. I have several buddies who worked as Area Managers in the distribution centers. One of the guys was promised day shifts when he was hired but was given nights once he started. The other had, on more than one occasion, vacations scheduled months in advance, but the company said he couldn't go at the very last minute.
One of the guys calls me up out of the blue asking if my company had a place for him. He was completely miserable even though he had been with Amazon for less than a year. And this kid was no Snowflake.
I just think people need to understand that, just because Amazon is absolutely killing it, doesn't necessarily mean it's a great place to work. We can't deny that Amazon is phenomenal for consumers, but that level of performance can take a toll on the workers. And I don't think Jeff really cares. He just wants a piece of everything. Hopefully the government steps in and blocks the Whole Foods deal.
When you break it down in these terms you realize even $1B is an unfathomable sum of money:
If you want to consume $1,000,000,000 you have to spend a little under $55,000 every single day for 50 years straight. Sure, you could buy lots of people lots of stuff and make it go a lot quicker, but at that point *you* are not the person consuming all of that wealth. And so much of what would be purchased isn't even entirely consumable. You can't "consume" a $1.5M home. You can use it, see it depreciate, etc. But to go from $1.5M to completely valueless is not a real thing.
While I guess it's "doable" it's not even remotely practical.
They don't seem to mind Comcast/Charter, and Sinclair/Tribune. Now, after gobbling up DirecTV, AT&T is eyeing Time Warner and it looks likely enough to make bets on, rather than against. Comcast/Charter is in the dating phase with Sprint. I don't think they'll even bat an eye at Amazon/Whole Foods.
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