A review by brontherun
Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec MacGillis, Stefan Alexander MacGillis
4.0
Nauseating. Frustrating. Infuriating. All of these feelings rise up as you read the book Fulfilment. The company tramples any needs of local communities, individual workers, the political system in its drive to control as much of the economy as possible.
As MacGillis outlines the various Amazon locations, businesses, deals with politicians, and overall operating strategy, he strongly lays the argument that they break the basic social contract of civilization. Or, as he puts it, “The basic social compact applied to others, but not them.” The give and take of society is upturned by Amazon. Where individuals pay taxes to benefit from shared support (think schools, fire, roadwork, and utilities), Amazon doesn’t pay taxes in most places, gets other monetary incentives form governments, but overwhelms local community infrastructure and environments. They take, but not give, on a massive scale. “The taxpayer would have to make up for what the company did not provide.”
And while the advocates will point to job creation as a balance to that, it doesn’t pan out. The use of part time employees, seasonal employees, and subcontractors dilutes liability and employee costs to the company and hardly enriches the local workers bank accounts. And the low quality of work environment and many minimal wage positions do not offset the hit to the local public funds. In fact, “In 2018, it emerged that one in ten Amazon employees in Ohio was making so little on the job that they were receiving food stamps. Nationwide, the company was one of the top employers of food stamp recipients in at least five states.” In reality, they are not the kind of employer to relieve your area of poverty by providing jobs. On the contrary, they are likely to use up your power, tear up your roads, and not provide much back. Except for cheap, unnecessary junk delivered in numerous cardboard boxes to clutter up households everywhere.
I may be a bit in an echo chamber as I read this book, and I acknowledge that. But my 6 years of boycotting Amazon seems to be confirmed as a good decision after hearing some of these additional stories.
As MacGillis outlines the various Amazon locations, businesses, deals with politicians, and overall operating strategy, he strongly lays the argument that they break the basic social contract of civilization. Or, as he puts it, “The basic social compact applied to others, but not them.” The give and take of society is upturned by Amazon. Where individuals pay taxes to benefit from shared support (think schools, fire, roadwork, and utilities), Amazon doesn’t pay taxes in most places, gets other monetary incentives form governments, but overwhelms local community infrastructure and environments. They take, but not give, on a massive scale. “The taxpayer would have to make up for what the company did not provide.”
And while the advocates will point to job creation as a balance to that, it doesn’t pan out. The use of part time employees, seasonal employees, and subcontractors dilutes liability and employee costs to the company and hardly enriches the local workers bank accounts. And the low quality of work environment and many minimal wage positions do not offset the hit to the local public funds. In fact, “In 2018, it emerged that one in ten Amazon employees in Ohio was making so little on the job that they were receiving food stamps. Nationwide, the company was one of the top employers of food stamp recipients in at least five states.” In reality, they are not the kind of employer to relieve your area of poverty by providing jobs. On the contrary, they are likely to use up your power, tear up your roads, and not provide much back. Except for cheap, unnecessary junk delivered in numerous cardboard boxes to clutter up households everywhere.
I may be a bit in an echo chamber as I read this book, and I acknowledge that. But my 6 years of boycotting Amazon seems to be confirmed as a good decision after hearing some of these additional stories.