this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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Corporate employees of Amazon were asked on Monday to volunteer their time to the company’s warehouses to assist with grocery delivery as it heads into its annual discount spree known as Prime Day.

In a Slack message reviewed by the Guardian that went to thousands of white-collar workers in the New York City area from engineers to marketers, an Amazon area manager called for corporate “volunteers to help us out with Prime Day to deliver to customers on our biggest days yet”. It is not clear how many took up the offer.

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 6 points 1 hour ago

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.

[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 1 points 19 minutes ago

Like I tell my employer when he asks me for a favour “favours are for friends, you’re not my friend, you’re my employer, pay me”

[–] Tire@lemmy.ml 1 points 26 minutes ago

Does anyone actually care about Prime Day? Isn’t it a bunch of cheap crap that’s marked up then “down”?

[–] justanothermonkey@lemmy.world 1 points 33 minutes ago

The best part of this is that with how scarce jobs are getting, these corpos are going to start incentivizing folks to do this kind of shit by "laying off" workers who won't stand for this. Like you get brownie points for doing free work and in turn get a little more job security. Think about it, if you won't do it - someone else will, and people need jobs. Man fuck those people.

[–] d00ery@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago

That's until the Amazon robots take the jobs and staff are downsized https://www.wsj.com/tech/amazon-warehouse-robots-automation-942b814f

[–] Ikarius@lemmy.world 11 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

"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.

[–] RadioFreeArabia@lemmy.world 9 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

If you work without pay that's slavery

[–] slate@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

They're paid a salary, which is probably significantly more than what drivers are paid.

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

Generally this kind of thing would be overtime, though.

[–] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 13 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

I thought we were boycotting bezos? Why are people still buying on Amazon?

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 1 hour ago

I'd love to boycott Amazon, but we rely on them for food deliveries. Instead, I like to order things individually throughout the day. I don't wait and collect orders, and send them at once, I send them as I think of them. That way each order is billed separately, making each order as expensive as possible, wasting just a bit of Bezos' profit, and making sure his employees are working and getting paid.

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.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 11 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

volunteer to cover our glorious CEO's wedding costs and be a part of history!

[–] TonyOstrich@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Technically he isn't the CEO anymore. Doesn't mean he isn't still a cunt.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 59 minutes ago)

well lets settle on glorious founder and leader then

[–] orenj@lemmy.sdf.org 18 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

why would anyone volunteer to do amazon warehouse work

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 7 points 13 hours ago

Desperate fear of termination. There's like a 5% chance this will help.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 19 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Is Amazon too poor to pay their employees now?

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

Well did you see that wedding? That shit don't pay for itself.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 16 points 18 hours ago

Hey, that's socialism.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 9 points 17 hours ago

You mean "buy nothing day"? Cuz that's my plan.

[–] LeninsOvaries@lemmy.cafe 26 points 23 hours ago

I'll volunteer some more work if you volunteer some more pay

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 19 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Corporate people should spend some time periodically in the trenches anyway. Otherwise, they're totally clueless about how everything works.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 15 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 13 hours ago

I volunteer for stuff like this if it gets me out of meetings. I've donated over a gallon of blood at work.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] wheezy@lemmy.ml 12 points 22 hours ago

Dude. Like half of our GDP is about selling shit that we pretend exists.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 120 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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.

[–] 3abas@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Easy, you're a salaried employee and "seasonal duty: light warehouse work"

Boom, it's part of your job.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

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.

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[–] RussellSprouts@lemmy.world 5 points 22 hours ago

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.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 22 hours ago

Um, no dude. You hired me to code your cloud infrastructure. You have an army of delivery people. Leave me alone.

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 15 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

What kind of brainwashed loser would fall for this

[–] rozodru@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago

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.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

When you’re stuck working at a desk all day, every day, forever, suddenly spending a day or two checking out a big ol’ warehouse sounds pretty fun. You’re still getting paid a white collar salary and benefits, and you don’t have to worry about grinding your bones down and all that because it’s only a few days, not decades of backbreaking g work.

[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

You’re still getting paid a white collar salary and benefits

That's not generally what "volunteer" means. From the article,

Amazon office workers in New York requested to donate time over to Fresh delivery process during firm’s busiest time.

[–] Shacktastic@lemy.lol 2 points 16 hours ago

Your quote is from the sub-headline, which was probably written by an editor if not AI. I wouldn't put too much trust in it without supporting details. To the contrary, the detail about being able to step into a conference room to take work calls implies that they are expected to stay connected to their normal job and not bill it as vacation/time off.

The way it works in my company (not Amazon) is that office workers will occasionally be given "volunteer" opportunities to help with a temporary workload crunch and these will be paid at your normal salary. Sometimes it's a good deal to get a break from routine, show the boss you're a team player, and pad out weak progress on yearly goals. Other times it may require uncomfortable work and prolonged absence from home (without overtime pay). But they're upfront about it and participation is truly voluntary.

[–] capital_sniff@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

Well we currently share this country with people that voted three times for the Trump regime. I'm just saying we don't currently have a dearth of incredibly stupid people.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 36 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 138 points 1 day ago

Let's see Mr and Mrs Bezos out there volunteering first. It's a wholesome honeymoon activity!

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] Pistcow@lemmy.world 86 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Would somebody please think of the billionaires!?

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[–] Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml 7 points 23 hours ago

This doesn’t surprise me of the USA, at all.

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