Break out your reading glasses and pour yourself some tea, The Huffington Posts’s long-form journalism arm, HighLine, just published
Break out your reading glasses and pour yourself some tea, The Huffington Posts’s long-form journalism arm, HighLine, just published a few thousand words on the death of a local man at a Chester Amazon facility and it is a doozy.
Jeff Lockhart Jr., 29, was one of thousands of Amazon.com’s temporary warehouse employees. His job was running around the 1.1 million square feet fulfillment facility in Chester, VA, picking out items for delivery.
Lockhart, a large-framed man at 6’3 and 300 lbs, managed to stay part of the temporary work force long after other temps had cycled through the demanding job, and he believed his hard work would pay off and land him a coveted permanent job with the company.
But before he could move on from a temp with a white badge to a full time employee with a blue badge, he was found sprawled out on the floor suffering from heart issues – he lated died from what the coroner’s office believed to be an irregular heart beat.
The HuffPo write up doesn’t just interview Lockheart’s grieving wife, journalist Dave Jamieson said he spoked to plenty of Amazon wear house employees around the country – some with great things to say, others with no-so-nice things.
The online retailer has come under fire since the New York Times published a scathing write up damning the company’s cut through culture, so stories about the low level and temp employees were sure to follow, even if it violated an NDA or two.
Take a look at the full write up here, and before you jump to conclusions, consider the number of folks employed by Amazon down in Chester, and ask them how they feel about the job.
I’m sure we all know someone who makes the 30 min trek daily to make sure you get your new bed frames and hard drives delivered in 48 hours or less.
