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You can air condition a warehouse of any size, but would have to be crazy to do so because of the equipment and electricity cost, and the
ineffectiveness.
A warehouse where things are stored and rarely move in or out is one thing, but a place like Amazon with shipments going in and out all hours means large doors open. Even truck docks open just before arrival will allow a lot of cool air to escape and hot air to come in.
Yes you can A/C a warehouse but as you mention it is almost prohibitavely expensive unless required because of the product you store. Otherwise an A/C warehouse is almost unheard of. And before anyone asks, I've been in a related logistics career field for 20+ years and been in literally hundreds of warehouses, including climate maintained ones (and the climate controlled ones were done only for product or regulatory reasons). When I was younger I worked in a warehouse in humid central florida. Yeah it was brutally hot 9 months out of the year, particularly when you were lifted up to pull parts from high shelfs. It was part of the job.
There are other methods to keep cool that I have seen - exhaust fans, and I have seen huge water chilled fans (like the "swamp coolers" you see out west).
So I agree lets dismiss this point of argument. For the most part - heat is and undeniable part of the job when you work in a warehouse. So are other jobs - construction, roofing, etc. And I dismiss any complaints of "oh it's unfair working in the heat" as that of a crybaby. I also dismiss the article as that from a niave and sheltered reporter without real word experience. I laugh at the article.
Unlike this poster, I assume none of you have ever worked in a non-air conditioned/non-heated warehouse? It's NOT fun. Get back to me when you have and see if you feel the same way.
No, but I wish they had figured out a way to air condition the fields when I cropped tobacco, picked corn and peaches in a Southern US humid summer.
Americans are rather spoiled. I can say I worked for a large cable company and had to pick up equipment from our central warehouse once a week-- the warehouse was not temperature controlled.
Even in warm summers in Europe or in some of the North African countries-- the amount of "air conditioning" used is by no means comparable to what Americans expect.
As another poster said-- sure some warehouses HAVE to be climate controlled-- but who do you think ultimately pays for that cost for an air conditioned warehouse?
Amazon has a warehouse in LasVegas, probably because there is a lot of cheap labor available here. It's a tough job and very physical. They have pickers who assemble the orders and packers who prepare your order for shipping. Both are timed on everything they do and re-evaluated constantly. It's all done by the numbers. Pickers and packers are the jobs that are usually available.
They hire here mostly through agencies and the majority of their jobs are seasonal or part time. That way they pay no benefits or vacation. Last year they were scheduling 4x10's, night shift, for $12.63 per hour during the holidays. Day shift pays a little less.
I took and passed their tests along with a friend last year but we were never called to work. There were too many ahead of us on the list. I figured it would be a great workout. They said you could count on walking 12+ miles a day as a picker.
Yellowsnow I had a friend who worked for FedEx Ground in some sorting facility JUST because of the workout.
The job had a HUGE turnover-- you got a shirt if you made it 30 days.
She became super in shape after a few months. Lasted a year before she was fed up.
You can't air condition warehouses. Every warehouse in the PLANET is hot in the summer. You can put in fans, and that helps a little with the comfort factor but you can't cool them.
News flash:
I work in a building built in 2009 with an air conditioned warehouse!! It's not a very large warehouse though. Guess you're not very familiar with warehouses...
Workers can only be abused if they accept those conditions. They don't have to take the job.
The issue really is, that some jobs suck, and either you can take the heat or get out of the kitchen.
I used to work in an ice cold warehouse, in Idaho, sorting potatoes, standing at a conveyer belt for hours breathing in dust, wearing gloves, boots, a hat, jeans and jacket, for $3 an hour. I did it because there were no other jobs, and I needed the money. Was I "abused"? Or grateful for the job?
Employers know that there aren't many jobs out there, and people are willing to take a crappy, low-paying, robber-baron condition job over nothing.
They are taking advantage of people, because they know the majority working there are not going to complain in fear of losing their job.
But you know, they are nothing without the workers.
There is an excess of business majors, and they are being groomed to just "go along" with the whole corporate mentality. Instead of even thinking something might not be quite right, they are right in there like cog in the gearworks.
This thread is a good illustration of what is wrong with Americans and why nothing ever changes here:
1. Americans HATE Americans and will line up to kick their fellow citizen in the a** when they are down.
2. Americans are in love with corporations and will make ANY and EVERY excuse for their poor behavior.
3. Americans like pain. They especially like to see other Americans in pain and they LOVE to blame those individuals for their pain.
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