The Amazon empire is extending its tentacles into the Valley, with the planned opening of a new distribution center in Holyoke.
Ironically, the goliath of on-line shopping, notorious for its oppressive labor practices, will launch its operations in a building that formerly housed the Paolo Friere Social Justice Charter School on Lower Westfield Roa. Up to 700 vehicles will arrive at the center each day, to be filled with orders prepared by Amazon’s roughl 300 employees.
Many are understandably welcoming the promise of 300 new jobs in Holyoke, with an unemployment rate above the national average and a poverty rate of 28.6%.
Last October, Amazon raised its minimum hourly wage to $15. On Sept. 4, 2018, the annual salary for Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, was $81,840, according to Money.com. Add his benefits and stock options and his earnings jumped to $160,000 per minute, roughly an amount that would take 5½ years for Amazon’s Holyoke workers to earn. His 16% ownership of Amazon stocks makes Bezos the richest man in the world, yet when Bezos gave hourly employees a wage increase, he also terminated their stock options and incentive pay.
The drivers of those 700 vehicles pulling into the Holyoke distribution center each day are likely to represent companies Amazon contracts with, part of a gig economy that abdicates Amazon from any responsibility for vehicle or bodily damage, or even death. “Amazon Flex,” a program that pays drivers to make deliveries, much like Uber or Lyft, is Amazon’s new source of cheap labor. “Flex” workers are exempt from the benefits and rights of permanent employees.
Amazon’s growth is boundless. The company that started out as an online bookstore in 1994 posted $252 billion in revenue for the 12 months ending June 30, 2019. Amazon’s success rests on its ability to provide its customers with instant gratification, offering them virtually anything they want at bottom-line prices.
For $12.99 a month, Amazon Prime members get free one-day shipping on millions of products. With one-click shopping I no longer have to shlep clumsily wrapped holiday packages to the post office. When I lost my cycling gloves, I ordered a new pair the same evening, and got them a day later.
Online shopping was originally thought to be environmentally friendlier than driving from store to store. Customers made their purchases from the comfort of home, paid for delivery and patiently waited for Fed-Ex, UPS or DHL to deliver.
That was before Amazon’s promise of free two-day delivery to its Prime members. We have been seduced by convenience, while ignoring the environmental and human price of feeding the Amazon beast. Those 700 trucks and vans driving in and out of the Holyoke distribution center are joining with millions of vehicles around the world for what is termed “the last mile,” that runs between the distribution center and a package’s destination.
Transportation has become the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to research from the Rhodium Group. On July 15-16, Amazon’s Prime Day(s) of sales to Prime members, resulted in 175 million items purchased across 18 countries. Imagine the environmental impact of all those deliveries!
Amazon has kept secret the size of its carbon footprint, though it plans to release this information by the end of 2019. Amazon’s cloud services use between 50,000 and 80,000 servers consuming huge amounts of energy and water to stay cool, according to an April article in New Republic. Add the energy that is used to run a corporation employing 647,500 workers, as well as the unregulated practices of contracted companies providing inventory for Amazon’s e-commerce and you have a monster-sized carbon footprint!
The contagion effect of Amazon’s unfathomable growth increases the carbon footprint of other retailers like Walmart and Target, which are trying to expand its online markets. Amazon has revolutionized shopping in a way that is incompatible with environmental sustainability.
Last February, it unveiled “Shipment Zero,” a plan to reduce Amazon’s net carbon emissions to 50% by 2030. Given the company’s enormous growth, even if Amazon reaches its goal, the decrease in emissions will still be greater than those generated today, New Republic reported.
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg recently said on The Late Show, “Environmental stewardship is not just about taking care of the planet. It’s about taking care of our neighbor.”
Amazon’s success is dependent on its hourly workers, who are subjected to unreasonable monitoring and demands for productivity. Draconian working conditions led Amazon employees in Minnesota to stage a strike during this year’s Prime Day.
How Amazon workers in Holyoke will fare remains to be seen. I am mindful, however, of the retail stores less than a mile away in the Holyoke Mall, whose businesses are not booming, as well as the impact of Amazon on Northampton’s once-flourishing Main Street.
Unless consumers make convenience secondary to the health of our planet, Amazon will continue on its destructive path.