Temporarily UnavailableQuitting TimeThis Is UncomfortableI've Always Wondered ...Make Me Smart Daily

Loading...

0:00
0% played
Run into more customer service bots lately? Let Marketplace Tech know. More info
Stories Tagged as

Amazon

Amazon's brick-and-mortar clothing store? All about the algorithm

by Justin Ho
Jan 21, 2022
The online retailer has been experimenting with physical locations for several years now.
Amazon already has brick-and-mortar stores, including for books and groceries. Now, it's looking to clothing.
David Ryder/Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

Those KN95 masks you just bought might not meet testing standards

by Kai Ryssdal and Maria Hollenhorst
Jan 20, 2022
We go shopping for face coverings with a self-professed “mask nerd”
A discarded face mask is seen on the ground. It can be difficult for consumers without specialized testing equipment to verify the quality of masks they purchase.
David Gannon/ Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

New California law seeks transparency for workplace quotas

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Dec 30, 2021
The law is aimed at large warehouse companies that use algorithms to manage worker productivity.
A new California law will require greater transparency from big warehouse operators, like Amazon, on how they use technology to track productivity. Above, a woman works at an Amazon packing station in 2019.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

Some indie bookstores find ways to succeed online

by Mackenzie Martin
Dec 10, 2021
Bookstore sales plunged during the pandemic, so independent sellers pivoted to the internet. They say the hybrid model is here to stay.
The pandemic spurred Raven Book Store owner Danny Caine, author of “How to Resist Amazon and Why,” to expand online sales.
Carlos Moreno
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

What happens to a local job market when Amazon comes to town?

by Amanda Peacher
Nov 8, 2021
In Cathedral City, California, a new Amazon facility may attract workers from traditional tourism-economy jobs.
The site of a future Amazon facility in Cathedral City, California. The giant retailer has nearly doubled the size of its fulfillment network since the start of the pandemic.
Amanda Peacher
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

Amazon has tacked on a Whole Foods delivery fee. Add to cart?

by Amanda Peacher
Oct 29, 2021
Even the giant online retailer is feeling the high cost and slim margin of the grocery business.
"Grocery, in the best of circumstances, is a very low-margin business," says Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester.
Cindy Ord via Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

How HR mishaps left Amazon workers underpaid and out of jobs

by David Brancaccio , Rose Conlon and Meredith Garretson
Oct 26, 2021
Amazon workers lost pay and occasionally jobs due to mistakes by the company's employee leave system.
After Tara Jones, an Amazon warehouse employee in Oklahoma, reported money missing from her paycheck, an internal investigation revealed the problem had been going undetected for over a year.
Joseph Rushmore for The New York Times
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

The future is bright … let’s make it even brighter together.

Be a Marketplace Investor with a donation in any amount today.

Invest in marketplace

There's an industry that handles our returns, and it's not pretty

by Kai Ryssdal and Sean McHenry
Oct 19, 2021
Companies spend a lot of money processing those returns, and many items that are returned won't end up back on the shelf.
An Amazon delivery driver carries boxes into a van outside of a distribution facility in Hawthorne, California.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

California looks to regulate work quota algorithms

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Sep 14, 2021
A measure to regulate Amazon's and other companies' use warehouse work algorithms is headed to Gov. Newsom.
A view of Amazon's current logo.
Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

Employers' new strategy: Come for the work, stay for the college tuition

by Kristin Schwab
Sep 13, 2021
Big companies have started offering free tuition for workers on the front lines. Does it help with retention?
Companies like Target are offering free college to its workers.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE