Amazon Now Gives Away 5,000 Bananas a Day (fortune.com) 125
An anonymous reader writes: When thinking up ways to give back to its home city, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos decided to give out free bananas. That was in December 2015, when Amazon first launched the Community Banana Stand, handing out bananas to whoever wants a snack. Over a year later, Amazon has handed out over a million bananas to the Lake Union and Denny Regrade communities in Seattle, averaging almost 5,000 a day, the company said recently. By comparison, Seattle was home to just 662,400 people in 2015, according to the city's Office of Planning and Community Development. Employees and non-employees are welcome to grab one, or even more, of the fruit.
Overrated comment incoming (Score:2)
Re:Overrated comment incoming (Score:5, Funny)
That's nuts.
Surely being pedantic it's bananas
Re:Overrated comment incoming (Score:5, Funny)
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Sounds like someone burned his fingers on a common kitchen appliance . . .
Oook! (Score:2)
The sound uttered by an Orangutan with soft leathery hands and kind eyes.
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Because I go to the grocery store and have four choices. "Roma" tomatoes which I think are just misshapen regular tomatoes most of the year. "Hothouse" tomatoes which are your standard tasteless round red thing. "Tomatoes on the vine" which are the same as the hothouse tomatoes but you get the privilege of paying for the weight of the vine too, and my pick of a pile of "heirloom" tomatoes which I hope taste good because paying $3 each it better blow my fuckin
amazon deforestation (Score:3)
IIRC, amazon forest is being razed to grow bananas. since the banana's dont' replenish the soil it goes barren and new forest land must be razed. The common cavendish Banana is also a clone. all of them are genetically identical. similar to the coming age of employees.
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I note that there are sustainable banana farms and chiquita is supposedly one of these
http://business-ethics.com/201... [business-ethics.com]
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The common cavendish Banana is also a clone. all of them are genetically identical.
Don't forget that there is also a blight currently spreading through banana farms right now that is destroying crops. Since all these bananas are clones it spreads easily and none of them are able to defend against it.
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Not saying that the blight is not a thing, but perhaps the people who raise bananas are not as fucking stupid as the news makes them out to be, and have been careful, and able to mostly control the
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I always heard the rain forest was being razed for cow pastures, not only reducing the carbon sink of the forest but increasing methane gas release in it's place resulting in acid rain that further destroys vegetation.
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"Those who don't read the news are uninformed. Those who read the news are misinformed" - Twain
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methane gas release in it's place resulting in acid rain that further destroys vegetation.
Acid rain does not come from methane. If you flunked high school chemistry, you probably should avoid discussing chemicals in a public form.
Re:amazon deforestation - Incorrect (Score:3)
this is interesting, having grown up around banana plants etc. So you know all bananas are clones as it's next to impossible to grow a banana from a seed those are the little dots along the core of a mature banana. Banana's are one of the most nutritious fruits and they are cheap. I'm sure this may not be a lofty a solution as you would like to see but the bottom line is it is a efficient way to feed people. Since you are in a complaining mood one thing to complain about is single sourced bananas, despit
There's always money in the banana stand (Score:2)
They just haven't monetized it yet.
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Re:LOL (Score:5, Insightful)
I think paying taxes would be more effective.
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I think paying taxes would be more effective.
Because people benefit from B2 bombers more than from free bananas?
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Not all of it would go to the military. It could be used for the list above or paying down the Federal debt just as well.
WTF (Score:1)
Seriously, WTF is up with bananas being pushed on everyone lately? Many of the convenience stores around my town for the last couple of years have had mounds of bananas near the cash register, many of which aren't even ripe.
Was there some massive genetic engineering project on Bananas that went awry and led to an unprecedented crop that just HAD to be unloaded? Or, seriously, what?
Bananas are phallic and disgusting.
Re: WTF (Score:1)
It's actually more likely that bananas will go extinct. The Cavendish banana is seriously threatened from a new strain of Panama Disease. The Gros Michel banana was wiped out in the 1960s by Panama Disease, and was replaced by the inferior Cavendish banana. The Cavendish banana is a monoculture with no genetic diversity, naming it vulnerable to the new strain of Panama Disease, known as Tropical Race 4. It also affects some other varieties of bananas, making them quite vulnerable, too. Bananas, as we know t
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It's actually more likely that bananas will go extinct. The Cavendish banana is seriously threatened from a new strain of Panama Disease. The Gros Michel banana was wiped out in the 1960s by Panama Disease, and was replaced by the inferior Cavendish banana. The Cavendish banana is a monoculture with no genetic diversity, naming it vulnerable to the new strain of Panama Disease, known as Tropical Race 4. It also affects some other varieties of bananas, making them quite vulnerable, too. Bananas, as we know them, are actually in danger of extinction.
The elimination of the Cavendish from mass production might be the best thing that could happen. Rather than the bland Cavendish having a near monopoly in the West we might see the introduction of some of the more tastier varieties that are being kept out of the market because the Cavendish is cheaper and what everyone thinks a banana is supposed to taste like. Just like I can pick my variety of apple, (Braeburn thank you), I long for the day I can pick from multiple varieties of Ice Cream.
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Sorry, not sure why I wrote Ice Cream (although one of the varieties of Banana is called the Ice Cream because it tastes like Ice Cream)... I obviously meant "pick from multiple varieties of banana.
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Why not both? Bananas and Ice Cream. There is enough room in this world for both.
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Banana Splits for all!
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Seriously, WTF is up with bananas being pushed on everyone lately?
Probably the main reason is: there is no reason, it isn't happening, it's all in your head.
Nobody is going to make you eat bananas (unfortunately).
some people are saying, I don't know... (Score:2)
Repeal BezosCatering now!
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many of which aren't even ripe.
That's actually not a bug, it's a feature.
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Fair enough. I mistakenly assumed convenience store and supermarket are the same thing.
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Think Quick-e-mart from the Simpsons. Around here there are, 7-eleven, Royal Farms, and Wawa that are all convenience stores.
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Delivery (Score:2)
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I hope the brakes on the truck hold out...
Mashed bananas are useful in some recipes, though.
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In a month, that would be like thirty thousand pounds...
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- Yo Grark
A Little R&R (Score:1)
That is great that they are giving out snacks, but people need a place to relax. I suggest the immediate installation of banana hammocks at all stands.
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What they don't tell you... is that every one of those bananas has been up Bezos' ass.
Was that before or after the pennies? And the watch?
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Aww, come on? Whoever modded that down obviously didn't get either [youtube.com] reference [funnyordie.com].
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Ah... he is following the ass pennies [funnyordie.com] strategy for success.
Amelia Bedelia Syndrome? (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe Jeff Bezos doesn't realize that his code monkeys aren't actual monkeys.
M_S
I thought the saying was (Score:2)
I thought the saying was "If you pay peanuts you get monkeys".
War on fruit merchants! (Score:3)
So after book stores, Amazon now wants to push Banana stores out of business?
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So after book stores, Amazon now wants to push Banana stores out of business?
But, really, the kind of service I get from my local fruit dealer just can't be matched. I mean, Carlos really knows his bananas. He's familiar with all the types: green, slightly green, mostly yellow, spotted, heavily mottled, and brown. I know the ones we mostly get in the U.S. are all clones with exactly the same genetics, but Carlos really knows his stuff. And the service! Once I had sprained my ankle, and Carlos even helped me carry my box of bananas home. Can you get that service from Amazon?
W
Re: Fix the damn internet first (Score:1)
It's bad only on Seattle. No competition is bad. 7 years ago you could get 15mbps for $35/mo in Phoenix. Now the cheapest internet is $45/mo and it's a special under the counter for 5mbps. At the same time 7 years ago in Europe I could get 25mbps for $100/year
So that is how to do it. (Score:1)
Bad Move ! (Score:1)
Some one will either slip on a banana peal or get a banana addiction and sue Amazon
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You beat me to it. Why don't they just pay taxes so the poor and homeless can get their not just their own bananas but perhaps medical care, housing, food, jobs training, etc.
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pay your taxes, goverment funds/employees the poor, poor buys their own bananas
For the government take over this project there would be: banana tax forms, banana accountants, banana tax enforcement agents, the office of banana procurement (with a nice office building in DC), the office of banana distribution (with a nice office building in DC), a Congressional banana oversight committee complete with budget for banana inspection tours, the president's special banana adviser.... ok, these jokes almost write themselves. Anyway you get the idea. Or Amazon can do it themselves and pay a w
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I'm having flashbacks to Gravity's Rainbow.
I WANT IN ON THIS! (Score:2)
Free banananas on demand for all!
Do I have to sign up for Prime to be eligible?
Secret motivation (Score:2)
They're obviously trying to boost sales of the Hutzler 571 Banana slicer. https://www.amazon.com/Hutzler-571-Banana-Slicer/product-reviews/B0047E0EII [amazon.com]
Amazon is a hollaback? (Score:2)
That's bananas...ba-na-na-s.
Summary is nonsense (Score:1)
"By comparison, Seattle was home to just 662,400 people in 2015, according to the city's Office of Planning and Community Development."
um... total non sequitur. What does the population have to do with bananas? They say how many bananas were handed out, not anything about population numbers.
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Sorry, the author assumed the readers could do their own math; providing this figure is supposed to convey that almost 1% of the city's population gets a banana per day from this program.
I'm convinced of this. (Score:5, Funny)
What this tells me is that, somewhere in Seattle, there's a dude that owns a banana stand that, at some point in the past, screwed Jeff Bezos' crush.
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As a cartoonish supervillain, he's pretty tame.
If he wanted to do something for humanity he'd hand out free coffee and banish evil multinational Starbucks out of Pike Place!
Bezos to his Amazon Minions (Score:2)
Respect! Power! BANANA!
Radiation hazard (Score:1)
Bananas are rich in K-40 isotopes an alpha emitter
1 banana = 0.1 microSievert
5000 bananas = 0.5 mSv
Limit for non-background contributions per year 1mSv (0.3 mSv in the UK, but they are special ).
So when an robot replaces your job that is all you (Score:2)
So when an robot replaces your job that is all you get?
For scale (Score:2)
Thats great news (Score:2)
Free fruit for kids (Score:2)
Louis Prima: (Score:2)
"Hey! Please no squeeza da banana!"
Oooook! (Score:2)
Ooook!
And to carry them... (Score:2)
you need to get yourself a banana sling. //Don't worry, I'll let myself out.
You know what they say: (Score:1)
Touch the Banana for a WiFi Password (Score:1)
But do the bananas give out WiFi passwords when touched?
https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
why bananas? (Score:2)
Why not hand out something you don't have to ship so far like, oh, apples.