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Amazon Lottery Offers Vaccinated Workers Cars, $500,000 Cash (bloomberg.com) 112

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Amazon.com -- summoning its inner Oprah -- will offer cash prizes of as much as $500,000 as well as cars and vacation packages to frontline employees who can prove they have been vaccinated against Covid-19. From a report: Unwilling so far to mandate vaccinations for its 1.3-million-strong workforce, the world's largest online retailer is hoping a corporate lottery -- called Max Your Vax -- will persuade holdouts to get the jab. The announcement, a copy of which was seen Friday by Bloomberg, came the same day that Amazon said that starting Aug. 9 workers would have to wear masks in its logistics facilities, regardless of vaccination status -- a reflection of the severity of the spreading delta variant of the coronavirus. Vaccinated workers had been able to work at Amazon mask-free since late May.

Amazon had previously offered frontline workers as much as $80 if they were inoculated against the virus. The company is desperate for workers to keep up with elevated demand from online shoppers and staff dozens of new facilities coming online. Some frontline Amazonians and their managers said the company is concerned mandates would send vaccine skeptics in their ranks in search of other jobs. Amazon's contest will offer a total of 18 prizes, which the company values at almost $2 million: two $500,000 cash awards, six $100,000 awards, five new vehicles and five vacation packages.
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Amazon Lottery Offers Vaccinated Workers Cars, $500,000 Cash More

Amazon Lottery Offers Vaccinated Workers Cars, $500,000 Cash

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  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday August 09, 2021 @09:16AM (#61672033)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Everyone in Oprah's audience on a given day that she randomly decides to give out a prize, gets the prize. Audience members on different days don't get that prize (though they might get a different prize - if they're lucky). So the analogy, while not perfect, still works. It's still a lottery. Just that the individual unit in a traditional lottery is a person, while in Oprah's lottery it's which day you happen to be in her audience.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by MaDMvD ( 1148691 )
      You're a Derperson-Wilsky.

  • Doesn't seem like Amazon (Score:5, Funny)

    by mwfischer ( 1919758 ) on Monday August 09, 2021 @09:16AM (#61672035) Journal

    Why would Amazon spend 500k and hand out cars when they could terminate the unvaccinated and still have people tripping over their dicks to work there?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 )

      Why would Amazon spend 500k and hand out cars when they could terminate the unvaccinated and still have people tripping over their dicks to work there?

      The cost to hire and time to hire is likely > $2mil.

      • See also bad press... they take a lot of guff about worker conditions without huge swaths of them dropping from preventable illness.

        • You think they care about bad press? Given the bad press that they have had so far as not shifted the needle one 10th of a millimetre, what makes you think this will?

          Their business relies on being able to shift boxes as fast as is humanly possible and that's only doable (at the moment) with actual humans doing the work. If they lay off 10% of their workforce in one go, that will hit their bottom line even if it's just in one of their warehouses as a warning to all the rest. Of course, that might also push t

        • So? Why would they care about bad press? Everyone already knows Amazon would heat their buildings by burning their workers' firstborn if it was legal, but it seems they have no problem with keeping profits up.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )

          Part of the reason they don't worry over much is because a lot of it is astroturf, competitors like Walmart spend money to get those stories out there. In part they do that to distract from how truly abysmal their own warehouse work conditions are, and partly to convince their own people not to jump ship for the much better pay, benefits and working conditions at an Amazon Fulfillment Center, not to mention the free educational opportunities. I've unloaded trucks for Target, and worked with people who sta

      • I think for a lot of people, if their job is on the line, their idiotic reasons to not get vaccinated will be overshadowed by the aspect of getting fired, so I expect most employees would just get vaccinated.

        Will there be some backlash and people protesting how dare Amazon actually give a shit of the health of its employees and its customers, because actually doing just a the bare minimum of caring for people goes against freedom and everything America stands for apparently. However Amazon has done much w

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )

          By the end of May of last year Amazon had already spent $800 *million* on COVID remediation, more than Walmart, Target and Kroger combined have spent to date, and Amazon has almost no public-interfacing employees. Of course that never makes the headlines. This lottery is a pittance compared to what they've already spent.

    • I doubt this is about the office drones. This is likely more about the fulfillment folks in the warehouse

      I expect that a lot of anti-covid vaccine folks work in fulfilment centers, and the demand for those jobs is considerably lower than for the desk jobs. If they mandate vaccines, then they run the risk of severely understaffed fulfillment centers in areas with low vaccination rates/high vaccine hesitancy. Since both of those things correlate with the low income areas in which Amazon likes to place their

      • Since both of those things correlate with the low income areas in which Amazon likes to place their fulfillment centers, it is possible that there are too few people willing to work in an Amazon sweatshop AND willing to get vaccinated.

        " low income areas in which Amazon likes to place their fulfillment centers" ... you mean like Detroit?

        If we were to mandate it as a matter of continued employment we would lose long tenured staff who have drunk the GOP kool-aid on vaccines,

        Um, yeah. Lots of "GOP kool-aid" in Detroit, lol.

        • They put fulfillment areas where people are poor, land is cheap, and highway access is convenient.

          Are ALL of them in rural GOP friendly areas? Of course not. Are A LOT of them in areas like that? Yes!

          Of course there non-GOP supporters who have rejected the COVID vaccine, but political affiliation predicts vaccine opinion better than anything else at this point. And that is because most of the Anti-vaxx propaganda is coming from members of the GOP.

          Of course, you know that. Amazon has to make a lowest
        • Case in point:

          Full article talking about how the predictability of vaccine status by county partisanship has been increasing over time: https://acasignups.net/21/08/1... [acasignups.net]

          Animated gif showing that change over time from toward the bottom of the article: https://acasignups.net/sites/d... [acasignups.net]

          As of today, more than 40% of the variability in vaccination status can be be predicted by county partisanship. With, unsurprisingly, the red counties be associated with greater vaccine rejection. That is despite partis

    • Why would Amazon spend 500k and hand out cars when they could terminate the unvaccinated and still have people tripping over their dicks to work there?

      It said it in the summary. They are offering the prizes because of an employment shortage caused by covid. They already don't have enough people because they are either out sick from covid or they can't hire new ones fast enough. Forcing unvaccinated to quit would exacerbate not help the situation.

      • And beyond that, at some point the unvaccinated labor pool becomes cheaper to tap into right? Best estimates are we're looking at about 20% of the population that have decided they aren't getting the vaccine for whatever reason, regardless of the odds the disease will cripple or kill them without it. So for example hospitals: as more large health systems mandate vaccines, the more hardcore holdouts are leaving/being fired. If you can be the last health system that *doesn't* require the vaccine, you have

        • And beyond that, at some point the unvaccinated labor pool becomes cheaper to tap into right?

          Short term maybe not because missed work is expensive but someone who catches covid and recovers is likely only gone for 2 weeks and then should be just as immune as someone with papers but has more limited employment opportunities. Kindof like illegal immigrants, computer programmers without an official degree, or employees being sponsored. It could give the employer more lock in because the employee has a harder time switching jobs.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      In some jurisdictions they probably can't fire people for being unvaccinated.

      First there are the medical issues, they often aren't allowed to ask about them but anyone could claim they were unable to be vaccinated due to some issue.

      Then in some places firing someone for not getting a medical procedure or taking a particular medicine is illegal. That is certainly the case in the UK and I believe most/all of the EU, where Amazon has significant operations.

      • By supreme Court rulings to go back to the early 1900s. They absolutely can fire people for not getting vaccinated. You can fire somebody for just about anything except a handful of explicitly protected classes.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Cederic ( 9623 )

          I do believe 'in some jurisdictions' includes places that the 'supreme Court' has no, erm, jurisdiction.

          You can fire somebody for just about anything

          Maybe in the shithole jurisdiction you work in, but some of us live somewhere civilised.

    • the pace is so brutal and the work takes such a huge toll on people's bodies that they've had trouble getting employees. You can't keep it up for that long, it breaks your body. Maybe really young people can, but they've usually got better options. If all else fails they can join the army.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        That's actually not true. Last year we were having some issues with badge replication so I ended up viewing >8 thousand badge records over the course of a couple of months, because of the source of the issue the majority of them were FC workers. I was surprised at the number of FC employees who had been there for eight or ten years, having done warehouse work there is no way in hell that I would have stuck it out that long but people were (and from their photos a lot of them were **not** young). Even

        • And yes people can come back for the Christmas rush and punish their bodies for a few months to buy a Christmas presents for their kids. But they still need a ton of employees during the year. With turnover rate that high it's going to be a problem sooner or later. Right now they're flush with ex restaurant workers who couldn't get on unemployment during the pandemic (it's a lot harder than people make it out to be). But that's not going to last forever and it doesn't apply to all markets.

    • Why would Amazon spend 500k and hand out cars when they could terminate the unvaccinated and still have people tripping over their dicks to work there?

      So ... they are bad because they are doing this? Or because you imagined that they wouldn't? Or ...

    • hiring probably gets hard when you have the reputation for pee bottles and you can probably make more driving for uber.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      because a few handouts like this costs a lot less than turnover form an HR perspective, and retraining from a departmental productivity perspective.

      If you have any real doubt about the motives of the vaccine mandate crowed this should disabuse you of any. The company that needs workers to piss in bottles because they can't meet performance metrics and have potty breaks - is tring to a few token handouts to cynically manipulate those workers to get the jab.

      Boils down to they don't want people out sick and w

    • Why would Amazon spend 500k and hand out cars when they could terminate the unvaccinated and still have people tripping over their dicks to work there?

      In the current job market? Fast food restaurants are having to pay $15+ per hour for burger flippers, and are still understaffed. Amazon can't be having an easier time hiring than everyone else.

  • But the real benefit to getting vaccinated is the endless series of variants coming down the pipe. If you get vaccinated against one there are ten more you're free to spread! Remember, only the vaccinated should be attending concerts and sporting events.
  • Just what I wanted. A chance to win something.
    How about giving all the cars and money away without the need of a drawing.

  • Simpler Option (Score:2, Insightful)

    by GlennC ( 96879 )

    What if Amazon offered comprehensive health insurance to vaccinated employees, and denied coverage to those who refuse vaccination?

    It would likely save them money in the long run.

    • That sounds illegal. However, what is legal for some reason is not covering contraception, because jesus.

      • Most people don't voluntarily, knowingly, put themselves in a position where they're likely to get Dengue fever or a broken leg. The same does not apply to actions that require contraception to prevent pregnancy. Covering an employee's contraception costs is like covering an employee's gambling losses -- it's deliberate self-inflicted injury.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )

          I'm sorry, what? Self-inflicted injury? About 18 women die from complications of childbirth for every 100,000 live births, the cost of having a child in the US ranges from $5,000-$15000 (without complications). While women using oral contraceptives have a very slightly higher chance of getting breast cancer they have a much lower chance of having ovarian or uterine cancer so on the whole, without even considering the childbirth issue, contraceptives save lives.

    • What if Amazon offered comprehensive health insurance to vaccinated employees, and denied coverage to those who refuse vaccination?

      It would likely save them money in the long run.

      Sure. Where do you draw the line? Just COVID vaccination, or are you going to threaten employees when flu season comes around too?

      Are we talking just this (ever-weakening) current COVID vaccination, or are you going to force the inevitable COVID booster vaccines as well?

      While we're at it, going to ensure they have all their "standard" corporate-approved vaccinations (MMR, Chicken Pox, Polio, etc.?) Seems that voting for a particular party may be considered detrimental to business at some point in the fut

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tsqr ( 808554 )

        While we're at it, going to ensure they have all their "standard" corporate-approved vaccinations (MMR, Chicken Pox, Polio, etc.?)

        The public school system takes care of those. Or at least, it used to.

        • While we're at it, going to ensure they have all their "standard" corporate-approved vaccinations (MMR, Chicken Pox, Polio, etc.?)

          The public school system takes care of those. Or at least, it used to.

          Yup, sure did. Before Jenny McCarthy became the unofficial spokesperson of the anti-vaxx PTA movement, along with every religious exemption stirred into a multi-cultural melting pot.

        • "The public school system takes care of those. Or at least, it used to."

          If you think a modern helicopter dad would let some civil servant stitch holes in their little princess, I have news for you.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tsqr ( 808554 )
            I think a modern helicopter dad who refuses to get their little princess vaccinated might find themselves home schooling their little princess because their school district won't admit her. And private schools? Forget it.

            • "I think a modern helicopter dad who refuses to get their little princess vaccinated might find themselves home schooling their little princess because their school district won't admit her. "

              Hopefully!

      • " Where do you draw the line? Just COVID vaccination, or are you going to threaten employees when flu season comes around too?"

        Hardly, they'll be combined both in one jab, didn't your get that part?

  • Ugh, all these vaccine lotteries/bribes make me a little ill. Trying to play on people's gambling and reward impulses to get them to do something that is already statistically far and away the correct choice for themselves and society just feels dirty. Like trying to coax a cow out to pasture with food, except in this case the cow is presumably already smart enough to know what you're attempting to do and why. The whole thing is a little maddening.

    That said... I hope it works.

    • ... the correct choice for themselves ...

      You do not know this.

      The whole thing is a little maddening.

      What's maddening is a bunch of people who have declared that they know what's best for everyone despite not knowing anything about a person's medical history. A good doctor will recommend what is best for their patient. In most cases they recommend getting the vaccine, but in some cases it may not be what is best for the patient. For example, they may have a history of bad reactions to similar treatments. It's why manufacturers of drugs always say "Do not take this medication if y

      • For example, they may have a history of bad reactions to similar treatments. It's why manufacturers of drugs always say "Do not take this medication if you are allergic to it or one of its ingredients."

        It's almost like the vanishingly small percentage of the population with medical conditions that preclude vaccination are already exempt with a reason that's considered legitimate. And that an article talking about Amazon giving away cars if you'll get a vaccine has the implicit assumption that the target audience isn't those people with health conditions, but instead is targeting people without health conditions... because to assume anything but that would be idiotic.

        Every year in just the USA alone, tens of thousands of people die from the flu. It is highly contagious. Yet no one is calling for a flu vaccine mandate or villainizing anyone who doesn't get one.

        Well for one, the flu is estimated to

    • " Like trying to coax a cow out to pasture with food, except in this case the cow is presumably already smart enough to know what you're attempting to do and why."

      Yes, they walk right into the slaughterhouse too, that's how smart they are. :-)

  • Give it to me instead

  • The FDA is supposed to formally approve some vaccines this month. I can't wait to hear the new round of excuses and talking points.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tsqr ( 808554 )

      The FDA is supposed to formally approve some vaccines this month. I can't wait to hear the new round of excuses and talking points.

      Unfortunately, it's not that hard to predict. What are currently "dangerous experimental vaccines" will be transformed into "dangerous vaccines approved by an FDA kow-towing to the nefarious Biden administration."

  • So, Amazon equates being stupid enough to be gulled by a lottery to being stupid enough not to have gotten vaccinated?

    • "So, Amazon equates being stupid enough to be gulled by a lottery to being stupid enough not to have gotten vaccinated?"

      Exactly! You got it in one go.

  • Amazon could deal with two problems at the same time by offering "value bags" of returned merchandise if a worker gets vaccinated.

    • "Amazon could deal with two problems at the same time by offering "value bags" of returned merchandise if a worker gets vaccinated."

      No insurance will give their OK, some crazy people manipulate merchandise before returning it, to hurt or possibly kill people. Once it's out of the chain of custody of the trade system, it's damaged goods.

      You would have to check every item for anything, somebody could have rubbed only peanut-oil on it or put a poison paste in any electric item that heats up, the possibilities

  • Do the vacation packages come with time off that YOU CAN USE?? or can your boss say I don't have the staffing to let you take the listed days off?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      If Boss does that at Amazon and gets reported higher up the food chain, then Boss is not going to be a people manager for long. Yes, I work there, our supervisor starts reminding us of any unused personal/sick days in October (vacation will roll over), and if we accumulate too many vacation days he'll start nagging us to take it. It's one of several metrics that their management skills are measured with.

  • 'to frontline employees ' should be 'to its frontline employees'
    Not all frontline employees, but only Amazon frontline employees - huge difference

  • Sorry, you didn't win but here are some magazine subscriptions. Thanks for being a sucker *cough*... I mean... thanks for playing.

  • 000 (Score:2)

    by dohzer ( 867770 )

    Cars, $500, and 000? I know which two I'd prefer.

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