Amazon's not making a profit on Harry Potter?

[icarus]

Amazon.com tells its shareholders it's not going to make a profit on the next Harry Potter book.

With their steep discounts, guaranteed delivery and free shipping, they're not going to make a profit on the biggest thing to hit publishing in the last ten years?

Good lord. These guys are as stupid as when I worked for them almost a decade ago. But hey, they are "cementing customer loyalty."

Hello? Customers will be just as loyal if you make a profit.



(Knowing them they just miscalculated the costs and now are trying to cover their collective asses. The place is run by teenagers.)


ETA: In other news, now have 838 more words of Out Of Bounds. And counting.

Comments

[quivo.livejournal.com]

It was... memorable.

Well, well, well. *crosses Amazon.com off her might-want-to-work-there list*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends on what you want.

It's a fun Willy Wonka-esque place to work, but it's a kindergarten and probably the most unprofessional I've ever encountered. Their techies really are some of them best I've encountered and are on the ball. But the rest of place ... I've never seen anything like it. It reminds me over every movie I've ever seen where the kids take over the world and the adults have to fumble through, bemused, as the business deals involve things like "ice cream sundaes" and "longer recesses."

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Wow. Typo city.

Let's try this again.

"Well, it depends on what you want.

It's a fun Willy Wonka-esque place to work, but it's a kindergarten and probably the most unprofessional I've ever encountered. Their techies really are some of the best I've encountered and are on the ball. But the rest of place ... I've never seen anything like it. It reminds me of every movie I've ever seen where the kids take over the world and the adults have to fumble through, bemused, as the business deals involve things like "ice cream sundaes" and "longer recesses."

There. That's better.

[quivo.livejournal.com]

A kindergarten, you say? That's even worse, I think. Where I work right now is full of fun-loving people that are also professional and courteous. I don't think I'd like to exchange that for a kindergarten or childlike atmosphere. I might try for an interview anyway just for kicks, but that's probably about as far as I'd go. I wouldn't want them treating any immigration or visa issues like they apparently treat their business deals.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Let me tell you the tale.

I was offered a ridiculous pay rate as a temp. I showed up (on time) and found myself in a waiting area of that former hospital on Beacon Hill. They had the oddest unfinished wood desks made of 2x4s and plywood (they'd just moved in). There several adult business people waiting politely. A woman scheduled for an interview. Several suppliers.

There were two college girls at the two desks. They ignored us completely as they chatted and argued over what music to play, and we were alternately blasted with hard rock/punk (the girl with the nose ring) and jazz (the girl in the sweater set). They made no attempt to find out why we were there or to contact the persons in charge of us. Attempts to ask them to do work felt like an imposition.

I waited 15... 20... 30 minutes. Finally, I asked the girl in the sweater set if she could contact such-and-so whom I was supposed to be working for.

Neither of the two knew who this was. Apparently they had no employee lists either. With an exasperated sigh they attempted to locate the person in question (I exchanged an amused look with some of the other adults), suggesting I had the wrong name. Possibly, I said, in which case the temp agency sent me to the wrong person. Do you have anyone in HR? They said, good idea, and contacted HR. And got voicemail.

15 minutes later... HR knew nothing about me. They didn't know the person in question either. The girls shrugged and told me that my contact would just "show up sooner or later."

An hour went by.

In the meantime I was treated to the cavalcade of Amazon.com. A rush of employees came in at 10am with the careless manner of college students. The suppliers (who'd been waiting longer than me) finally met with a girl who was no more than 24 years old, a manager, breathlessly apologetic. They looked amused. The interviewee was early for her appointment but now it was well after and, yes, no show there either. She took it well, feeling that if they sucked this badly they really did need someone with experience. We joked about Amazon.com's hiring practice of requesting SAT scores from adults.

An hour and a half went by. The interviewee went to her appointment feeling very confident.

Finally, I returned to the desk, feeling as though I didn't want to interrupt the girls' conversation, however, I was on the clock and I didn't think Amazon wanted to pay me to sit in the waiting room.

They called HR, who still didn't know who I was, but finally a young harried-looking someone showed up. I no longer quite remember the excuse. She'd forgotten I was coming today? She'd meant to postpone the assignment but forgot to call yesterday?

"Anyhow, we're not ready for you, so why don't you camp out?" I was set in front of a computer and paid to dink around on the internet all morning.

Meanwhile, tech support had a log-in for me within in ten minutes.

Eventually after doing this long enough to feel guilty about it, I hunted down the young manager and suggested that she might have something for me to do in the interim. I, uh, had to wend my way through the toys, and there was a golden retriever wandering the halls looking as aimless as I felt.

I won't go into the rest of the story, but suffice it to say that I spent three-fifths of my time there playing on the internet, one-fifth doing low level work that I milked out of them, then the last fifth doing part of the job I was hired to do which they rushed to me in a panic -- and for which they paid me overtime because it was so late. In the end they ran out of money in the budget for a temp and ended up doing most of the work themselves.

I was very relaxed after that job, but... man.

[quivo.livejournal.com]

*whistles* Daaaaaaam. Just...damn.

Yeah, I'm never ever working for them. The people I currently work for maight not even pay as well, but they seem to have the amazing capability of having fun and being fairly relaxed at work when they can while still delivering great service to their customers.

From your experience, I think Amazon.com's techies are the firm foundation the company's built upon. And since I've no desire to be a techie for anybody...well. I've only a limited time to grab as much useful experience as possible, and what you just described sounds like the least useful bit of experience ever - nice for slapping on a resume as a talking point, but useless if you want to be able to gain new skills that you'll actually use in the future.

XD And to think I read through their careers section and thought it might be hard to get in. And, um, SAT scores?

Man, indeed.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that this was 1999, so everything could have changed since them.

Maybe.

:D