“As I see it, the problem with Amazon stems from the fact that though it started out as a bookseller, it isn’t anymore, not really. It sells everything now, and it sells it all aggressively. Maybe Amazon doesn’t care about the larger bookselling universe because it’s simply too big to care.”
The New York Times tackles Amazon’s latest “promotion,” (which we recently condemned), collecting the reactions of writers and booksellers.
At the The Atlantic, Vannessa Veselka looks at Amazon from the inside, documenting her experience “salting,” or getting a job with the intent of unionizing employees. She discusses the company’s plan to become the “Walmart of the Internet,” which was known from within as “Project Fargo.”
“Today, I think Amazon probably did know about me, and that what they knew was that I was essentially harmless. I was more valuable for my production speed than dangerous for my organizing. But to make the case that Amazon is anti-union barely approaches relevance. Most companies are anti-union, that’s not important right now. What made Amazon unique was the way in which it was.”
