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Amazon Donates 2,000 Kindles To Wounded Veterans
destinyland writes "Amazon's just announced that they're donating 2,000 Kindles to a charity for wounded soldiers and their families. They're also promising to hire at least 1,200 more veterans within the next year at fulfillment centers around the country through Amazon's Military Talent Program."
So, they're saying you have to pay an arm or a leg for a Kindle?
Seems high.
I hope so, kinda useless otherwise. Of course, only one place to buy that content from.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Are Amazon's PR people posting on Slashdot now?
This would be like Microsoft giving away X-boxes under the hope you'll go out and buy games. They're loss-leading new customers.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Hopefully they improve working conditions (beyond just installing air conditioners), or their offer to hire veterans takes on a less impressive light.
They're also promising to hire at least 1,200 more veterans within the next year at fulfillment centers around the country through Amazon's Military Talent Program."
Amazon's warehouses are the closest thing the US has to Foxconn-style conditions. Obviously there is no serious comparison to be had but I wouldn't wish that job on anyone, much less a veteran. Make with the robots already and let's find a better way to make sure seniors and the disabled have money and work.
That's it, I'm skipping dinner tonight.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Mission accomplished, I'd say.
My understanding is that in the usa kindles work with the overdrive system used by most public libraries so they should be able to get some free books. As well as all the public domain ones.
I was a skeptic about e-readers for a while. I thought the Kindle was a bit overpriced when it first came out, I didn't understand why they weren't selling them at a loss to encourage more book sales. I also kinda liked the concept of the printed page and the traditional look and feel of it. But lately my curiosity got the better of me and I got the Kindle app for my phone and was blown away by the convenience of being able to download a book and start reading right away. Then I ended up getting a Nook.
Man, my view of books has changed overnight! I've been reading books at a rate of knots compared to before. It's just so damn convenient to carry this little thing around with an entire library stored in it, and it's way more robust than the printed page in terms of being resistant to dog ears and the like. (I wouldn't like to drop it, but still...) I've taken delight in taking the train to work even though it takes twice as long because it gives me an opportunity to indulge in novels. The convenience of being able to instantly download any book you feel like getting/buying makes the shipping of printed books look like pigeon post. My shelves full of books are now starting to look like my old CD collection: obsolete, wasteful and space-consuming. And the e-ink is very easy on the eye.
Now I'm a believer!
Drill baby drill - on Mars
I hope so, kinda useless otherwise. Of course, only one place to buy that content from.
The are hundreds of thousands of free e-books available for the Kindle.
Free Book Collections
Baen Free Library
Munseys
The chances are quite good that you can borrow e-books formatted for the Kindle through the online services of your local public library:
Nioga Digital Home [Western New York]
Does Amazon have a British equivalent of this program?
Amazon might as well be Al Queda.
You're not over over-reacting at all, are you?
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
because they just got ripped by the UK gov, their name is mud right now (its bad in *every* UK paper) and there are serious questions to be asked about their tax avoidance.
Next up the SEC are going to be looking hard at them in the next few months (the UK gov tore them apart about their SEC filings) so they need as many friends as they can get.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=uk&tbm=nws&q=amazon+tax+avoidance
The way these devices are made they make hand over fist back in money. I'm guessing these also have the ads on them.
They could give these away for free to everyone and they'd still make plenty of money back on them simply through sales and ads on the device. Consumers seem to feel the need to still pay for them though.
Seriously, I know Bezos isn't a fan of the war but it'd be more humane to give them a new job in Afghanistan than put them in a warehouse that people regularly heat stroke out of, are berated all day, and fired for not keeping up with untenable quotas.
Heatstroke.
... I don't think many people posting around here have a clue what a normal workday in the military can be like. When a vet says he is sore after working at Amazon I'll be more concerned than when a keyboard jockey says he is sore after working at Amazon.
Pressured to perform all day.
Untenable quotas.
Sounds like a typical day in the Navy.
On a more serious note. Perhaps veterans are used to pretty hard work, and I'm not talking combat. Training, maintenance, logistics, etc
Wounded vets? How do you use a touch screen with no arms?
Thanks, I'll be here all night.
Silence is a state of mime.
Working in Amazon's fulfillment center is probably the worst job I've ever had. (I quit after two days and still had pain a week later).
And a veteran recently returned to civilian life would probably have thought that an easy day.
Our (great-)grandmothers who had assembly line jobs and our (great-)grandfathers who had factory jobs would probably laugh at you. A lots of blue collar workers in the 40s, 50s and 60s had muscles and it was not from going to the gym. It was from going to work.
Someone donated a art work you build from string and tacks on a velvet background.
At the time it was the most wonderful thing to take my mind off things.
Helped me pass the time, I still love whom ever gave it.
No family or friends no cell phones back then. I hope others will do what they can this Veterans Day.
2nd ACR
I read "donates kidneys".... Changes the reading completely
Evidently Amazon doesn't know how many wounded veterans there are (2,000,000) nor do they care ...
Why not hire a veteran in IT development? At my previous job where we have about 7 developers, one was a veteran. OK, he had both arms and legs. But I don't think that having them was how he was able to do development. Of course had he been severely wounded, it might take him a few seconds longer to get to the meetings.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
Instead of bitching about Amazon's efforts or working conditions, why don't you say thanks to a wounded warrior or make a donation to help them out making the transition back into society.
are soldiers. Are airmen, sailors, and marines excluded from the offer?
A bunch of losers whining about what other people choose to donate.
So Amazon's got a special hiring push on just for veterans? Sounds like Affirmative Action! (horrors). Can't wait to see some non-vet sue for reverse discrimination on this one!
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw