Amazon Now Gives Away 5,000 Bananas a Day (fortune.com)

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.

Comments

Re:Overrated comment incoming

[Big Hairy Ian]

That's nuts.

Surely being pedantic it's bananas

Amelia Bedelia Syndrome?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe Jeff Bezos doesn't realize that his code monkeys aren't actual monkeys.

M_S

amazon deforestation

[goombah99]

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.

Re:amazon deforestation

[goombah99]

I note that there are sustainable banana farms and chiquita is supposedly one of these

http://business-ethics.com/201...

Re:amazon deforestation

[ShanghaiBill]

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.

War on fruit merchants!

[bickerdyke]

So after book stores, Amazon now wants to push Banana stores out of business?

Re:War on fruit merchants!

[AthanasiusKircher]

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?

What I really love are the special guests Carlos brings in. He's had growers and pickers who talk about where the bananas come from -- and sometimes they even have special banana signings by these celebrity pickers! I've kept a few of the signed skins... sure they're so black now that it's difficult to make out the signature, but they do have a certain ap-peel, if they know what I mean!

Lately, they tend to have children's time at the banana stand. My neighbor says it's all just propaganda to get kids used to still going to local banana sources, but I think it's good community engagement. From the banana slide to the games of "banana relay," there's a lot of great clean fun! (They did try a game of "hide the banana," but the weird guy Fred who lives next to the stand participated and... well, let's just say that game is no longer deemed appropriate for kids...)

And really, what can rival the browsing experience you get at a physical banana stand? I see banana possibilities there that you'd never get from "banana recommendations" in Amazon! Who knew they could come in bunches with even 7 or 8 bananas? I've even seen bunches that have long ones AND short ones together! Can't get that from a some electronic app for buying bananas.

Seriously. What we need to teach kids today is There's always money in the banana stand!

Re:Overrated comment incoming

[schnell]

It has a solid business case. "There's always money in the banana stand."

Re:Why the fuck is this on Slashdot?!

[hcs_$reboot]

Submitted by an anonymous reader. Maybe you?

Re:Overrated comment incoming

[number6x]

Excellent reference!

Re: Overrated comment incoming

[olsmeister]

Bananas aren't going extinct. However most bananas consumed in the US are Cavendish bananas which are essentially all clones of each other and are susceptible to Panama disease which is killing them all. Worst case we have to switch to another variety.

I'm convinced of this.

[lazlo]

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.

Re:I'm convinced of this.

[ChunderDownunder]

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!

Re: WTF

[Oswald McWeany]

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.

Re:pay tax

[plopez]

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.

Re:LOL

[plopez]

I think paying taxes would be more effective.

Re:amazon deforestation - Incorrect

[Brigadier]

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, despite being a easy to grow tropical fruit the US does single source much of it's fruit resulting in the need of a mega plantation as opposed to several small sustainable locally owner options.

Banana propagation
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/ch...

Banana nutrition
http://nutritiondata.self.com/...