Amazon: A Company Built on Illusions Internet

**Amazon: A Company Built on Illusions**  

I have experience with Amazon as both a consumer and an employee, and over time, I will share more. But my main takeaway? They are an entity that operates like a sovereign nation, making their own rules to suit their profit-driven agenda.  

### **Consumer Perspective**  
Amazon carefully curates its site reviews to limit consumer expression, ensuring customers can’t openly criticize its business model. The marketplace is flooded with cheaply made products, largely imported from China—tariffs may eventually change that, but for now, quality control feels nonexistent. Their return process, once smooth, has become cumbersome; they use UPS to delay refunds, stretching their hold on your money as long as possible. Every move they make is engineered to extract more profit from both customers and employees alike.  

### **Employee Perspective**  
The workforce suffers under the weight of relentless corporate demands. Every employee I’ve met has dealt with exhaustion or pain—this isn’t coincidental. While new hires agree to one overtime day per week, the company frequently mandates extra hours, pushing the workload far beyond reason. Delivery bags and packages are routinely mislabeled in weight to circumvent safety regulations, turning the supposed 49-pound limit into something closer to 75 pounds. Carts used to stage deliveries often exceed 450 pounds, but the brakes on nearly all of them are broken, making them hazardous. Infrastructure continues to deteriorate, but rather than fixing problems, Amazon blames its workers for every operational failure.  

Their HR system is deliberately designed as a maze. The company forces employees to navigate an app for assistance, but contradictory policies can be weaponized for termination. Job listings are a revolving door—candidates are strung along indefinitely, kept on standby for some unspecified future need. Even after separation, employees are forced into a bureaucratic loop, bouncing between headquarters and local sites with no real resolution.  

### **Final Thoughts**  
Between 2021 and 2024, Amazon has hollowed out its own infrastructure while continuing to exploit both customers and employees. Their business is built on illusion—carefully controlled narratives that serve only their bottom line. If you're considering working or shopping here, be prepared for a system that values profit above all else.