It’s demoralizing in a sense that Amazon would hire retired seniors as seasonal workers since it means that they’re temp workers more or less. They’re asked to come in, do the work they’re asked during peak season, after which they’ll be expected to leave. The real demoralizing part is that these people that are part of the campforce, an idea started in 2008, are almost all elderly folks that are older and not as capable to work long hours and lift, bend, stretch, and work as hard as a younger person. Some of these people simply can’t do the work simply because they are so old, and their bodies can’t take it.
You might wonder why these folks would be working in a job like this where they’re working long hours at a place where they could meet potential harm. They’re there for the money, plain and simple. During the housing crash of 2008 a lot of people lost everything. They lost their savings, their retirement funds, their investments, and their homes. The campforce that Amazon depends on during its seasonal times is made up of a great many elderly citizens that need to fund their lifestyle and pay for such things as gas, electric hook-ups, food, and the other necessities they require to live in their RV’s year-round. After losing just about everything a lot of them have come to terms with the idea that they no longer want to live in a home that’s set and able to be taken away so easily, so they keep moving.
What this means is that without a pension, without any retirement to speak of, they will be moving until they can’t go anymore, until they’re no longer able to do anything other than sit in their RV’s and wait for those be taken away as well. It’s grim, but it might be coming sooner than people think. Amazon hires hundreds of extra workers per season to help them fill their orders, but lately it seems as though the temp force is getting younger and younger since the next generation doesn’t want to suffer the same fate that befell the current workforce a decade ago.
That’s reasonable thinking I suppose but it’s designed more for single men and women or couples without children to be quite honest. It’s very possible to home-school children and allow them to live in the same RV, but only after a certain age does this work and even then only if one parent is continually home with the kids, or if a sitter can be found. Married couples that have children and two working spouses would be a bit insane to try this option. It’s already fairly insane for an elderly citizen that can’t stand for ten to twelve hours a day to attempt this since eventually they will end up hurting themselves. Many employers might offer health insurance to temp workers but the likelihood of any company like Amazong paying for an injury that they can prove wasn’t sustained on the job is slim. In other words, temp employees are there to work, and absolutely nothing else.
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