Efficiency

Friday

Lloyd Evans

My new job at the Amazon packing factory

What will you do if it all goes wrong? I have a back-up plan: working for Amazon. Its Luton warehouse offers tours to the public, and I went along to see what my future may hold. The vast hangar sits in a field of mega-sheds near the M25, where built-up London peters out into scrub and green farmland. I arrived at a bright-yellow security gate where I was greeted by Amin and Sophie, who seemed thrilled to welcome our party. Six in all. Sophie asked us – or perhaps ordered us – to deposit our phones in a locker whose key she retained during our visit. Amin explained the rules. Follow me. Walk within the blue lines. Ascend staircases on the left. Use the handrail. Off we went.

Thursday

Casey Chalk

An economy that’s good, not just efficient

After serving in World War Two and many years working in the dental supply business (sans a high school diploma), my grandfather made a decision as a husband and father of five young children: he went into business for himself. It takes guts to start your own enterprise, especially when it means leaving the relative safety and security of steady employment. My grandfather worked long hours. He recruited his children to help with all manner of odd jobs, such as cleaning the warehouse. With no retirement package to speak of, he might have worked into old age, except for a clever merger with another small business aimed at attracting the attention of a UK-based company that in time bought him out. I suppose you could say the global capitalist system worked for my grandfather…sort of.