INSIDE THE Amazon fulfilment centre in Monee, Illinois, the temperature is pleasant and the whirr of machines bearable. "Stowers" take items from yellow containers and place them on shelves after scanning their location. "Pickers" follow instruction on screens, grab items from shelves, scan them and put them in containers, which then move on via conveyor belt to the packers. Packers scan them again and put them into cardboard boxes they quickly seal before sending them off to get their address tag. Shifts are ten hours four days a week, with two breaks every day. About 125,000 people work in 100 fulfilment centres across the country. (During the holiday season Amazon hired another 120,000 seasonal workers.)
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