Amazon drivers’ urine packaged as energy drink, sold on Amazon
arstechnica.com
A documentary shows how easy it is to bypass Amazon's buying and selling safeguards.

Amazon drivers’ urine packaged as energy drink, sold on Amazon - A documentary shows how easy it is to bypass Amazon’s buying and selling safeguards.::A documentary shows how easy it is to bypass Amazon’s buying and selling safeguards.

  • RedditWanderer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1021·
    1 year ago

    Btw this dude didnt send his piss to everyone. The only shipping orders he filled was for his friends ordering it to see if it would work. Other people also bought some, but the guy didn’t ship it, because that would be insane.

      • RedditWanderer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        913·
        1 year ago

        The insanity is not that they did it, it’s that Amazon allows it. It’s not like they were actually trying to sell urine, they just wanted to point out how fucked amazon is.

        • tsonfeir@lemm.eeEnglish
          262·
          1 year ago

          Since that’s literally the only takeaway, if they can’t see it, I’m not sure explaining it will help.

        • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.worldEnglish
          330·
          1 year ago

          It’s not like Amazon has a category for “bottled urine.” Was it left up after it was flagged?

          • RedditWanderer@lemmy.worldEnglish
            332·
            1 year ago

            You could read the article, it was a drink.

            with very few checks and balances in place to ensure the product he’s selling is safe and legal. “Releasing the drink was surprisingly easy,” Butler told WIRED. “I thought that the food and drinks licensing would stop me from listing it, so I started it out in this Refillable Pump Dispenser category. Then the algorithm moved it into drinks.”

            It’s almost like people expect that the things for sale are legal and safe, without first having people get harmed and having to report it.

            • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.worldEnglish
              222·
              1 year ago

              I did read it. My point is that it’s not like Amazon specifically supported this. Someone could pull this same stunt on eBay; would eBay then come under identical fire?

              • HorseWithNoName@lemm.eeEnglish
                202·
                1 year ago

                They just did for selling those coal rolling kits. I don’t see why this would be any different. They’re facilitating the sale. It’s their platform. They have a responsibility to the people who use it, as well as a responsibility to treat their workers like human beings.

      • ink@r.nfEnglish
        71·
        1 year ago

        brain cells too low for the point to land. abort, abort, abort!

  • whitepawn@reddthat.comEnglish
    681·
    1 year ago

    I like it. Art and activism.

    Points out awful business practice by Bezos in both the lack of bathroom breaks for employees and the lack of quality control in content.

    No person was harmed. Product pulled to ensure as much once the piece was complete.

    Well done.

      • Rednax@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        1 year ago

        I love this show for the fact that at one point, this guys water is actually used as a solution for some random problem. None of the nonsense is left as just nonsense, it is all part of the world.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    8·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Butler is a journalist, presenter, and renowned puller of stunts—he’s probably most famous for turning his shed in a London garden into the number one ranked restaurant on Tripadvisor.

    From there, it’s laughably straightforward for Butler to get Release listed for sale on Amazon, with very few checks and balances in place to ensure the product he’s selling is safe and legal.

    Some of these packages were delivered to Amazon lockers, making it physically impossible for the delivery driver to check whether the person receiving the item was an adult.

    The final part of the program turns its attention to Amazon’s taxes—the company has been criticized for using complex but legal arrangements to reduce its overall tax liability, such as running sales through a subsidiary in Luxembourg.

    Butler interviews Labour MP Nadia Whittome, who argues that Amazon benefits from public infrastructure and should therefore pay its fair share to fix Britain’s crumbling roads.

    Knowing that Amazon processes returns based on the weight of the incoming packages, he sends back buckets of sand to get his money back—attempting to shield himself from legal liability for fraud by running everything through a shell company in Belize.

    The original article contains 972 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.worldEnglish
    347·
    1 year ago

    And? I swear to God you people go out of your way to find stuff that doesn’t affect anyone. Nearly 15 years and probably 40k in merchandise and I’ve had like 1 or 2 issues.