The Enemy Of My Enemy
Prime Cut: In an odd allegiance given his interminable tirades against the newspaper, President Trump has sided with Washington Post employees in their multimedia campaign to sway owner Jeff Bezos for better pay and benefits.
TWICE Take: WaPo staffers signed a petition, released an open letter and shot a video for Amazon’s founder, complaining of reduced or eliminated severance pay and a measly $10 a week raise. In a Sunday tweet Trump took sides against his perceived foe, calling for “a really long strike,” but the workers’ union told him to butt out.
Washington Post employees want to go on strike because Bezos isn’t paying them enough. I think a really long strike would be a great idea. Employees would get more money and we would get rid of Fake News for an extended period of time! Is @WaPo a registered lobbyist?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2018
1) We welcome public support in our campaign for a fair contract with The Washington Post. However, we view President Trump’s tweet as an attack on us and our mission. It is not helpful to our cause.
— Washington Post Guild (@PostGuild) June 17, 2018
See the full story at Business Insider and Gizmodo.
Primarily Prime
Prime Cut: There’s a quiet evolution taking place with Amazon Prime, the e-tailer’s multifaceted membership program, beginning with its logo.
TWICE Take: Gone from Prime’s packaging, online pages and Whole Foods signage is the name “Amazon,” as the service is being repositioned as a brand unto itself. The changes dovetail with the March departure of Prime architect Greg Greeley, but to what end remains to be seen.
See the full story at Business Insider.
Locker Up
Prime Cut: In its quest to make its deliveries convenient and secure, Amazon has placed public lockers in over 2,000 locations across more than 50 cities, including gas stations, 7-Elevens and, of course, Whole Foods supermarkets.
TWICE Take: Now, the company is turning its “package management solution” into a standalone business by offering private lockers — renamed Hubs — to apartment buildings across the country, where they can accept non-Amazon deliveries too.
See the full story at Amazon.
Somebody’s Watching Me, Part II
Prime Cut: This Week In Amazon recently reported on Rekognition, the company’s two-year-old facial recognition service that’s being hawked to law enforcement agencies. But word of the sales effort hasn’t gone over well with some shareholders.
TWICE Take: In a letter to Jeff Bezos, 17 investors including asset management firms, the Maryknoll Sisters and the Dominican Sisters of Hope implored the CEO to stop expanding and marketing the program to governments, given its threat to privacy and potential for civil rights violations. “We are concerned the technology would be used to unfairly and disproportionately target and surveil people of color, immigrants, and civil society organizations,” the signatories said.
See the full story at Fast Company.
Breaking Bad
Prime Cut: Jeff Bezos came close to becoming a crime statistic earlier this month after would-be burglars broke a window at the Amazon founder’s Beverly Hills home.
TWICE Take: Nothing was taken and the miscreants moved on to another mansion nearby where they were more successful. Cops gave chase for 25 minutes before the elusive lawbreakers fled on foot.
See the full story at TMZ.
Amazon Quote Of The Week
“I think a really long strike would be a great idea.” — President Trump egging on Washington Post employees in a June 17th tweet
