A Guide To Dismantling Amazon Warehouse and Building Your Community
Disassembly Required
Table of Contents
I. Call to Action: Amazon is Ruining Your Community
A. You Are Paying for Amazon’s Profit
1
B. Patterns Of Development — How Did Amazon Find Your county?
5
C. Patterns Of Stories — Has This Happened To Your County?
17
C1. Dead Malls Transformed Into Warehouses C2. High Covid Cases C3. High Unemployment and Poverty
17 31 43
II. Fulfillment Center Components
59
A Roofing B Steel C Concrete D Equipment
59 61 63 65
III. Disassembly Manual
69
69 71
A Job Transformation B Disassembly Tools
IV. Case Study: Community Building
73
73 83 95
A. Cuyahoga County B. Scott County C. Riverside County
Chapter I
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
[Amazon is] taking advantage of the economic desperation caused by COVID-19 to increase its market power and dominance. The United Food and Commercial — Workers International Union
1
Chapter I
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
2
A
You Are Paying for Amazon’s Profit
Amazon’s Valuation
>
800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000
2008
Amazon makes up 39% of U.S. e-commerce retail sales. By July 1st, 2020, the company was worth more than America’s 9 other largest retailers combined.
3
Chapter I
8
Amazon Workers’ Wage
Number of Amazon employees worldwide (at the end of year/quarter)
United States, Warehousing and storage industry Workers’ average weekly wage, $
875
Other Counties
850 825 800
Counties With Amazon Presence In Dec 2017
775 750
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
However, Amazon’s increasing profit hasn’t benefited you warehouse workers. By December 2017, the salaries of its warehouse workers had decreased compared to those in other counties. Source: The Economist
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
4
Which Type of Warehouse Is Yours?
Your Warehouse Decides Amazon’s Success
Fulfillment Center
233 x
90,000 - 100 million sq ft
The most common type of facility, serving a wide range of purposes. UPS will pick up from here.
Crossdock
10 x
Receives and consolidates products from vendors and then ships these products to other fulfillment centers within Amazon's network.
Sortation Centers
83 x
Responsible for sorting packages by zip code which are then delivered to an Air Hub, Amazon Delivery Station, or to the USPS post office of the zip code.
Prime Air Hub
11 x
394 x
5
~150,000 sq ft
9,000,000 sq ft
Packages in fulfillment centers will be flown to the central sortation hub in Hebron, KY, where packages will be sorted and flown again to their regional fulfillment centers.
Delivery Station
60 - 100,000 sq ft
In urban areas, they are often the last step in the chain before packages reach customers. Courier companies and Amazon Flex drivers typically handle these short-range deliveries.
Chapter I
How Many Are There in the U.S.?
By the end of 2020, there were
809 242 40
Amazon logistics facilities built
across
counties, and
states.
Amazon is still looking to build more...
Source: MWPVL International
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
6
Patterns Of Development — How Did Amazon Find Your County?
B
Location Strategy I: Close to Major Cities
Rural Suburban Small Metro Medium Metro Large Metro 7
Chapter I
Amazon’s most-frequent customers are concentrated in the affluent neighborhoods of big cities. This map shows that nearly all Amazon warehouses are located in urban counties, which have populations of over 10,000.
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
8
B
Location Strategy II: Close to Highways
9
Chapter I
Highways are the arterials that enable fastest delivery within Amazon’s logistics system and to Prime households. This map shows that Amazon facilities cluster around highway intersections. According to a study by Good Jobs First, every Amazon warehouses throughout the U.S. is with a 10-minute drive from highways.
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; Esri, TomTom North America, Inc.
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
10
Amazon Warehouses B
Highway and Parking Lot B
Highway and Parking Lot B
Chapter I-C
Patterns of Stories: Has This Happened To Your County? We use three filters to select counties and explain the impact of Amazons in their local communities.
Patterns Of Stories
C1
Filter I: Dead Malls Transformed into Amazon Warehouses
Maricopa County, Arizona
17
Chapter I
Dead shopping malls are one of the best sites for Amazon to locate its warehouses. The first reason is that they share location strategies. The development of malls and Amazon facilities follows a very similar pattern: they both cluster near highway intersections, in inner-ring suburbs contiguous with major cities.
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
18
The second reason is that they share architectural features. The free-standing big-box stores and Amazon warehouses both have big parking lots, large building footprints, and multiple points of ingress and egress. Those without compatible design formats will be demolished and replaced with warehouse facilities.
C1
Cleveland (City)
Cuyahoga, OH
Population: 383,793
Cuyahoga county Population: 1,253,783 (Large Metro) Amazon Warehouses: 3 Dead Malls: 5
23
Chapter I
g in is v i l Dr apo n e mi inn 4 1 o M t
Euclid (Inner Suburb) Population: 46,946
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Cuyahoga County Open Data
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
24
25
Chapter I
Dead Malls in Cuyahoga C1
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
26
C1
Cook, IL
Cook county Population: 5,223,719 (Large Metro) Amazon Warehouses: 6 Dead Malls: 11
27
Chapter I
Chicago (City) Population: 2,706,000
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Cook Central
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
28
29
Chapter I
Dead Malls in Cook County C1
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
30
Patterns Of Stories
C2
Filter II: High COVID-19 Cases in Amazon Warehouses
31
Chapter I
Richmond, New York
When a lot of businesses suffered from the lockdown due to the pandemic, Amazon only closed two warehouses, one in Kentucky, one in New Jersey, by claiming that their workers are essential workers. Its operation regardless of COVID-19 has put workers’ health in danger. According to a survey of 4,348 Amazon workers, around 41% of warehouse workers reported receiving no training about hazards associated with COVID-19, while 60% of the respondents were aware of confirmed cases at their workplaces. This map shows the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Amazon warehouses by county. We select three counties with the highest number.
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; Jana Jumpp
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
32
Amazon chooses inner-ring suburbs to locates its facilities in order to serve the contiguous metropolitan areas but pay cheaper rent. Although Amazon brings thousands of jobs to these suburbs, it is also adding housing and healthcare pressures to the local community.
It is hard to ignore Amazon’s facilities in a suburb: the footprint of a typical fulfillment center (200,000 sq ft, in red rectangles) is 100 times the size of a typical single-family house (2,000 sq ft, in red dots).
C2
Scott County, MN
Scott county Population: 143,372 (Suburban) Warehouse Covid: 88
37
Chapter I
Minneapolis (City), Hennepin county Population: 425,403 30 min Driving to Minneapolis
Shakopee (Inner Suburb), Scott county Population: 41,362
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Scott County Open Data
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
38
C2
Luzerne County, PA
Luzerne county Population: 317,884 (Suburban) Warehouse Covid: 79
39
Chapter I
Wilkes-Barre (City) Population: 40,806
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Open Government Portal, Luzerne, PA
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
40
C2
Richmond County, NY
Richmond county Population: 474,101 (Suburban) Warehouse Covid: 51
41
Chapter I
New York (City) Population: 8,399,000
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; NYC Open Data
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
42
C3
Patterns Of Stories
Filter III: High Unemployment Rate
43
Chapter I
Many counties have been convinced by Amazon that its warehouses can bring significant economic improvement to the community. These two map indicates the locations of Amazon warehouses and unemployment rate or poverty rate by county from CDC’s 2018 social vulnerability index (SVI). We can see that most of the counties are in the higher percentile. We select three counties with the highest unemployment and poverty rate.
Broward County, Florida Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
44
C3
Patterns Of Stories
Filter III: High Poverty Rate
Riverside County, California
45
Chapter I
Dallas County, Texas
Broward County, Florida
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
46
Cars are the major means of transportation in suburbs. The well-developed road system helps Amazon realize its two-day delivery to nearby cities.
C3
Riverside County, CA
Los Angeles (City) Population: 3,990,000
55 min Driving
Riverside City (Inner Suburb) Population: 330,063
Riverside county Population: 2,383,286 (Large Metro) Poverty: 14.7% Unemployment: 8.6%
51
Chapter I
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Riverside County Open Data
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
52
C3
Wayne, MI
Detroit (City) Population: 672,662
Wayne county Population: 1,761,382 (Large Metro) Amazon warehouses: 4 Poverty: 23.1% Unemployment: 10.2%
53
Chapter I
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability County Index 2018 Database
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
54
C3
Maricopa County, AZ
Las Vegas (City) Population: 651,319
5 hour Driving
Phoenix (City) Population: 1,680,992
Maricopa county Population: 4,253,913 (Large Metro) Amazon warehouses: 18 Poverty: 14.7 % Unemployment: 5.5 %
55
Chapter I
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Maricopa County GIS Open Data
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
56
57
Chapter I
Stories Overview C
Total Warehouses: 65
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com
Call To Action: Amazon Is Ruining Your Community
58
Chapter II.
Fulfillment Center Components We discussed before how Amazon is ruining your county. This chapter will show you what is in an Amazon warehouse and how to take it apart.
TPO Membrane (Thermoplastic Polyolefin)
A
Roofing Component:
Roofing is the first component you need to disassemble. It consist of the following components. 1. Steel Roof Deck 2.Insulation consisting of 2 layers of 2.5” thick Poly ISO insulation (4×8 sheets) 3.Insulation Coverboard one layer of ½” high density poly Iso board (120psi) 4. TPO Membrane 12X100 Rolls 5. Solar panels 6mv
59
Chapter II
4 3 2 1
Fulfillment Center Components
60
B Open-web Steel Joist Framing, HSS Steel Columns
Steel Component:
4
3
1
2
Steel is the major structural material in your warehouse and can be directly recycled after disassembly. It has the following components:
1. 2. 3. 4.
61
HSS Steel Columns Connection Beam Open-web Steel Joist Joist Girder
Chapter II
Fulfillment Center Components
62
C
12.5’
Cast-in-place Tilt-up Panels
Concrete Component:
50’
Tilt-up concrete panels consist of the exterior wall of Amazon warehouses. They are casted horizontally on a concrete slab. After it is cured, the panel will be ‘tilted’ to a vertical position and braced there until the remaining building structural components are secured. In the same way it was installed on site, you can take them apart. The connections between panels, they are easier to disassemble and are the only concrete component able to be reused.
63
Chapter II
Fulfillment Center Components
64
C
Equipment Component
65
1
Dock Equipment
2
Conveyors
3
Storage Equipment
4
Lifting Equipment
5
Packing Equipment
Chapter II
Fulfillment Center Components
66
67
Chapter II
Fulfillment Center Components
68
Chapter III.
Disassembly Manual
Deconstruction is a process that will take a lot of your time and energy, but it will also gives you the raw materials for building your community! Amazon Warehouses are perfectly designed for deconstruction because of its standardized materials and exposed structure. In this chapter, you will learn to take apart building components systematically, refurbish them and reuse in the construction.
Amazon Jobs
Labor Transformation
Fulfillment Center Management Team
Fulfillment Loss Prevention Team
Warehouse and Shopper Pickers, Stowers, Packers
Procurement
Labor Amazon promised to hire thousands of warehouse workers. The deconstruction will need collaboration among all of them. Deconstruction is a labor-intensive process. It requires semi-skilled workers to carefully remove building components, rather than a few pieces of heavy machinery with operators.
69
Chapter III
New Jobs (disassembly phase) Deconstruction Supervisor (Licensed)
Deconstruction Foreman
Deconstruction Workers
Deconstruction, Waste recycling, Janitorial services
Safety Coordinator
Training To start the disassembly process, all the warehouse workers will need to be trained with deconstruction skills. Many material recycling companies provide such training programs.
Disassembly Manual
70
71
Chapter III
Disassembly Manual
72
Chapter IV.
Case Study: Community Building From our site selection in Chapter I, we now zoom into three counties under each filter to show you how the workers there have followed our manual and rebuilt their community.
Chapter IV-A
Case Study: Community Building
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
A
Historically a steel-producing county, Cuyahoga had to face the decline of manufacturing jobs that went abroad for cheap labor. Its biggest city Cleveland grabbed the new opportunity and has become a major hub for the highly profitable healthcare industry; however, Cleveland’s neighbor Euclid has to find a way out of its identity as a blue-collar suburb.
Cleveland
Cuyahoga, OH
Population: 383,793
Cuyahoga county Population: 1,253,783 (Large Metro) Amazon Warehouses: 3 Dead Malls: 5
73
Chapter IV
g in is v i l Dr apo n e mi inn 4 1 o M t
Euclid Population: 46,946
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Cuyahoga County Open Data
Case Study: Community Building
74
A
Shopping malls were hiring thousands of people in Euclid until their decline in the 2000s.
Euclid City, Cuyahoga, OH
Soon, the city government was left with no choice but to invite in the new commerce dominator Amazon, who promised to provide more than 2000 jobs. One of the fulfillment centers is built on the site of Euclid Square Mall, which 50 years ago took the place of the former copper tube mill. It is in an industrial zone (in gray), surrounded by residential areas. Also it is close to local printing companies and the Euclid creek. Two challenges that Euclid is facing got the workers’ attention. First, Amazon produces a significant amount of paper waste from packaging. Since China refused to buy recycled waste from the U.S., most of this goes into a landfill in Cuyahoga. Second, the polluted creek is another problem, which is largely the result of industrial waste and the bad sewage system. A few species of its fish were gradually endangered in the past 30 years.
Printing Companies
Residential Institutional Commercial Industrial Water body Road
Cleveland
75
Chapter IV
Amazon Fulfillment Center
Wickliffe
Euclid Creek
Euclid
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Cuyahoga County Open Data
Case Study: Community Building
76
77
Chapter IV
Euclid Timeline A
Case Study: Community Building
78
A
Minor Plan
79
Chapter IV
Case Study: Community Building
80
A Disassemble Fulfillment Center
Fish Lab 81
Chapter IV
Handmade Paper Mill
Book Market Case Study: Community Building
82
Chapter IV-B
Case Study: Community Building
Scott County, Minnesota
B
As one of Minnesota’s fastest-growing counties, Scott county has experienced a rapid expansion mix of commercial, industrial, and housing development. However, the rapid economic development has also brought some negative consequences. Environmentally, lakes and rivers in Scott county are suffering from invasive species which threaten biodiversity in the bodies of water, and impose enormous costs to local agriculture, forestry, fisheries and other human enterprises.
Scott County, MN
In addition to Scott County’s own development, as a suburb of Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Area, its housing market is also under pressure from the rapid development and population growth of the twin cities. According to the 2018 Social Vulnerability Index, Scott county is experiencing overcrowding and a housing crisis.
Scott county Population: 143,372 (Suburban) Warehouse Covid: 88
83
Chapter IV
Minneapolis, Hennepin county
30 min Driving to Minneapolis
Shakopee, Scott county
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Scott County Open Data
Case Study: Community Building
84
B
The site of Amazon fulfillment center in Shakopee city is right next to County Highway 101, in an industrial zone, near a large residential zone. Also, it is only a 2-min drive to the Minnesota river and a 11-min drive to the Rice lake and the Grass lake from the fulfillment center.
Minneapolis to n mi ing ake 11 iv L Dr ice R
g in s iv li Dr po n ea mi inn t 15 o M por t ir A
Shakopee City, Scott, MN
Rice Lake
Residential Water body Road
Minne
Shakopee
85
Chapter IV
Grass Lake
esota River 3 n
mi g
in
iv
Dr
Amazon Fulfillment Center
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Scott County Open Data
Case Study: Community Building
86
87
Chapter IV
Shakopee Timeline B
Case Study: Community Building
88
B
Minor Plan
89
Chapter IV
Case Study: Community Building
90
B Disassemble Fulfillment Center
91
Chapter IV
Invasive Species Research Lab
Boat Wash Station Case Study: Community Building
92
93
Chapter IV
Case Study: Community Building
94
Chapter IV-C
Case Study: Community Building
Riverside County, California
C
Riverside county Population: 2,383,286 (Large Metro)
Riverside County, CA
Poverty: 14.7% Unemployment: 8.6%
Riverside County is a county located in Southern California spanning from the greater Los Angeles area to the Arizona border. Riverside County is one of the most air-polluted counties in the United States, mainly because the county is heavily automobile-oriented. The county has a thriving agricultural industry. Citrus is the most common product in and around Riverside city.
95
Chapter IV
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Riverside County Open Data
Case Study: Community Building
96
C
Riverside City, Riverside, CA
Amazon fulfillment center is located in the suburban area of Riverside County. Because of the long-distance transportation of goods to LA, the delivery trucks from Amazon warehouse have made the local air quality even worse. Besides, due to the lack of public transportation, low-income communities are suffering from travel difficulties.
Riverside City
Martin Luther King High School
Residential Agriculture Preserves Others Water body Road
97
Citrus Farm
Chapter IV
to our 1 H ving les e Dri Ang Los
Amazon Fulfillment Center
Riverside National Cemetery
Perris
Source: Christine Wen, God Jobs First; DeadMalls.com; CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 Database; Riverside County Open Data
Case Study: Community Building
98
99
Chapter IV
Riverside Timeline C
Case Study: Community Building
100
C
Minor Plan
101
Chapter IV
Case Study: Community Building
102
C Citrus Orchards
Urban Farm 103
Chapter IV
Bus Terminal
Market Case Study: Community Building
104