Working at Amazon Fulfillment Center - SOUTH PARK 

Watch full episodes of South Park: cart.mn/episodes

With every smiling box you receive, a soul has been depleted of its joy.

As a former Amazon employee, this scene is INSANELY accurate, down to the warehouse interior and exterior, the breaks, the soulless expressions on everyone’s faces. My only conclusion is that they must’ve gotten the input of many Amazon or former Amazon workers when writing this episode.

Honestly, all the positive "affirmations" written all over the walls of my fulfillment center was the most disturbing part considering the hellish work environment. Amazon is a dystopian hell.

I worked at a fulfillment center two different times. I never lasted more than a month. Not because I can't take hard work (I'm a power lineman) but because it was literally soul crushing. Nothing but yellow and gray. They treat you like a slave. Unobtainable quotas, absolute minimum legal break time, only one bathroom you're allowed to use, and it's almost always on the other side of the center and you can only go on your break. Fifteen minute break and 7 minutes to get to the bathroom, one minute to use it, and 7 to walk back. You literally use your whole break to piss.

I like how Steven flips out and yells at Butters, then apologizes to his wife for being slightly annoyed.

I expected a joke, but no, this is where SP gets serious.

Matt and Trey definitely picked the perfect song to describe working at a fulfillment center

I drive a city bus, and one of my routes takes 10-15 Amazon fulfillment center workers to work... they've got to be some of the saddest sacks I've ever seen, and I see a lot of people on my bus. They look and act like scruffy zombies - makes me depressed just loading them in the bus, knowing they have a long day of drudgery in store. 😞

Jeff bezos didn't like how accurate this episode was. 😭😭😂🤣

Been there 2.5 years, this is too accurate it’s a never ending grind. Funny how you’ll feel so unfulfilled working at a fulfillment center

I worked at an Amazon fulfillment center for a year and some change. The one thing that struck me about this was how accurate the inside of the building was. For those who've never worked at Amazon, it almost looks exactly like this right down to the break rooms. I'm surprised that they didn't include those little 'suicide boxes' that have telephones directly linked to suicide prevention hotlines. I'm proud to say that I stole so much time from Amazon on my clock-ins and outs. I got fired for it later, but I'd been doing it for so long and nobody noticed until I had to fix my time card. And you bet your ass I would do it again at Amazon. Love my new job! Get out and find something better.

Was a flex contractor for a year at Amazon. Everyone at these centers looked stressed and really on edge. The manager seemed smug as hell too. Each month we were expected to deliver more than the previous. Deliver 17 packages in 3 hours. (No problem) Then 24, then 29, then they only have 4 hour slots so they can give you more to deliver. When I saw that I had 58 deliveries to do in 4 hours with a 50 minute drive away to my first delivery it was just to much and stopped then and there. I was working hours for free to finish my shift. Also you pay for your own gas and that eats heavily into your pay. When I gave feedback to Amazon they took away my schedule.

It's amazing that Amazon let the SP crew film inside their fulfillment centers.

That song choice was perfect. It made the correlation between early 19th-century mine workers and amazon employees perfectly.

0:24 I like how Butters is still smiling even though the Dad is yelling at him 🤣

I worked for Amazon in Memphis, for a night and a half. First night was orientation so it didn’t seem bad until they showed us around on the floor. Everybody looked beyond depressed. Night 2 we got taken to our station which was returns, which was all the way in the back and reeked of piss. When we got our “break” it was impossible to even get to the break room before it was time to walk all the way back. They hire in groups (about 40 of us in a group.) We talked with this one girl who had been there a month and was the last in her group. We all walked out together at midnight on our lunch break and we all just left. Went home, climbed in bed, woke up, applied for a new job, had the new job at 3pm, 15 hours after walking out of Amazon

The fact that he says “Fuck You” to his son and Butters is still smiling.

The true definition of a mega-corporation, where you literally pay half your paycheck back to the same company you work for in order to enjoy a basic modern quality of life. Southpark hit the vibe perfectly.

I hate how true this one is. I get PTSD thinking back to the hell hole that was the Amazon FC I worked at. Just a quick overview of the treatment I experienced: Ten hour shifts of picking in a warehouse that is 80-90 degrees in the "winter" and 100+ in the summer. There were a limited number of box fans that were quickly snatched up by the early birds of the shift. The rest were left to swelter in the heat. Same goes for the stools that gave a little comfort. This was ten hours of reaching up to the top of a bin to bending over to picking from the bottom. We had breaks that began with the last item scanned. You would then log out of your console and then walk to the breakroom (about 3-5 minutes because the facility was so big). You needed to be back at your station, logged in, and scanning the next item by the time 15 minutes had passed from your last scan. Do the math and you will see that Amazon gives their workers about 5 minutes or so to get off their feet and rest. Of course, if you were buddies with the managers, you could take extended breaks. You did get an hour unpaid lunch, so there was that. But imagine not being able to listen to music and working in a hot and humid environment with no air circulation for ten hours. I would go home and just pass out from exhaustion. I didn't eat or shower until it was time to wake up for the next shift. This was my life while I was working at Amazon. Honestly, thinking back to how absolutely horrible this company treats their workers, I just can't believe it's legal.

I knew someone who worked at the Amazon fulfillment center and he told me that he had one hour to fulfill 60 package orders. Think about it, that's one package per minute. When would one have even a second to go to the bathroom?

As a former employee of Amazon....this is BEYOND accurate!

I was a contractor that filled and sold safety equipment for FCs and this is pretty solid. The only non miserable dudes were the maintenance team. I came out of the shitter and some rando told me that I went twice in an hour then she saw my contractor badge. RIP amazon employees.

The song is in reference to the coal mining industry and the towns they created around them to keep people working and the money flowing right back to them. The Ludlow Massacre is a horrific story on corporate America. Amazon would like nothing more to turn small city’s/towns into their own.

I worked there a year and a half ago for one day and 4 hours. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. This sketch is one of the most accurate and relatable South Park has done. I ended up quitting because my “ambassador” screamed at me for taking a break too early. After that I ran out of the building crying. I’m in college now and have a great full-time job. But man, I still get chills thinking about my time there.

Fun fact this episode wasn’t the first time “Sixteen tons,” was referenced. In the Paris Hilton episode butters was actually singing his own version of the song while he was trying to dig up coal to sadly try and prevent himself from being sold off by his parents

On the plus side, Kenny's father finally has regular work at the same level as everyone else.

I feel like no one is understanding the meaning of this episode. Amazon is forming a monopoly before our very eyes and we’re not doing shit about it

Discovered this scene the week after I lost my job (pre-pandemic) and it honestly made a huge impact on me. Never thought South Park of all things would speak to the desolation I felt in that moment like this did.

The Amazon boxes aren't smiling, they're laughing at you.

having worked at amazon, this is the most accurate depiction ever. it's completely soulless and you're just a cog in the machine getting orders to customers as fast as possible.

Rip to the six employees that died at the Edwardsville amazon warehouse, working for jeff bezos, even during a severe tornado warning.

This is one of the best scenes of a cartoon, or show, in recent memory. This was brilliantly written for several reasons. Loved it. Amazing how South Park continues to deliver decades later.

I love how Butters is still smiling after his dad just yelled at him

I worked at a fulfillment center for a while. I didn’t mind the physical aspect of the work, but if I stayed there it would’ve crushed my soul. I have absolutely zero doubt about that. I’m lucky I realized that in time

This song came to my head every time I used my employee discount at WalMart

I work at Amazon and when I saw this episode I so desperately wanted Butter's Dad to stow or box something at work and go home and buy it. I've done that so much, either put the items in pods, the ones the robots carry around, or box something and think 'hey, this is cool, I'm going to buy one.'

I never went to college, I worked at amazon after school. Thank god I did, coz there was never a better motivator to getting my life together.

One of the most relevant and poignant bits they have ever done.

I worked at FedEx temporarily through the Christmas season. I would sing this song on repeat while loading boxes into the trucks. Absolutely soul crushing job

Butter’s happiness when he saw his dad got him a horn almost made me tear up

I love the part where Stephen Stotch comes back home with the Amazon packages and gives Linda Stotch a whisk that looks exactly the same as the hand whisk she is already using except for with a hand crank. A completely unnecessary purchase that sums up consumer culture perfectly.

This is EXTREMELY accurate. There's like minor things that are different, like we don't walk around with those orange robots, but there are some they walk around with in different types of centers. I really do have to give them props for getting it so close considering the animators aren't working in one of the FC's. I am hoping I can move up from grunt to drone pilot someday.

I worked at Amazon in the UK for three months over Christmas. It was actually alright, but it's only alright if you're prepared to accept that you're gonna be working really hard throughout the night for ten hours doing an insanely repetitive task, and then repeating the whole thing again every night for the rest of the week. The managers were decent really laid back, we used headphones and got free food and bottles of water. I also got paid a £2000 bonus just for joining and the money was good anyway. Was it a long term career choice, nah definitely not, but it was a decent place to do some graft to get some money together. I bet if you worked at the wrong factory though, where the managers were peices of shit, then it would be the worst job on the planet.

This collision of artistry and brutal truth is sublime.

Butters pays for rush drone delivery on a $3 part while his dad is working himself to death

As someone who used to work there, I have to say that's exactly how I felt every single day. Also you don't get any prime membership discounts.

Recommended reading: "Hard Times" by Studs Terkel. Its a collection of memoirs of the great depression AND of people who were born after that have heard about it from others. Its both a record of what life was like during a massive traumatic event in American history and an in-depth look at the way that Americans remember the past. Extremely relevant content; I started reading it around the time I got back into South Park this year and its only served to make me more aware of what's happening in this country and why. I bring it up because there's a chapter that opens on the lyrics to this song, and knowing that M+T have made multiple references to this song / time period in various episodes it feels appropriate to anyone into the way they depict the Amazon company town effect. We've been here before, and we won't get out of it (barring the country getting into another "great" war), if we don't learn a lesson from the past.

That Amazon clip was to me actually quite artistic ; it made a fair statement about modern work practices and rampant consumerism. Well done.

Was a driver for amazon, lasted a month. You get yelled at and ridiculed for asking questions in the fulfillment center, the people who worked at the one I drove for were very grumpy and unhappy people. The work was always way too much and you were expected, as a driver, to deliver everything no matter the amount. I'd clock in around 10:30am to 10:45am and be clocking out around 11pm and be home passed midnight pretty much everyday. When i quit the dispatcher lady i worked with told me she didn't blame me, and that the stress of the job makes her depressed quite often. You don't just a get job there, it becomes your life.

A lot of people here don't understand whats bad about this kind of Job. Its not the work, driving, monotony. The problem is the horrible treatment of workers. The unbearable micro managing, the ridiculous productivity goals, constant threat of being fired, constant cameras watching you, security frisking you. Amazon treats you like a robot, and that's the problem. There's other warehouse Jobs that super chill to work at while being just as productive. Just need to treat you as a human.

There is nothing as soul crushing as working these monotonous wharehouse/factory jobs.

Amazon fulfillment gets so much hate but it's no different then any other distribution job. Warehouse work is super depressing.

It's interesting that as much as people say how powerful Amazon is getting and how the employees share how miserable they are, but one thing they all have in common is that it doesn't stop them from using Amazon's services

This is accurate in almost every detail as someone who worked for amazon

Linda is an engineer, I wonder why money is still so tight when both parents work and Butters is their only kid in a isolated mountain town…

I love how butters was smiling at his dad as he got cussed out like he genuinely meant to have that exact effect on him

South park's normally really good with comedy through exaggeration, but I love the direction here just showing how amazon workers go about their days with no frills, while at the same time showing why amazon will never die I also like this episode onward giving Steven more stuff to do

as someone who worked there for about a year this is HORRIFICALLY accurate

"Imagine not getting to listen to music for ten hours..." This is literally how all factories were before smart phones became so prevalent in 2008-2010. Factory life is a hard life. Its best to avoid doing it your whole life.

I love ❤️ how Butters doesn’t even react to his dad swearing at him (0:23)... 😆😆😆

I never really realized how good this song is. You don’t hear it for 30 years, the you’re like damn that song is way better than I ever remembered.

As someone who works at UPS, I know theirs exact feeling.

This is so true. I am semi retired now from a professional career and being winter I fancied doing some casual work for a supermarket distribution centre, which is not far from where I live. Got to say its absolutely shocking the way people are treated with crazy targets and micro management from really piss poor managers. You can be stood in one place working on a pallet drop off and you get a text (auto generated or not I don't know) to "watch your still time - thank you". It is absolutely soul crushing and must have something to do with middle aged male suicide rates.

I sing this at work and I work as a nurse… This really hits me where it hurts 😂😭

Sixteen tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford is a great song. Forty years ago, when I was a kid, I worked for K-Mart. They would pay us in cash. The reason is employees would buy stuff before leaving the store.

The worst thing is Amazon drivers don't get Amazon prime; or any type of discount.

I lucked out on my four months at Amazon. I worked as an outbound item picker for most of the Christmas rush. I liked being able to walk around the warehouse as it was exercise and I would ponder at some of the items that were ordered, two that stood out was a vibrating pleasure bar, and a Trump Hat (in Canada). One time I picked a bag of plain lays chips I was really confused about that one. Anyway they did have schedules and quotas to meet, but my supervisors never yelled at or threatened to fire me for some slow days. Probably due to the Christmas rush, as for why I left. I was moved over to the inbound customer returns. Our job was to inspect items that customers would return for refunds and if they could be resold, and to keep an eye open for sneaky methods of "free"funds as I call them. Like stuffing a coffee maker box with bottled water. (actually happened) I did not like that section as the starting shift was 7:30 am to 6:00 pm same as the pickers. What I disliked the most was work location, we didn't have chairs to sit on. So I would be standing in the same space for more than 10 hours inspecting boxes, while listening to a radio station that I had no control over and played repetitive music. I really started to hate despacito. I was in that spot for a week before I decided to leave.

I used to work at a Amazon warehouse in California. When it came to the atmosphere it was chill but it’s definitely not for everyone and it’s such a grind as in repetitiveness. Also there were some toxic workers who were just assh*les. Surprisingly the mangers weren’t the worse I’ve had which is a surprise. Also a lot of workers would just smoke weed in the parking lot and outside benches during breaks and lunch which I found hilarious because it indicated that the security cameras was not working at all. Lol. When I would pull into the parking lot in the early mornings to start my shift I would see bottles of alcohol scatter around the lot. So we had workers who were intoxicated. They hid their drunkness well to say the least. The most weird shit is the pretend “happy workplace environment” they kept promoting and jamming down our throats which is ironic since I could tell a majority of workers were not happy there “but there’s bills that gotta be paid”attitude

I've worked in a "Fulfillment Centre" and rather liked it as a temporary job only. I did get frisked by the "security gestapo" on too many occasions though - and that's the only aspect missing from the South Park depiction - which was my main reason for leaving at the time. If prisoner roleplays are your thing, you'd love an Amazon job 👍

Amazon Fullfillment was the most soul sucking job I've ever had... I would spend some days so sore to do the job at the speed they wanted and others I would be on the verge of tears for hours

The break room had me dying this shit is so accurate been at a fulfillment center for a month Jesus this is a grind

Worked there for a month in 2020 peak season. They literally record you during training and make you rewatch the video of you working with a supervisor. Not to mention the scanners track your every move. If you accidentally scan the wrong item a certain amount of times a day, someone will find you and complain you aren't working efficiently enough. They find you based on your last scanned package. I even felt like Alexa was listening

Everything about this episode was spot on, from Mr. Stotch's reaction to Butters to the portrayal of the Amazon work environment.

Every warehouse worker can relate to this.

He says "sorry" to his wife but Butters gets the full kit and kabootle of rage, Butters just smiles.

Despite South park being mostly comedy, I almost burst into tears watching this. This is so sad!

They cut out the best verse. "If you see me comin' better step aside. A lot of men didn't and a lot of men died."

I haven't heard that song in a long time. It feels very appropriate now.

For those that don't remember, keep this in mind: Amazon values its employees so little, it actually murdered a whole Fulfillment Center full of them by refusing to allow them to take cover during a tornado.

Never worked at a FC but just watching this scene I could feel my soul being sucked away.

Don't worry, I believe within five years the only people working in Amazon fulfillment centers will be technicians fixing robots.

Those amongst the oldest of us will remember the old mill towns where everyone worked at the mill and the mill owned everything including your house and the corner (company) store and everything it sold back to you. We haven’t escaped the vicious cycle at all. Round and round.

I worked at Amazon for about 2 months then quit because I started having thoughts about respawning else where. I'm happy with the work I do now, I hope those who worked at Amazon and still do find peace with themselves. That's how you get thru that job

My hats off to Amazon workers. I did some projects this year and frequently ordered parts and supplies from Amazon because they just didn't exist in the brick and mortar stores anywhere near my house. And they arrived sometimes the next day. If it's any consolation, I worked a factory job that frequently felt soul crushing for 35 years. I stayed because it paid the bills with enough money left over to get some enjoyment out of life. I have friends who did my "dream job" including one who ran his own independent business. When we got together he would frequently comment how lucky I was because I could "punch out of my job for the day and go home and forget about it" until the next time. I guess the moral of the story is it's rough when we don't get our dream job but it can be rough when we do.

What I find truly sinister is the power and influence Amazon has amassed.

I’ve worked at 2 facilities in Denver, this gave me Vietnam flash backs about how depressing it was

Holy shit this is the highest level of satire that I've seen in a long long time. Perfect music choice

And these very modern facilities are way better than the older ones. I worked at a delivery station so we just basically organized the packages to be delivered... no pulling, packing, etc etc. But it was still pure torture, they work you like a machine and you're just a number to them.

The horrifying moment when SP stops being satire 📦

I would kill to work at THAT fulfillment center. Where I worked the closest thing we had to automation was the conveyor system and manual pallet jacks. 4 people doing 'unload' per shift with the expectation of 60,000 items being distributed by the entire facility in 8 hours was the daily expectation. If you were standing still you were fired.

I love how accurate the warehouse looks.

I like how butters is literally still smiling while Stephen is yelling at him

I worked at amazon for years and then a few other places. All warehouses are the same, doesn't matter what company, its an endless/ soul crushing grind.

It's Walmart all over again. The employees get paid such crap money that they can only afford to shop at Walmart/Amazon which puts the money right back in the company's pocket.

Man. Butter's dad really took him to task over that prize money.

“Well the world needs ditch diggers too.” -Judge Smails

I worked for lots of companies, but working for Amazon was far the most disgusting and depressing job ever.

Unbelievable. I`m watching South Park for 15 years now. It once aired on MTV here in Germany in my youth. It always was unique with a massive depth of pinpointing on trends within the society or covering current events. What I love is that Matt & Trey never lost their soul. They stayed humble within the early hypes and man they signed a $ 900 Million contract with viacom this year. Holy cow. Kids out there, this is a lesson for your life: Stick to what you believe in!

"16 tons and what do ya get? Another day older and deeper in debt." The realist and hardest-hitting lyric I've heard in years.