With brief, occasional, italicized and sometimes gratuitous commentary…
• Bloomberg reports that henceforth, Amazon "will let warehouse workers keep mobile phones with them on the job, abandoning plans to resume a ban temporarily lifted during the pandemic … For years, Amazon prohibited employees from having their phones on warehouse floors and required them to leave them in their vehicles or in lockers near break rooms. After temporarily relaxing the ban during the pandemic, the company announced last year that it planned to reimpose the prohibition. When workers complained, Amazon said it would allow phones 'until further notice'."
"We recognize the desire for employees to keep their mobile phones inside facilities and the last two years have demonstrated that we can safely do so,” Amazon said in an email to employees. “Therefore, we are making the temporary phone policy permanent, worldwide, in all of our operations facilities.”
Or, to put it another way, Amazon has enough trouble dealing with unionization issues in some of its warehouses, and saw no need to hand organizers another arrow for their quiver.
• The Wall Street Journal reports that "after years of resisting DIY repairs, Apple opened a new online store Wednesday where anyone can view repair manuals and order replacement parts and tools for certain recent devices. The new Self Service Repair Store sells screens, batteries, cameras and other parts to fix some issues with iPhone 12 and 13 models and 2022’s updated iPhone SE. Later this year, it will stock parts and tools to fix Macs that have Apple silicon chips.
"Just don’t expect to save much money doing repairs yourself. Buying parts to fix an iPhone 12 Mini on your own would cost only $3 less than having your out-of-warranty device fixed at an Apple Store, for instance. And you’d still have to pay for tools."
• Amazon's Just Walk Out technology, as well as its Amazon One biometric system, now will be available at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners. The companies say that this is "the first time both frictionless retail technologies will be utilized in a Major League Baseball ballpark. The innovative technologies will be featured at the venue’s new Walk-Off Market, which is designed to eliminate lines and allow fans to enjoy more Mariners baseball. The Walk-Off Market, which is run by hospitality company Sodexo Live!, is scheduled to open this summer.
Not sure if this will elevate T-Mobile Park from being my second-favorite among post-1962 ballparks to the number one position … but it couldn't hurt.
