Amazon Halts Activity At French Warehouses After Court Order (bloomberg.com) 233
Amazon said it will stop activity at its fulfillment centers in France for five days after a court order banned the sale of non-essential goods. Bloomberg reports: The world's largest online retailer is "temporarily" suspending sales from April 16 through April 20, a spokeswoman for the company said. The court concluded the retailer isn't doing enough to protect staff from the Covid-19 pandemic. The $1.1 trillion company was given 24 hours on Tuesday to comply with the ruling to sell only essential items such as food and hygiene products, and to upgrade its health-security procedures. The company faces fines of 1 million euros ($1.1 million) for each day's delay.
Amazon said the ruling left it "perplexed," and noted it has already taken extra steps to protect employee health. "The court gave categories that are very general and create ambiguity that would be too hard to implement," a spokeswoman for Amazon told Bloomberg News. "This is a complex business to run." Amazon must shut down "because of the terms and conditions of the court order, especially because of their ambiguity and the absence of definition," the e-commerce giant said in an internal memo that was seen by Bloomberg.
Amazon said the ruling left it "perplexed," and noted it has already taken extra steps to protect employee health. "The court gave categories that are very general and create ambiguity that would be too hard to implement," a spokeswoman for Amazon told Bloomberg News. "This is a complex business to run." Amazon must shut down "because of the terms and conditions of the court order, especially because of their ambiguity and the absence of definition," the e-commerce giant said in an internal memo that was seen by Bloomberg.
I'm dumbfounded (Score:2)
Ambiguity and absence of definition from a court order? Impossible!
Re:I'm dumbfounded (Score:5, Funny)
Corporations suggesting that complying with laws and court orders would be too hard and expensive? Impossible!
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In this case, it is literally true because of ambiguity of the court order.
Re:I'm dumbfounded (Score:4, Insightful)
In this case, it is literally true because of ambiguity of the court order.
No, Amazon says the court order is ambiguous. Apparently the idea of protecting their workers from Covid-19 confuses them. It seems pretty straight forward to me.
Re:I'm dumbfounded (Score:5, Insightful)
> It seems pretty straight forward to me.
Yes, the rules are quite clear. Allow me to re-iterate:
“The Rules as of today”
1. Basically, you can't leave the house for any reason, but if you have to, then you can.
2. Masks are useless, but maybe you have to wear one, it can save you, it is useless, but maybe it is mandatory as well.
3. Stores are closed, except those that are open.
4. You should not go to hospitals unless you have to go there. Same applies to doctors, you should only go there in case of emergency, provided you are not too sick.
5. This virus is deadly but still not too scary, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster.
6. Gloves won't help, but they can still help.
7. Everyone needs to stay HOME, but it's important to GO OUT.
8. There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarket, but there are many things missing when you go there in the evening, but not in the morning. Sometimes.
9. The virus has no effect on children except those it affects.
10. Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there
11. You will have many symptoms when you are sick, but you can also get sick without symptoms, have symptoms without being sick, or be contagious without having symptoms.
12. In order not to get sick, you have to eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand and it's better not to go out, well, but no
13. It's better to get some fresh air, but you get looked at very wrong when you get some fresh air, and most importantly, you don't go to parks or walk. But don’t sit down, except that you can do that now if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant (but not too old).
14. You can't go to retirement homes, but you have to take care of the elderly and bring food and medication.
15. If you are sick, you can't go out, but you can go to the pharmacy.
16. You can get restaurant food delivered to the house, which may have been prepared by people who didn't wear masks or gloves. But you have to have your groceries decontaminated outside for 3 hours. Pizza too?
17. Every disturbing article or disturbing interview must start with " I don't want to trigger panic, but"
18. You can't see your older mother or grandmother, but you can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver.
19. You can walk around with a friend but not with your family if they don't live under the same roof.
20. You are safe if you maintain the appropriate social distance, but you can’t go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance.
21. The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours, no, four, no, six, no, we didn't say hours, maybe days? But it takes a damp environment. Oh no, not necessarily.
22. The virus stays in the air - well no, or yes, maybe, especially in a closed room, in one hour a sick person can infect ten, so if it falls, all our children would already be infected at school before it was closed. But remember, if you stay at the recommended social distance, however in certain circumstances you should maintain a greater distance, which, studies show, the virus can travel further, maybe.
23. We count the number of deaths but we don't know how many people are infected as we have only tested so far those who were "almost dead" to find out if that's what they will die of
24. We have no treatment, except that there may be one that apparently is not dangerous unless you take too much (which is the case with all medications).
25. We should stay locked up until the virus disappears, but it will only disappear if we achieve collective immunity, so when it circulates but we must no longer be locked up for that?
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Did anybody else read that as "French Whorehouses"?
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In this case, it is literally true because of ambiguity of the court order.
Does not seem to be ambiguous to me. [slashdot.org] No brick and mortar store had trouble knowing whether it should stay open or not. It's only Amazon that found a way to be confused.
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That would obviously be because the list you link specifically references brick and mortar stores and not operations of the kind Amazon conducts. If I were a lawyer for Amazon, I would argue that Amazon's operations fall well within hypermarket-like description however, as they indeed sell pretty much everything, just like hypermarkets do.
Invest in the EU (Score:2, Insightful)
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Yeah because no US court or lawmaker has interfered with a US company, nope, never. I mean, its perfectly acceptable to open a cashless store all over the US these days, isnt it?
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A bit different when the court just is mad at you because your, maybe not French enough? and so makes stuff up that you have to do.
Re:Invest in the EU (Score:4, Informative)
Wrong. [federalreserve.gov]
Creditors cannot refuse a cash tender. Your typical business is not extending you credit. The business is offering to sell you a good or service, and can specify that you must pay in something other than cash as part of the offer, unless some local law says otherwise. No Federal law exists that mandates that businesses accept cash. Only three States [findlaw.com] and a handful of cities mandate that retail establishments accept cash. If the business isn't a retail establishment, you're SOL everywhere in the U.S.
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Creditors cannot refuse a cash tender.
False. Tender just means it is a valid offer for payment, as in it is legal to set the value of a contract in terms of an amount of those notes, whereas it is not legal to set the value of a contract in something such as precious metals which are no longer legal tender, for example: "You agree to pay $100 in gold or silver", would be illegal. Creditors can still require that you make your debt payments following any payment procedures that were in the contracts you
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I think it's funny that you truly believe that you know more about money laws than the friggin federal reserve. I bet you also know more about football than Don Shula.
What do you think could happen if you DIDN'T pay a debt? :)
The creditor could sue you, right? If you owed $10,000, they could sue you for $10,000. Dollars. And you could pay that judgement right there in court - with dollars.
> it is not legal to set the value of a contract in something such as precious metals
You actually think it's ill
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"You're"
Re:Invest in the EU (Score:5, Informative)
This is French law. The EU doesn't make laws or taxes, that's not what the EU is.
This is a safety issue. Amazon can't keep those workers safe or observe the French rules on social distancing and lockdown. Again, nothing to do with the EU, this is all France.
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France is still in the .... EU.
Yes, but that still does not make peculiarly French laws EU laws. You imagining something does not make it reality.
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:2)
Hear hear.
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes there is more than one level of government in Europe. You really should read up about how these systems work. Do you really have no idea that local governance is a thing?
Re:Invest in the EU (Score:5, Informative)
So what? As I already explained the EU can't make laws and doesn't replace the government of France. The EU is not involved in the lockdown in France and did not pass the legislation making it law there.
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:2)
You really should read how the EU works.
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:5, Insightful)
Which doesn't change the fact you were wrong. These are specific French laws, not EU laws. Sounds like you are struggling to understand that in your regular rush to hate on the EU.
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:2)
Does Federal government and State law always line up exactly? Duh.
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And America is still on this planet despite the fact many of us wish it wasn't. What's your point?
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Re: Invest in the EU (Score:2)
It doesn't have one. It does work with partnerships, maybe you have heard of NATO? (I mean given you didn't release the EU held elections, I'm not holding out much hope for your understanding...)
But this is an article about French laws around warehouses, not raising armies, silly troll.
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Name a tax that the EU made.
Explain how the EU writes laws. Wait, you do understand the difference between a directive and a law, right?
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:2)
No they really don't.
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Here, allow me to let the EU tell you how the EU makes EU law: https://europa.eu/european-uni... [europa.eu]
Now fuck off.
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:2)
Hilarious that you didn't read your link!
Now try finding someone who can help you read.
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:2)
That link confirms EU sets motions and directives that then can move to national legislation under control of national parliaments. It says nothing about raising taxes.
So it confirms you are wrong "cedrick".
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What the fuck is a "cedrick"?
I love that an EU document describing how "EU law" (to use its own words) is made, is to you not describing how EU law is made.
It even uses the word legislation to describe the progress through the EU parliament.
Now, stop being a cunt.
Re: Invest in the EU (Score:2)
Way to show off your ignorance.
They recommend laws to national parliaments. National parliaments make national laws.
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"Enjoy the full force of EU nations rules, laws, taxes and extra powerful new laws."
Indeed. They will totally close all French warehouses and deliver all the goods from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy.
They are a logistic company, it's what they do.
That's also why the German strikes that happen every year aren't noticed by anybody.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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More sensible would be judged by safety. If you can be as safe as any essential service then why not operate.
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Amazon has a crazy product inventory (Score:2)
The judge needed to specify all categories they are allowed to continue selling and then amazon could simply filter everything by that. problem is that under each category ... probably 100s there would be a ton of unimportant items classified there.
A compromise solution is needed or it would take a lot to filter it all into lists and not worth the effort... especially when 1 mistake can be cited as a violation and the lawyers profit from all the negotiations!
Amazon doesn't really care about workers; it's a
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The judge needed to specify all categories they are allowed to continue selling and then amazon could simply filter everything by that. problem is that under each category ... probably 100s there would be a ton of unimportant items classified there.
Yeah, that's a big problem. One story that I read said they would be fined 1 EUR ($1.1 million) for *each sale* of a non-essential product. There are enough products misclassified on Amazon that some could slip through the filters and end up costing them billions per day. So, I can see why they'd choose to close rather than take the risk.
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I guarantee people would deliberately miscategorize products so that they could continue to sell them through the Amazon platform. What the judge ordered was utterly bonkers and unrealistic. Amazon is first and foremost a distribution service, not a seller. The judge might as well have ordered FedEx to deliver only essential packages.
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1 EUR ($1.1 million)
I wish, I'd be a trillionaire!
In practice the courts are reasonable when it comes to efforts to comply, they appreciate that it is difficult and only tend to levy fines where the company is wilfully ignoring the rules rather than doing their best but making a few mistakes. In Amazon's case they could easily just shut down large categories of products like non-fiction books and DVDs.
Re:Amazon has a crazy product inventory (Score:4, Interesting)
The entire EU directive system is built on giving everyone a huge amount of wiggle room for compliance. The EU does monitor countries for compliance with things like level playing field rules, but only to the extent that it checks local laws are more or less implementing the directive in a way that won't cause major issues. It doesn't require the directive to be directly transcribed into law or anything like that, it doesn't have that power.
And the compliance mechanism is just talking to the member state about what they need to fix, and sometimes the member states just ignore it without consequence and eventually the Parliament finds a political solution that alters the directive to something everyone can agree on. The members of the Parliament are directly elected.
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How many times do I have to tell you that it's nothing to do with the EU? France decided on the lockdown and conditions itself. The EU had no hand in it. The laws are all French, made in France independently.
Is it really so hard to overcome the brainwashing?
Re: Amazon has a crazy product inventory (Score:3)
This troll has long history of lies about the EU.
Re: Amazon has a crazy product inventory (Score:2)
They literally have EU elections dumbass.
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Yes, French courts. For example the recent ruling against Google over the Right to be Forgotten for in a French court under French privacy laws. Same with the recent ruling that they need to pay news orgs to use snippets of articles.
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The judge needed to specify all categories they are allowed to continue selling and then amazon could simply filter everything by that. problem is that under each category ... probably 100s there would be a ton of unimportant items classified there.
Yeah, that's a big problem. One story that I read said they would be fined 1 EUR ($1.1 million) for *each sale* of a non-essential product. There are enough products misclassified on Amazon that some could slip through the filters and end up costing them billions per day. So, I can see why they'd choose to close rather than take the risk.
It's EUR 1 million per **day** of delay in complying with the court order not for *each sale* of a non-essential product. Don't believe everything you read in a right wing blog.
Re:hard to see this as anything but punitive. (Score:5, Insightful)
That is pretty much the definition in the US - Target can still sell clothes.
The reality is that one man’s essential item is another man’s superfluous item. I ordered a few things from Amazon that were essential to me, or essential to my essential work... that were de-prioritized and will take a month for me to get. I am sure the parent of a 4 year old has different essential items than my wife and I without kids. It isn’t all about toilet paper...
Re:hard to see this as anything but punitive. (Score:4, Interesting)
The reality is that one man’s essential item is another man’s superfluous item.
I just bought some construction paper and markers from Amazon last week. It's hard to see these items as "essential items" but I needed them for my kindergartner's school work. Arguably you could say our school shouldn't assign projects which require these items, but they are having a hard time with e-learning as it is. I also have bought a number of crafts and Legos and games for my daughters so they aren't just sitting in front of the TV, since they don't have nearly as many opportunities for playing outside and with friends as they generally do. I already had my oldest seeing a social worker for anxiety issues, which is now only done over Zoom, and it is quite hard for me to decide if these purchases are "essential."
It is hard to know what I should be doing, because orders of Legos are keeping people at work in warehouses where they are in greater danger than if they were home. Is that Lego set worth it? I don't really know, but I will admit to having bought them anyway.
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If you don't consider school supplies essential while students are learning from home, that just boggles the mind.
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I have been waiting three weeks for Amazon to ship textbooks my kids need. I finally gave up and ordered them from another vendor. They apparently have classified all books as non-essential including text books. Class started a week ago and I won't have the textbook until Monday.
Re:hard to see this as anything but punitive. (Score:4, Interesting)
If you don't consider school supplies essential while students are learning from home, that just boggles the mind.
Look, I agree it was essential to my family and I bought it. But does my daughter really need to make a collage for her assignment? Could she have written something with a standard pen on loose leaf paper? Probably. And in the aggregate, this isn't a trivial decision. Warehouse workers are getting sick to ship us our orders, and every time we order razor blades or markers or Lego sets it is increasing volume and increasing the need for people to head to those warehouses for work.
I guess the main point of my post is I don't even know where I stand on what I/we should be doing to help those essential workers in our society, and what we should be doing for our family. I'm not even sure where I stand on this legislation. It is obvious people are not doing a great job of following health guidelines so I believe legislation is necessary, but legislation is often a very blunt instrument which has its own unintended consequences. My gut is leaning on this particular legislation being very poor, but that is only based on a short article about it.
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Space heaters, non essential, when the temperature is hitting 38f? I had to go out to shop since amazon couldn't assure quick delivery.
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No, they had the choice of either impossibility of warehouse operations because court doesn't specify what kind of protective actions must be taken to meet the criteria, or impossibility of warehouse operations because of fines.
Faced with impossibility of warehouse operations, they chose the only option offered to them. Closure of operations.
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I think the problem may be the ambiguous definition of what is vital? A brand name soap? Probably not, only generic cheap soap should be sold, right? Deodorant, well, the French are not likely to die of their own stench, so not vital to biological survival, right? Food, only the absolute bare essentials, canned spam and rice should do, right? How about a board game, so that people stuck in the house can play to try to keep some sanity? Or, how about books, nobody died because of lack or reading, so definite
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This is a French regulator, not an EU one.
Re: hard to see this as anything but punitive. (Score:2)
You really don't understand the term pandemic, do you.
Give your xenophobia a rest for a bit.
Re: hard to see this as anything but punitive. (Score:2)
They were better than the US, as the death stats now show.
Ça c'est stupide. (Score:2)
French courts are acting like severe COVID-19 patients' immune systems by overregulating the essential transport systems.
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Gaston Lagaffe is really settling in to his new job as a judge.
Banned non-essential goods (Score:5, Insightful)
I can understand an order to better protect their staff. But once they do that, who decides what is non essential? If Amazon can't deliver it, customers might just decide to run down to the local Carrefour to pick something up. And that's safer? Wouldn't it be better to have Amazon step up it's sanitizing procedures and then have them handle as many products as possible? To keep the public off the street.
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So, instead of spending their Euros
avec les Américains méchants et stupides, they spend it with a French vendor? Fascinating how that worked out, hein? That they might also get Wuhan flu and die, well, that's juste le coÃt de faire des affaires.
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Where do you think Amazon in France buys most of its product? Even more so if French customers prefer French brands.
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These piddling matters of practicality are trifles, they will happily screw their fellow countrymen out of business to maintain their preferred mode of operation (and in this case, get them exposed to a contagious disease), and to spite foreigners, particularly Americans.
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Euros
avec les Américains méchants et stupides
That's a mighty fancy jeejaw you got there, Mr Binks!
that's juste le coÃt de faire des affaires
You self-wooshed so hard, somebody might think you burst a wheel of French cheese.
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But once they do that, who decides what is non essential? If Amazon can't deliver it, customers might just decide to run down to the local Carrefour to pick something up.
Real life doesn't work that way. If the customer can't order season 8 of Friends on DVD from Amazon they probably won't make a special trip to the supermarket to get it.
It's similar to the power of defaults. There is only a tiny bit of friction preventing someone changing the default but it's enough that most don't. People stuck at home bored all day will buy random crap on Amazon, but if they have to make a special trip out of the house they won't.
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The local Carrefour had strict procedures in place and stock mostly essential items. If Amazon were just shipping items obtainable from Carrefour it wouldn't be a problem.
My raspberry pi arrived yesterday from Amazon. I'm not going to even try and come up with a reason why that couldn't wait a month.
French Warehouses (Score:2, Funny)
Am I the only one who imagines row upon row of soft cheeses and tins of frog legs?
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Protecting employees - court has it wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
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There are already dozens of vaccines, just not any approved vaccines.
For example, this one [nih.gov].
That's not true (Score:3)
Also, this is
Just saying most of us have a vested interest here in stopping the
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Sweden, which has more deaths per capita than the US?
Sweden, that if it were in the EU would have the sixth highest number of deaths per capita?
Sweden, which has over twice as many deaths as Norway, Finland and Denmark put together?
Less casualties than what? A bad day in Auschwitz?
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You are lying again.
Pure bullshit. US is leading the numbers on deaths by some way so far. More in NYC than Italy.
Why do you waste your time lying, it is very obvious.
Before claiming others are liars you should check your sources.
Worldometers [worldometers.info]: USA 86 deaths / million, Sweden 119 deaths / million.
Google [google.com]: USA 28579 deaths / 328 million (87 deaths / million) Sweden 1203 deaths / 10 million (120 deaths / million).
That said the race is long and both the USA [bing.com] and Sweden [bing.com] are racing full steam ahead so it's hard to say who of these two will win the trophy for the highest fatality rate.
Logistics can't be forced (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Logistics can't be forced (Score:2)
Why are you scared of foreigners?
It really is a silly thing to spend your time trolling about, and we can all see it.
Extra steps taken by Amazon (Score:2)
Do those steps include firing anyone who complains about it?
Muddled logic (Score:2)
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The government order is probably for 2 reasons. Firstly is that if Amazon is allowed to sell non-essential items while French retail shops can't open and sell the same things its unfair to the French retail businesses (remember how Amazon got in trouble in France a while back because it offered free shipping on its books and a bunch of French bookstores complained about it? Same thing could be happening here.)
The other reason is because if you limit what's being shipped, you have less total orders and hence
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The government order is probably for 2 reasons. Firstly is that if Amazon is allowed to sell non-essential items while French retail shops can't open and sell the same things its unfair to the French retail businesses (remember how Amazon got in trouble in France a while back because it offered free shipping on its books and a bunch of French bookstores complained about it? Same thing could be happening here.)
I'm pretty sure this is the real reason.
The other reason is because if you limit what's being shipped, you have less total orders and hence you need less employees to handle those orders and you can have less risk that the virus will spread.
In theory, that's true. In practice, all the things that are nonessential just end up getting ordered from overseas and shipped in, so you have more employees handling those orders overall once you factor in all the dockworkers, package delivery people in that other country, etc.
Also, it is a bit naïve to consider items "nonessential". As many others have said, you can get by without lots of things for a week or two, but as the lockdown drags on, fewer and fewe
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Government is executive. This is a judicial order. Distinction here matters, because there are completely different avenues for amazon to pursue to get suspension on that order.
The problem seems to be that there's a small contingent among all humanity who are very totalitarian in nature, and this tendency comes out during crises. We've seen it everywhere across the world. It's just that in this case, the person with this attitude appears to have been in position of judge, able to actually force totalitarian
France must hate it's economy (Score:5, Insightful)
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Cheese and gaffophones, that's all you get.
Re:France must hate it's economy (Score:5, Insightful)
I would say that the French are doing a great good job.
People were dying in big numbers by an unknown virus.
Neighboring Italy shows what will come.
They shutdown fast to stop further spread, and also make sure companies don't die,
by making sure salaries are guarantied for a limited time and tax reductions and loans are available.
Apparently, lockdown costs, but not locking down will cost more in the long run.
Now back to the subject, all other equivalents of Amazon are able to comply with the law,
but not Amazon, and you are implying that it is the French government fault?
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That is a long laundry list of things you either needed before the lockdown and things that wouldn't have broken of you correctly obeyed the lockdown
Winter coat? Wtf are you doing outside. Turn up the heating.
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I'm just going to role play the French government for a second.
Sure let's go down the list with you together.
- Can I order a spoon to eat my cereal? - Yes you can. Hypermarkets are open.
- How about a coat because I'm getting cold. - Why are you getting cold? You're at home. Turn the heating up. Or don't. Summer is coming. If you're cold now you were cold before the virus, so clearly it's not essential that you get a new coat.
- How about a computer monitor because the last one broke and now I can't even read the news to follow the latest government order? - Yeah go for
Don't want to upset the really funny francophobes (Score:5, Informative)
But whilst the decree doesn't itemise products it gives advice as to what is considered to be essential. All you have to do is address your goods or services to the list to qualify:
The full list of locations permitted to stay open was published by national decree on March 15. These places are permitted to stay “open to the public for the stated activities”.
The list comprises:
Food and drink
Retail sale of frozen food products
General food trade
Convenience stores
Supermarkets
Hypermarkets
Specialist fruit and vegetable shops (grocer)
Specialist meat and meat products shops (butcher)
Specialist fish, crustaceans and molluscs shops (fishmonger)
Specialist bread, pastry and confectionery shops (bakery)
Retail sale of beverages
Other specialist food shops
Retail sale of pet food and pet supplies
Gardening supply shops that also stock animal food (like Gamm Vert)
Food retailing on stalls and markets
Sale by vending machines and other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets
Food banks and food charities
Food distribution by charitable associations
Petrol stations and garages
Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles, agricultural vehicles, machinery and equipment
Trade in automotive equipment
Sale and repair of motorcycles and cycles
Retail sale of fuel in specialised stores
Media, technology and computers
Retail sale of newspapers and stationery in specialised stores
Retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores
Retail sale of computers, peripheral units and software in specialised stores
Retail sale of telecommunications equipment in specialised stores
Repair of computers and personal and household goods
Repair of computers and communication equipment
Repair of computers and peripheral equipment
Repair of communication equipment
Pharmacies and medical
Retail sale of pharmaceutical products in specialised stores
Retail sale of medical and orthopaedic articles in specialised stores
Laundry and dry cleaning
Laundry and dry-cleaning services
Wholesale laundry and dry cleaning
Retail laundry and dry cleaning
Hotels and accommodation
Hotels and similar accommodation
Tourist and other short-term accommodation where it constitutes a regular place of residence for the persons living there
Campgrounds and parks for caravans or recreational vehicles where they are a regular place of residence for the persons living there
Funeral services
Funeral services and funeral offices
Banks, finance, insurance and employment
Activities of labour placement agencies
Activities of temporary employment agencies
Financial and insurance activities
Farming, construction and equipment stores
Farm suppliers
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So has France shut down everything that's not on that list, including all businesses and services, all manufacturing, all the media, every white collar job in the country?
Because if not, Amazon are no different to any other company that doesn't have a retail footprint, and shouldn't be treated any differently to them.
Re: Don't want to upset the really funny francopho (Score:2)
And the law is about warehousing not just amazon.
Why do you jump to wrong conclusions based on hatred?
Let me propose a definition (Score:3, Insightful)
Allow the sale of goods with a VAT of less than 10%.
France has four different VAT rates: 20%, 10%, 5.5%, and 2.1%.
The 5,5% category is often described as containing "essential" goods. There is a rough summary on https://www.economie.gouv.fr/c... [economie.gouv.fr] with links to the exact definition in the laws.
This would also teach politicians to define those categories correctly.
Union in France are scums (Score:2)
Meme shift (Score:2)
It's not about protecting staff. It's about not having a flashover overwhelming hospitals, causing needless deaths due to insufficient care.
This is an excellent example of a meme shifting and losing its anchor. A similar thing happened with mercury in vaccines, as well as gluten intolerance, a rare problem. The original problems (non-existent in the first place, and rare in the second) lead to a general "that thing is bad" meme lifting off from its originator cause-of-evil and winding its way through the
Re: (Score:2)
Freedom fries. Everyone knows that.
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What do they call French fries in France?
Salt laden potato sticks
Well, you clearly have never tried to order food in France using English.
And even if you manage to trick them into thinking you're Canadian so they admit they understand you, you'd have to call them "crisps."
Whatever you translated would have to actually be said in French, and of course it means "French fries" when translated to English, not whatever you wrote.
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If you ask for "pommes frites" in Québec, we'll be looking at you funny because you just asked for "fried apples".
Pommes = apples.
Pommes de terre = potatoes, but most people here call them "patates".
So if you want french fries, ask for "patates frites" or even just "frites".
Re: French fries (Score:2)
Doubt you'd be welcome.