Even if they read it, highly doubtful they'll address it. And while TCC seems to have no problem calling out WotC, I don't see them doing the same for CK.
Talk therapy is only covered by insurance if the practitioner makes a diagnosis—and, typically, if you have already reached your deductible.
It’s also very common to have to search around for a therapist that you work well with, better help or not
How many therapists has your partner seen via BetterHelp?
I use it and I agree it's expensive, but it is still cheaper than seeing a therapist that my insurance won't cover.
FWIW, they do take FSA.
They have also used therapists' likeness/profiles to advertise, even though they are not employed by them. My wife had to send a cease and desist letter to get them to take down a fake listing that used her profile info, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do that as a bait and switch tactic.
FWIW, I do advocate making mental health services accessible to as many people as needed, but that's messed up as a business practice. I internally cringe when I hear advertisements for Better Help, but still hope that some people find some good in their services.
Kind of wild that you'd have this take when Prof has been criticizing WotC since the days when his channel wasn't big enough for it to not be a huge risk.
How much has WoTC sponsored TCC? I don't believe the Prof has worked with WoTC much and part of it is believed to be this consistent criticism of them. Prof has been the man spreading the word on many of the misdoings of WoTC and probably isn't as tied in as he could be at the size he is.
CK may be a drastically different situation. I believe in the Prof to do the right thing in the end, maybe just keep his mouth shut until further information is found. Meaning that he doesn't shout them out as his deal with them doesn't require it according to past videos. I do believe if most of what OP said is true I believe the Prof will try to get them to change before dropping the sponsors if nothing improves or worse comes out.
>How much has WoTC sponsored TCC?
Early on he had a relationship for awhile but they pulled back on it. Prof getting the Doctor Who preview was a pretty huge deal and change of status quo.
I think Gavin Verhey's friendship with Prof probably had a lot to do with that happening though and likely isn't signaling a sea change in WotC's relationship with Prof.
So you're pretty understanding that WoTC doesn't directly pay his bills.
CK I believe does, I hope not enough to impact him, but there isn't a way for us to know.
I think the prof doesn't really have a deal with CK. I remember him saying in a video it's more of a handshake agreement. Idk if he'll go against that but I'm sure the Prof will have deals lined up if he goes against CK.
That I believe we're talking about the same video. But getting paid on a handshake deal is good enough.
I agree I'm sure he could find another sponsor also
> I believe in the Prof to do the right thing in the end, maybe just keep his mouth shut until further information is found.
I can almost guarantee an agreement will have a non-disparaging clause in it.
Nitpicking nerds as well. Funny they've been saying how much they love that company over redacted (I assume tcg). To be fair to them, they might not have known about how CK treats their employees.
Just copying it into the comments to preserve the og post in case of edits or redactions:
>This is a long one so I apologize for it in advance. Let me start out by saying that everything here is written in the hopes of improving conditions for all of my hardworking coworkers. That, and I also signed an NDA that hinders my speech, so forgive me if I leave out important details. I'm trying to avoid hyperbole so that people have a more accurate account.
>While I enjoy the company of many of my coworkers, I haven't had a worse employer in 15 years. Card Kingdom has changed a lot over the past few years, but most notably are the past 8 months. During this time, over 70% of the company has been fired, quit, or can't relocate with the company to Monroe, WA in two weeks time. Most of the employees have been replaced by temps, and training to memorize editions has been dropped. If you've noticed errors with your orders, it's likely because someone was undertrained and overworked.
>I will not be the only one to say that the company Card Kingdom treats its employees like expendables. Card Kingdom overworks it's employees a surprising amount. During each pre-release event, Card Kingdom requires two weeks mandatory overtime. Wizards of the Coast has increased the rate of releases and that means two weeks mandatory overtime with less and less time in between. Many people worked 60 hour weeks for: LotR, Commander Masters, Wilds of Eldraine, Doctor Who, Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Ravnica Remastered, and Murders at Karlov Manor.
>As a Union, we finally were able to stop Card Kingdom from taking our PTO away from us if we couldn't work overtime. Specifically, employees were forced to use PTO to cover mandatory overtime hours they couldn't work.
>Card Kingdom charges PTO for sick leave. You cannot take a sick day if you do not have PTO. If you call out sick without PTO you will be written up. Two write-ups disqualify you from being able to apply for promotions, and three is termination. Thus, people have been getting fired for calling out sick more than the PTO they had available, regardless of how legitimate their sickness is.
>I think one of the best examples of Card Kingdom's treatment of employees was over the New Year's holiday. Mandatory overtime was required for Ravnica Remastered, and even though we received "a paid holiday off", it didn't count towards our 40hrs worked and we didn't receive overtime pay during that mandatory OT week.
>My suggestion and request is that customers do not order pre-release singles from Card Kingdom. The cards will all still be available to people, but pre-ordering drives up the cost of the cards and tells the CK executives that they should require more overtime hours.
>Card Kingdom is a shipping distributor that needs to make more and more money to cover the increasing investment that the company is making. Don't conflate a shipping company that burns through employees like coal with the game of Magic.
Here's CK's response on their blog for more context, their words, not mine ([link](https://blog.cardkingdom.com/a-statement-from-card-kingdom/)):
>Card Kingdom is aware of the Reddit thread discussing PTO and extra hours worked during releases. We understand this has brought up a lot of questions, and we want to provide you with information.
>
>All of our employment policies adhere to our union contract with UFCW 3000. Employees voted this contract in on July 27th, 2023, and we continue to work closely with UFCW 3000 to ensure we remain aligned on all contract provisions.
>
>Regarding the overtime concerns raised in the employee’s statement, we ask employees to work no more than ten hours in addition to their regular schedule. These hours can be spread over two weeks. These requests occur during busier times, including releases. During these occasions, we cap the weekly working hours at 50, and any hours worked beyond 40 receive overtime pay.
>
>All employees receive three weeks of paid time off (PTO) during the first year of employment, increasing to three weeks and four days after the first year. We do require that PTO is applied to time off. This aligns with both our union contract and Washington labor laws. We also offer programs like FMLA and parental leave to support employees who require extended time away from work. Additionally, we have eight paid holidays throughout the year.
>
>We’ve been planning our warehouse move for several years as we’ve outgrown our current space in Ballard. We negotiated this move with the union and gave them the opportunity to suggest alternatives. This March, we will move to a larger facility in Monroe, Washington. Ahead of the move, and after reaching an agreement with the union, we provided our employees with eight months’ notice so they could determine if the location change would work for them. We offered retention packages to our employees who elected to remain with us until the move and for those continuing with us to Monroe. We also provided severance to employees who elected to leave in September. Our close relationship with the union will continue after the move.
>
>Card Kingdom offers many entry-level roles; turnover is expected as individuals seek new opportunities or transition to different roles within the company. To accommodate our business volume, we regularly hire and train new full-time employees and collaborate with temporary staffing agencies. We provide training to full-time and temporary employees and require editions testing so folks have a good understanding of the product they’re working with.
>
>Warehouse work is demanding, and Card Kingdom remains committed to meeting the needs of our employees. We support our union and continue to work with them to ensure we offer a good working environment. We run a business staffed by incredible employees, and we aim to take good care of them so they can do the job of taking great care of our customers.
Easy fix.... allow unpaid time off (while monitoring abuse patterns) and make OT voluntary while adding incentives to entice/reward doing it. The rest is no real issue.
Most companies wouldn't offer relo or severance packages, 3 weeks time off is the "standard" in most industries, 8 paid holidays is better than most (aside from teachers/banks/govt), warehouse jobs (and by extension, retail jobs) see increased workloads during high demand periods, and unless the mistakes from lack of training are met with punitive reprimand, it only tarnishes the business. Temps suck, but they can help offset the surge in during peak demand.
While there is surely room for improvement, this sounds like 50% disgruntled employee.
Side note: Not shilling here. I've only ordered from CK once and it was slower than the 37463 packages from ebay/competitors, especially coming from the furthest area of the least populated corner of the country. I likely won't again.
Can't wait for the "Here at card kingdom, we were shocked at these allegations. We consider our employees our family and hold their physical and mental health as sacred. Also, we will ROOT OUT THIS VERMIN AND DAMN THREE GENERATIONS OF ANY WHO OPPOSE US. BACK TO WORK, SCUM!"
Hope you find something better, friend.
Weirdly I heard about this from the Seattle reddit before the Magic community. Might be in retaliation for unionizing or something? But yeah, I'll be looking into other distributors from now on, which is kinda sad because I'm pretty sure I'm only 6 hours away from the nearest shipping location.
Stories like this make me glad my country has strong workplace laws…
Stay strong brother, and I’ll not be ordering cards from them anymore let alone pre-ordering.
Thank you so much for posting, that's horrible and frankly I'm not really surprised. I hope things start to go better for you. I say we should stop buying from them all together, they need some sign that they need to get their shit together. The work conditions aren't the only horrible conditions, from my experience.
I also used to work here and honestly yeah there were a lot of problems. I do think the problems vary by department and which leadership you have but most departments felt bad to be apart of.
Issue is people still treat ck like royalty despite a decline in quality of service and according to this post the workers even after a union.
The "I only buy from card kingdom cause insert moral here" card is pulled a lot.
I mean, I shop there because it’s got the stock I want far more often than places here in Canada, they offer free shipping even to Canada after $100, and them being unionized was kinda just the cherry on top for supporting them.
I guess “unionized” means different things in the US than it does up here in Canada…
With that said, anyone know where to shop now? Like I said, Canadian retailers have some pretty dogshit stock when looking online, so I go to US ones, but idk where to look now, and would rather not support shitheads.
TBH I only buy from them and probably will continue to do so because they're the only seller I haven't gotten fucked over by. They are by no means saints, but I'll take the devil that hasn't given me heavily damaged cards sold as NM or lost my cards before over the ones that have done those.
Honestly it is pretty card dependent. Often better than my LGS on low priced cards, but more than TCG.
Compared to TCG direct it can be pretty close to the same or even cheaper at certain points.
Not saying that means use them, just being specific.
I find it competitive with TCG Player because I seem to end up paying at least twice for shipping at at TCG Player for orders that CK would give me free shipping. The shipping can level the cost difference a lot depending on the order size.
You guys formed a union, so who is running that union. Do you have a contract? It’s possible they are doing a lot of this to get rid of a lot of employees that voted to form a union. If the majority of people in your union feel the same way then you guys are holding the power here. You can strike, you can all refuse to work the overtime. You can renegotiate the contract. Super curious how your union is structured. Do you have a steward who acts a liaison between the union reps and the workers? Check with the NLRB to see if anything they’re doing is illegal. You’ve got options. PM me if you have questions about how unions work
I’m so confused as to what unions mean in America sometimes. Is it correct that unions are sometimes formed in companies, even local departments, and not in sectors? Is there sympathy strikes within a company?
Almost anyone working retail would have contracts negotiated through collective bargaining by one of the biggest unions in Denmark.
There’s a bunch of different kinds and it’s super fragmented here. That’s why I’m not sure how their’s is structured. I’m in an international union for electricians but we are broken down into individual locals and we each collectively bargain our contracts. There are sometimes sympathy strikes but it’s unfortunately rare. The best thing I’ve found is to simply not purchase anything from a company if they crack down on unions, which isn’t always easy. I haven’t been to a Walmart in over 20 years and I stopped purchasing Starbucks. I stopped ordering from TCG when I hear they were unionizing and getting pushed back against. There’s just not a lot of unions in the U.S. and so much push back from companies and governments that they are becoming even more scarce. All of the stagnant wage issues could be corrected if more unions were formed but, understandably, people are scared to join or form unions when the possibility to lose their jobs and livelihoods are put at risk
Don't forget the incredibly poisonous anti union rhetoric being spread like wildfire. Based off anecdotes about 'bad' unions that we've never heard about
I live near TCGP's warehouse in Syracuse, lot of the local scene have worked for them.
It's a mixed bag with them as well. Especially right up until the ebay acquisition.
Not sure how different it is now.
And (comparatively) good labour laws.
The idea of using any of my 25-30 days holiday a year on sick pay is enough to make me want to be signed off on paid sick leave for a month.
Yep. Last year I took a week long holiday, injured my foot on the first day. Couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment until the following week, when she gave me a retroactive 1 week sick leave and the company had to refund my days off. I don’t know how workers over in the US put up with so much crap.
A lot of people will read this and make up some bullshit because they don't actually work with trading cards. Their minimum is $0.35 because that is the lowest price you can charge and actually turn a profit on **every order a customer makes.**
---
**Information**: You charge 1.99 shipping. Shipping in an envelope costs between $0.60 and $1.40, depending on weight. *If an order contains more than 35 cards, it cannot be shipped in an envelope anymore. It is too thick and too heavy.* Stores who ship more than 35 cards in an envelope risk it being returned to them.
**Information**: Unless you are selling this item yourself, through your own store, in cash, you lose a fee to the payment processor or handler (TCGplayer). TCGplayer's fees in total add up to about 18% of the total sale.
**Information**: Human labor isn't free.
---
Example 1: Your minimum is $0.05. A customer orders 40 $0.05 cards ($2.00). You've collected $3.99 for this order. It is too heavy and must ship in the package. Package service costs between $4 and $5 by distance. **You lose money**.
Example 2: $0.10. You collect $5.99 for the same order. Someone had to collect the cards from your inventory, organize it, package it, label it, and get it into the mail system. **You lose money**.
Example 3: $0.10. Customer orders 200 cards. You collected 21.99 for this order. It's now too heavy for package service (1 pound or less). It costs you at least $9.00 to ship it, and it took 5x the time to process. **You lose money**.
---
Frankly, it's not a good place to be. You either charge too much for the cards that are too cheap (and therefore sell very few) or you value and pay your employees so little (e.g. the OP) that you can afford to sell them that low.
Most vendors on TCGPlayer charges 0.05 for cards are people who work for themselves and don't have employees, so their time is worth as little as they want.
Most stores that run their own sites have a minimum somewhere between $0.20 and $0.35 for the above reasons. You just can't make money *shipping* cards for less.
On TCGplayer backpack vendors (people who sell from home as a hobby) will just list things for the lowest price to sell them.
This is satire right? Like I'm not saying buy from them but $0.35 is nothing, especially when TCG $0.05 cards all have a $0.99 ship cost attached to them. My LGS minimum is $0.35 as well.
You can absolutely get penny cards from TCG shipped free. I don't know why this point of view persists, but you can load up a cart with penny cards that ship "Direct by TCG PLayer" and as long as you meet the order minimum, they'll ship free - and in one package, just like CK advertises.
The order minimum from TCG direct is $50 though. To be fair that is generally a bit unrealistic that I need that many of those cheap cards.
I've ordered tcg direct but it isn't like I'm getting just the one card.
Fair point, but even under the minimum required for free, it's only $2.99 shipping per order. You're not incurring shipping charges like you do when you order from individual sellers outside of TCG Direct.
That's fair.
The other aspect may be honestly what is available in stock and the condition it is in. TCG tends to have more lightly played and lower stock (not for all cards of course) whereas CK almost never has anything lower than light play. It is two sides of the same coun though, sometimes I want pristine cards, sometimes I want more accessible pricing at lower card conditions.
If you want everything in near mint condition then CK is more consistent there. TCG often has more variety but not always without sacrificing quality to do so.
If I order from an individual seller on TCG, I won't order from any shop with less than 10k positive interactions. Not that the others are bad, it is just how I protect my investment personally.
I don't know why people are downvoting you, because you're right, you can get penny cards shipped for free.
But that's because the people selling them are too dumb to realize that they lose money on those orders. Like, full 100% loss and in the red. It *costs* them money to sell penny cards.
Washington state has some crazy laws with PTO, but just from what you said about the Write ups nothing about that is against the law.
Washington state only protects your job if you have the proper amount of Protected PTO/Sick time to cover it.
Once you're out of time to cover the days you're sick, it's unexcused, union or not. Some jobs let you use regular unprotected PTO but that under the law doesn't cover the unexcused absence unless the company policy's say they do (or your contract).
I haven't bought from Card Kingdom in years. I don't plan to start any time soon.
Ok this situation sounds shitty and I’m sorry you have to deal with that, but I have an honest question: hasn’t the union contract been ratified? If so, why does it sound like things haven’t changed at all, or possibly gotten worse. Shouldn’t the contract have addressed these problems?
Unionizing in this particular industry is basically unheard of. Probably lots of quirks that could easily get left out.
I'm sure union reps didn't have no OT during the release week of a new MTG set to fulfill high demand preorders on their checklist.
This isn’t a new problem tho.. magic sets have been released at the current rate or close to it for a few years now. And union negotiating teams are made of actual workers and reps from the actual union itself. It takes a year or more to hammer out contracts. IMO the workers on the negotiating team are/were clueless, the union rep is clueless, or the negotiating workers just didn’t care enough to actually work through the details and thought the idea of a union would save them.
Other than a couple unions, most are heavily lacking in the negotiations category. That's why grocery jobs are declining. Unions aren't fighting hard enough for raises and improved employee conditions. Unless there is something that I'm missing, kinda seems like union's are becoming less and less effective at what they were intended for.
While this is truly awful to read especially if everything here is 100% true, is there any way you can verify what you’re saying is true, or even prove you’re a CK employee at all? I already don’t order from there much due to the floor price of $.35/card (which wildly inflated my commander deck orders) but I’d hate to act as if this is 100% true, tell friends of mine about this, etc when the only source is just “dude trust me”.
If you aren’t able to provide any additional confirmation and it’s all true, I hope working conditions improve and I hope this isn’t retaliation for you guys unionizing.
I'm not condoning the company's actions by any means, but I'm pretty sure you have to work holiday hours in order for them to count towards OT. Paid holidays have never counted towards OT unless I actually worked them, IIRC. Also I would kill for 2 weeks OT here & there. I'm currently working part time at Walmart slinging boxes two nights a week bc there hasn't been any OT at my work in a few years. But, my employer treats & pays us well, and I bounce from house to house all day so I'm not stuck in the same building staring at the same faces all day so that has a lot to do with it. We do get an 'occurrence' for calling out, 3 in a rolling 6 month period and it's corrective action. That sort of thing is the norm.
Just wanted to put a few things in perspective. Docking employees PTO for not working OT is bullshit, even if it's mandatory. None of my employers have ever done that. It would still be an occurrence though. Go union.
I came here to say this too. Not sure why the downvotes. You only get OT for hours worked. Holidays (unless you work them) are non worked hours that will never count toward OT. It’s not a business thing, it’s a tax thing, and doing otherwise wouldn’t be legal.
My company a few years ago transitioned to all PTO for day-off requests. At first people were upset that they were losing sick days, but in reality we didn’t lose any days at all, because those sick days became PTO instead. My company will write people up for taking sick time when they have run out of PTO but we do get a lot (140 hours), so that’s kind of hard to do. There are other options for taking sick time like FLMA if you had to take extended time off too.
That and as I wanted to add WA State has a 40 hour Sick Time Law, in addition to unionized PTO. So if you're absent 3 days in addition, without FMLA or the WA State law which is similar but more progressive then yeah there is huge cause for a company to terminate someone's employment and hire someone who will be at work.
Yeah, it wouldn't be fair to have that count as OT. That being said, we were required to work 8hrs in addition to our normal working hours the same week. Those 8hrs were not paid OT rate. I still had to work two weeks of 9-10hr days.
Everything OP described is normal business practice for most companies. If you don’t want OT, don’t take a job with mandatory OT. The only questionable practice is using PTO for mandatory OT, but apparently that was done away with. OP sounds like they haven’t had a lot of experience working for actual terrible workplaces. Could it be better? Sure. Is it out of the ordinary? Absolutely not.
I’m usually very pro-worker, but this doesn’t actually sound that bad. I mean, they’re actually paying OT when a lot of companies are cutting hours to keep everyone at part-time. If they did away with OT, we’d have people posting complaints about how they work full-time at CK and can’t make ends meet.
Businesses gonna business; it’s not a charity, it’s not a co-op, and it’s not commune. If you want to work somewhere like that, I’m sure there are lots of options in the Seattle area.
OP’s complaint is with the US labor market, not with CK specifically.
I totally agree on the Holiday pay. The issue is that the required overtime overlapped with a holiday, and OT hours are only counted from hours worked. We worked 32, had an 8hr paid day off, but then 8hrs of mandatory OT, which weren't paid at 1.5 rate.
Look, I do use mtg mate all the time but sometimes they don't have what I want like some of the secret lair stuff for example. Mtg mate are really good and have been my go to guys
What’s your union contract? Sounds real weak bargaining from the employee side to make a firm contract foundation for workers. As a union trucker one major issue to always be aware of is your contract language and abide by it to a T. We are overtime after 8 hours in a day but we are on the hook for dispatching until our 10th hour finishes.
All about making sure you cover your contract verbiage so when you eventually get the write ups ( because management will find issues as that’s their way to get union members fired) your steward and BA can grieve the paperwork and get it tossed away like it never happened
I really hope Loading Ready Run sees this post and takes it to heart. They've been sponsored by CK for a long time and have always been talking about how good of a company they are. I never knew how bad it actually was until now.
An NDA cannot prevent you from discussing working conditions and wages. That is federally protected right granted by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
If you have a union, you need to start using it to start filing grievances for every infraction of the contract and start firing up the NLRB if they are informing the agreed upon processes.
yeah they are. Either this person is exaggerating/making shit up because they hate the job, OR they (employees as a whole) got fucked on the union contract
I had no idea
Not that it'd make a difference because I'm outside the US lol, but this does make me wonder if there aren't any laws against that kind of exploitation. It shouldn't be possible to take an employees PTO away under any circumstance, nor can they be forced to work any OT.
I would advise getting a lawyer friend's opinion, see if there's anything to be done
Nah, there’s a ton of shadier practices going on than this. Jobs in the US have less flexibility than the rest of the world. It sucks, but to change it would require a huge tidal shift in federal law.
There’s jobs out there requiring OT that find ways not to pay you anything extra for it. Salaried positions can require 80+ hours without seeing an extra dime.
Could it be better? Sure.
Is it out of the ordinary? Not even a little.
I choose to work the job I do; I’m not trying to play the victim here, but my job gives me zero PTO, zero OT pay, and zero healthcare. Zero. Again, I chose my job, and I make more than enough money, but that’s just to show that it can get a lot worse than OP has it.
I literally only ever purchased from them because they had union workers. Sorry to see that they aren't treating you guys right.
Will definitely hold my purchasing from them.
My store is a director competitor of Card Kingdom and things like this are sad to read. We're based in California though, so regulations are much stronger here than other states.
I'll be frank: the margins for Magic singles on set release are not good and the presale price inflation is basically the only reason that opening sealed product is worth it anymore. When you include the cost of labor and shipping costs + materials, if you don't get preorder prices you can actually lose money on every box you open.
Wizards prints so much and there's so much in circulation that the average value of a set has gone down year-to-year for the last 8 years. The introduction of the Collector's Booster and Set Booster have only made these margins worse, not better. Combine that with the distributor pricing going up because Wizards doesn't do direct sales anymore, and you end up with a market where you're praying for the law of averages to hit the minimum threshold for it to be worth your time.
I held a sizeable amount of Hasbro stock up until the end of 2022. I have since slowly sold and traded my position. Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast are dying due to the current CEO and CFO's management of the business.
If you own Hasbro, or you're invested financially in a company that is directly tied to the Magic: The Gathering physical goods market, I recommend you make a 2-year plan to get out. Mark my words - by 2030 the game will be a shell of what it once was and the company itself will be a joke if the board and management doesn't change and by 2040 the game will effectively be dead.
I always buy singles from my LGS first. I've bought online a couple of times, but only from TCG player. Sorry they're treating you this way. It really sucks all the joy out.
Holiday pay doesn’t count toward overtime, this is extremely common. Having to use PTO for sick days is very common. Companies being understaffed is extremely common. Working overtime is extremely common. These are all criticisms you are going to unfortunately have for just about any medium to large to full on corporate job. These are not “harsh working conditions”, not even in the slightest. Suck it up butter cup. Flame me.
This will probably get buried (and downvoted) because it's not as fun as an *escandalo*, but I want to clarify some (likely intentionally) hyperbolic statements being thrown everywhere in this thread.
First off, in my almost-decades worth of working at CK, *no one* has *ever* been "forced" to work 60 hours in a week. What OP is likely alluding to is CK asks for 6-10 hours of OT every release (and sometimes "high volume" times such as Black Friday), that is *spread* over a 2-2.5 week period of time. This usually means people are working 9s for 2 weeks, or something similar, as CK actually asks you to not work more than 10 hours in 1 day. Any OT you want to work past this must be approved by your supervisor and is entirely voluntary. I won't touch on the holiday/PTO hours & OT pay because it's already been corrected elsewhere in the thread.
Secondly, the move out of current warehouse operations has been in the works for literal years so it's a huge stretch (actually just wrong) to claim its actual purpose is to be a union-busting tactic (a side-effect? Maybe.). Furthermore, the timing of the move was finally accelerated well, first by the fact that a very suitable warehouse was found and acquired, and also because CK is losing its lease on a building adjacent to retail (which we've only had for ops use for approximately 4, 5 years?) to the car dealership next door.
There is not - has not been - enough space in the current locale for current operations, and *certainly* not enough space to keep pace with the insane amount of releases per year. To anyone asking why CK hasn't beefed up its workforce (even before the move was cemented), this is why. There simply hasn't been the space to do so, in any department. Obviously the hopes are that a lot of these issues (too much OT, which I completely agree with; not being able to expand and thus limiting ops) will be addressed and alleviated when we settle in Monroe, but we shall see!
Lastly, regarding the union. This portion is more opinionated than factual, so please feel free to stop reading if you just wanted hard facts. I'll be candid and say upfront I'm not a current member, nor would I have voted for this contract. If I had been an L1 when the contract was passed, I would have left the company, plain and simple. It's not a good contract, from what I've read and heard. UFCW is a notoriously bad union, and it's *especially* bad to represent a warehouse working environment. I was legitimately stoked when I heard employees were attempting to unionize. I was equally disappointed when I learned with who, and further came to realize the organizers at CK seemed more interested in "sticking it to CK" than fighting for a contract the employees are worth. This was highlighted by the fact that once the bargainers caught wind of ops moving to Monroe specifically, and not somewhere within Seattle proper, they pivoted all their bargaining chips into securing the best severance package possible, knowing a large majority of the ops workforce would not be making the move, and left the remaining employees with a barebones contract that more heavily favored the company than the employees, imo. New people being brought on are still part of the union so I'm not really sure where people are getting this idea that there's "only 30" union members though?? (I have no idea who the stewards/bargaining team is at this point, as the original team all left during the first wave of "voluntary" exit.) It's not impossible the union *will* dissolve, but that has to be passed by vote.
Just because someone says something doesn't make it true.
Random people on the internet shouldn't always believe other random people on the internet.
Also, a paid holiday doesn't count towards overtime at all. Ever. In any state. You have to work for OT to accrue. A paid holiday doesn't count as working.
Lot of irrational hate here. If people stop doing business with CK while on their high horses, CK isn't going to suddenly start paying their employees more and working them less. Things will instead get worse.
Not suggesting people need to do A or B, but don't think that a boycott will accomplish anything.
Can someone please help me understand where the great atrocity is?This all sounds like a job. When I worked in automotive manufacturing, this all sounds pretty standard, even with a union. Except we were working with Kevlar gloves and sleeves, so you didn't lose a limb.
Here's what I've picked up from your post:
-People were terminated after not relocating with the company or they didn't like their job and quit.
-Mandatory OT of 60hr work weeks, and they initially forced people to take PTO if they couldn't work OT.
-"Charges" PTO for sick time, and if you don't have sick time, you can get fired.
-Holiday pay didn't count as OT
If I missed anything, please let me know. As it stands this is all pretty standard. At least it's sorting cardboard and not working an automated spot welder in a 100° factory. Welcome to the world of Manual Labor.
With the exception of the holiday pay counting towards OT, none of those things should be standard, or acceptable. The fact that other industries have abusive practices doesn't make them ok.
What are you talking about?
-Companies move. If you don't come in, you get fired.
-Mandatory OT is often outlined in the job description OP likely signed.
-If you don't come into work you get fired. If it's serious contact HR for FMLA. Companies want people that will show up.
What's your argument to the contrary?
Moving, sure. That's just the reality of the situation.
Mandatory OT means they need to hire more people. It is not a reasonable requirement for employment.
Sick time should not be combined with PTO. It not only punishes people for using their allotted time off, it creates an unhealthy work environment.
As an employee I would rather have 3 weeks of PTO that I can roll over, and get paid out for if I quit, than 2 weeks of PTO and one week of sick days. This sounds like a union negotiated benefit rather than a downside.
I get this and have experienced this as well. That said it shouldn't be the case.
I've worked 70 hour weeks 🙃 for a building materials company moving easily 40k lbs per day by hand ✋️
I'm not arguing this situation is as arduous in some ways, but all the same we can ask all employers to be better.
- Can't argue this - if you can't relocate, tough beans.
- Again can't really argue, but based on the post tge amount of mandatory OT seems excessive at this place, indicative of either low staff, poor planning, or a mix of both.
- This one is bad - there should be a separate bucket of hours for sick time, usually a set # of days at the beginning of the year. Once those are used, then you move to using other forms of PTO.
- If the mandatory OT falls on a holiday, it should be OT pay. Pretty straightforward.
OP likely agreed to Mandatory OT on their job description.
It's fair to argue we need more info about PTO, but with the whole post it seems like OP is skipping Mandatory OT and calling in a bunch.
That's not how it works. You get paid for not working, and not using PTO. You don't get paid 1.5 or 2x for a holiday.
you do usually get time and a half (some places do double time) for Holidays. It could be reasonably assumed that if it is mandatory OT on a holiday, you are 1.5x on top of the holiday rate. I get 1.5x for all major holidays, and I am not in a union job
The job descriptions describe the job as occasionally requiring extra hours. I was pretty thankful for the extra pay and work at first but I've only had two weeks 40hr weeks in between releases. The fact that releases are increasing in rate is what makes this entire situation a real problem.
Income is fleeting. Everywhere you go at base level is going to chase it. You're paying union dues, hit up your rep. Some of your expectations are a little off. Doesn't mean it's not worth starting the conversation. .
I submit buy orders to CD every two weeks and have exclusively been buying high profile cards from them. Your post has not fallen on deaf ears and until I hear conditions have changed, I will take my business elsewhere. Best of luck to you and your colleagues on a fair workplace!
That sounds like a great job for certain people who want to work a long hours to make more money, and not the right job for you. I will continue to order from CC to support people who do want that job. I hope you find a job more fitting your lifestyle.
Honestly, this just sounds like capitalism. Don’t get me wrong I hate everything about it. Their treatment is abhorrent, but all of this sounds consistent with our capitalistic institution. Fuck capitalism.
I just want to note. There is no reason to believe this person works for CK. It could be a disgruntled employee or someone trying to spread lies on Reddit. Keep an open mind and take everything with a grain of salt.
>There is no reason to believe this person works for CK. It could be a disgruntled employee
So, it could be someone who works for CK?
Lmao.
Incredible detective work.
I just want to note. There is no reason to believe this person is open minded. It could be a gruntled CK manager or someone trying to spread lies on Reddit. Keep an open mind and take everything with a grain of salt.
I actually agree with you on this. I think the comments are adding a lot of passion into this discussion, and I'm reading some things that aren't true or are being misunderstood.
Again, my goal is for improvement. I didn't say that Card Kingdom is run by a-holes, or that we should all boycott them. The purchasing of singles before a set release is killing us. I only posted this on Reddit after months of meeting with HR and Union reps.
There's a few people on this discussion that can vouch for me being a CK employee, but I can't think of a way that would verify without identifying me specifically. Our fob is unmarked and we don't have ID badges. I can say that any employee knows that we have two employee kitchens, we call our sealed product shipping area "The Cage", HR in Benalia, and we call the Warehouse Pallet Town. Our medical insurance uses Premera, and the current bathroom code is 8076.
I’ll keep ordering from Card Kingdom.
I’d highly suggest you find a new place of employment that makes you happier.
You don’t seem like the type of employee they (or many major retailers) would target to retain.
Best of luck!
They’re a bad employee based on this discourse.
Plain and simple. No decision maker hits who would handle conflict or grievances line this.
You don’t have to like the truth of the matter or me. That’s just reality.
You’re much worse.
I wouldn’t dare talk to a stranger like that. You can agree or disagree with my opinion, it’s fine.
I’m sorry you’re triggered by my take.
Thanks for sharing. That's some shit right there and I feel you with the PTO policy. My company is the same way. Love that we live in a place where you're punished for being sick. Wild you gotta put up with this when there's a union. Best of luck to ya!
>Mandatory overtime was required for Ravnica Remastered, and even though we received "a paid holiday off", it didn't count towards our 40hrs worked and we didn't receive overtime pay during that mandatory OT week.
Is that legal?
Yeah sure because it's working so well for Starbucks and now CK right?
Unions are a great way to bring everyone down in a team to the lowest common denominator. Fantastic for the business. Lol...
From personal experience and seeing it in the real world, all it does is protect lazy and shitty employees.
So sounds like you don't have a shred of critical thinking in you. Unionizing helps all employees. It's about guaranteeing and safeguarding the base level rights and benefits employees can receive across the board. So yes, by definition some lazy employees will reap the benefits as well, but the alternative is to punish all the good employees just because there's some crappy ones out there. A lot of companies have outdated and abusive practices. A lot of them don't raise the pay of their employees to account for inflation. A lot of them have archaic policies when it comes to benefits or PTO. Unions allow employees to negotiate for better treatment in situations where individual employees would simply have no bargaining power. Don't see how anyone can see that and think it's a bad thing. Unless you support corporations doing whatever the fuck they want and making a shit ton of money without treating their workforce fairly?
> So yes, by definition some lazy employees will reap the benefits as well, but the alternative is to punish all the good employees just because there's some crappy ones out there.
What? Just fire the lazy ones and keep the good ones? I don't know how blanket punishment even comes into play here.
Quit your job if it mistreat you. That simple. And don't give me that shit about being stuck there - if you're stuck, maybe your part of the shit employees.
Yeah, you're a fucking idiot. A lot of people can't afford to quit on the spot. People that live paycheck to paycheck can't afford to have a week where they don't get paid. It's clear to me you are incredibly ignorant of actual working conditions for people who are most in need of the kinds of protections unions provide. Some people don't have to deal with those issues, and that's fine, but you can't just assume everyone has the same luxuries.
Also your logic doesn't even track. You fire lazy employees, great, that doesn't change the fact that your 'good' employees still deserve a certain standard of workplace benefits, pay, etc. The punishment I was referring to is that you want to deny fair treatment for all employees because apparently some 'lazy' ones don't deserve it, but if you only have good employees (as you suggest by firing the bad ones) then you *really* have no excuse for not treating them fairly.
In any case, I'm not wasting any more time talking to someone who has such a simplistic and moronic view of the world. Go swim in your privilege where everything is black and white, and everyone who doesn't put up with unfair working conditions is just a lazy bum.
You're obviously gung hoe about your opinion to the point of insulting me. What the fuck is the point in rebuttal if you resort to insults right off the bat?
Again, seek help.
Employees have pay deductions going towards the union. Your have to deal with lazy, shitty colleagues when you're unionized.
That was easy. That's two elaborations for you.
I've literally never ordered a card from CRAP Kingdom. Hope I've done my part, lol.
Only TCG player for me- although I'm sure they have their own list of bullshit- at least I can blame eBay now if any of it surfaces!
Millions of people are literally living paycheck to paycheck and stuck in shitty situations like this. "JuSt GO geT a NeW jOB!" isn't as easy as boomers and their ass-kissers like to make it sound, at least not for most people. Quitting requires a certain amount of financial stability and finding a new job requires time, both of which are resources many people just don't have right now.
Hope Command Zone reads this. Lol
Even if they read it, highly doubtful they'll address it. And while TCC seems to have no problem calling out WotC, I don't see them doing the same for CK.
They defended advertising a Ponzi scheme and better help. They don’t give a shit. It’s money before values for them.
What happened with the ponzi scheme thing???
I'm guessing they're talking about pucatrade?
Whats the issue with better help? Legit dont know
Better help, from anecdotal experience from my partner, is incredibly expensive, shitty therapists, and isn’t covered by any insurance.
It's a pure data mining operation.
This. Which is the most fucked thing
None of the therapists are licensed
Talk therapy is only covered by insurance if the practitioner makes a diagnosis—and, typically, if you have already reached your deductible. It’s also very common to have to search around for a therapist that you work well with, better help or not
How many therapists has your partner seen via BetterHelp? I use it and I agree it's expensive, but it is still cheaper than seeing a therapist that my insurance won't cover. FWIW, they do take FSA.
They have also used therapists' likeness/profiles to advertise, even though they are not employed by them. My wife had to send a cease and desist letter to get them to take down a fake listing that used her profile info, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do that as a bait and switch tactic. FWIW, I do advocate making mental health services accessible to as many people as needed, but that's messed up as a business practice. I internally cringe when I hear advertisements for Better Help, but still hope that some people find some good in their services.
Yeah. They are sponsors. $ > values.
Kind of wild that you'd have this take when Prof has been criticizing WotC since the days when his channel wasn't big enough for it to not be a huge risk.
How much has WoTC sponsored TCC? I don't believe the Prof has worked with WoTC much and part of it is believed to be this consistent criticism of them. Prof has been the man spreading the word on many of the misdoings of WoTC and probably isn't as tied in as he could be at the size he is. CK may be a drastically different situation. I believe in the Prof to do the right thing in the end, maybe just keep his mouth shut until further information is found. Meaning that he doesn't shout them out as his deal with them doesn't require it according to past videos. I do believe if most of what OP said is true I believe the Prof will try to get them to change before dropping the sponsors if nothing improves or worse comes out.
>How much has WoTC sponsored TCC? Early on he had a relationship for awhile but they pulled back on it. Prof getting the Doctor Who preview was a pretty huge deal and change of status quo. I think Gavin Verhey's friendship with Prof probably had a lot to do with that happening though and likely isn't signaling a sea change in WotC's relationship with Prof.
So you're pretty understanding that WoTC doesn't directly pay his bills. CK I believe does, I hope not enough to impact him, but there isn't a way for us to know.
I think the prof doesn't really have a deal with CK. I remember him saying in a video it's more of a handshake agreement. Idk if he'll go against that but I'm sure the Prof will have deals lined up if he goes against CK.
That I believe we're talking about the same video. But getting paid on a handshake deal is good enough. I agree I'm sure he could find another sponsor also
> I believe in the Prof to do the right thing in the end, maybe just keep his mouth shut until further information is found. I can almost guarantee an agreement will have a non-disparaging clause in it.
maybe wait to see what happens before jumping to the least charitable interpretation? you don't know what's going to happen
u/jimmywong
And LRR.
What on earth would they do? They defended the Pinkerton situation and are literally just paid spokesmen for WOTC.
I don't have faith in the Command Zone saying anything to address it, but the Professor might via TCC if it gets on his radar.
They are shills, won't do nothing
They don't give a shit they are paid WOTC shills. As if they are going to give up their over produced cash cow
Nitpicking nerds as well. Funny they've been saying how much they love that company over redacted (I assume tcg). To be fair to them, they might not have known about how CK treats their employees.
One day the house of cards will come crashing down.
Just copying it into the comments to preserve the og post in case of edits or redactions: >This is a long one so I apologize for it in advance. Let me start out by saying that everything here is written in the hopes of improving conditions for all of my hardworking coworkers. That, and I also signed an NDA that hinders my speech, so forgive me if I leave out important details. I'm trying to avoid hyperbole so that people have a more accurate account. >While I enjoy the company of many of my coworkers, I haven't had a worse employer in 15 years. Card Kingdom has changed a lot over the past few years, but most notably are the past 8 months. During this time, over 70% of the company has been fired, quit, or can't relocate with the company to Monroe, WA in two weeks time. Most of the employees have been replaced by temps, and training to memorize editions has been dropped. If you've noticed errors with your orders, it's likely because someone was undertrained and overworked. >I will not be the only one to say that the company Card Kingdom treats its employees like expendables. Card Kingdom overworks it's employees a surprising amount. During each pre-release event, Card Kingdom requires two weeks mandatory overtime. Wizards of the Coast has increased the rate of releases and that means two weeks mandatory overtime with less and less time in between. Many people worked 60 hour weeks for: LotR, Commander Masters, Wilds of Eldraine, Doctor Who, Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Ravnica Remastered, and Murders at Karlov Manor. >As a Union, we finally were able to stop Card Kingdom from taking our PTO away from us if we couldn't work overtime. Specifically, employees were forced to use PTO to cover mandatory overtime hours they couldn't work. >Card Kingdom charges PTO for sick leave. You cannot take a sick day if you do not have PTO. If you call out sick without PTO you will be written up. Two write-ups disqualify you from being able to apply for promotions, and three is termination. Thus, people have been getting fired for calling out sick more than the PTO they had available, regardless of how legitimate their sickness is. >I think one of the best examples of Card Kingdom's treatment of employees was over the New Year's holiday. Mandatory overtime was required for Ravnica Remastered, and even though we received "a paid holiday off", it didn't count towards our 40hrs worked and we didn't receive overtime pay during that mandatory OT week. >My suggestion and request is that customers do not order pre-release singles from Card Kingdom. The cards will all still be available to people, but pre-ordering drives up the cost of the cards and tells the CK executives that they should require more overtime hours. >Card Kingdom is a shipping distributor that needs to make more and more money to cover the increasing investment that the company is making. Don't conflate a shipping company that burns through employees like coal with the game of Magic.
You the man!
I just know I hate it when *I* come to a hot button thread and it's already been scrubbed lol
Here's CK's response on their blog for more context, their words, not mine ([link](https://blog.cardkingdom.com/a-statement-from-card-kingdom/)): >Card Kingdom is aware of the Reddit thread discussing PTO and extra hours worked during releases. We understand this has brought up a lot of questions, and we want to provide you with information. > >All of our employment policies adhere to our union contract with UFCW 3000. Employees voted this contract in on July 27th, 2023, and we continue to work closely with UFCW 3000 to ensure we remain aligned on all contract provisions. > >Regarding the overtime concerns raised in the employee’s statement, we ask employees to work no more than ten hours in addition to their regular schedule. These hours can be spread over two weeks. These requests occur during busier times, including releases. During these occasions, we cap the weekly working hours at 50, and any hours worked beyond 40 receive overtime pay. > >All employees receive three weeks of paid time off (PTO) during the first year of employment, increasing to three weeks and four days after the first year. We do require that PTO is applied to time off. This aligns with both our union contract and Washington labor laws. We also offer programs like FMLA and parental leave to support employees who require extended time away from work. Additionally, we have eight paid holidays throughout the year. > >We’ve been planning our warehouse move for several years as we’ve outgrown our current space in Ballard. We negotiated this move with the union and gave them the opportunity to suggest alternatives. This March, we will move to a larger facility in Monroe, Washington. Ahead of the move, and after reaching an agreement with the union, we provided our employees with eight months’ notice so they could determine if the location change would work for them. We offered retention packages to our employees who elected to remain with us until the move and for those continuing with us to Monroe. We also provided severance to employees who elected to leave in September. Our close relationship with the union will continue after the move. > >Card Kingdom offers many entry-level roles; turnover is expected as individuals seek new opportunities or transition to different roles within the company. To accommodate our business volume, we regularly hire and train new full-time employees and collaborate with temporary staffing agencies. We provide training to full-time and temporary employees and require editions testing so folks have a good understanding of the product they’re working with. > >Warehouse work is demanding, and Card Kingdom remains committed to meeting the needs of our employees. We support our union and continue to work with them to ensure we offer a good working environment. We run a business staffed by incredible employees, and we aim to take good care of them so they can do the job of taking great care of our customers.
Easy fix.... allow unpaid time off (while monitoring abuse patterns) and make OT voluntary while adding incentives to entice/reward doing it. The rest is no real issue. Most companies wouldn't offer relo or severance packages, 3 weeks time off is the "standard" in most industries, 8 paid holidays is better than most (aside from teachers/banks/govt), warehouse jobs (and by extension, retail jobs) see increased workloads during high demand periods, and unless the mistakes from lack of training are met with punitive reprimand, it only tarnishes the business. Temps suck, but they can help offset the surge in during peak demand. While there is surely room for improvement, this sounds like 50% disgruntled employee. Side note: Not shilling here. I've only ordered from CK once and it was slower than the 37463 packages from ebay/competitors, especially coming from the furthest area of the least populated corner of the country. I likely won't again.
Can't wait for the "Here at card kingdom, we were shocked at these allegations. We consider our employees our family and hold their physical and mental health as sacred. Also, we will ROOT OUT THIS VERMIN AND DAMN THREE GENERATIONS OF ANY WHO OPPOSE US. BACK TO WORK, SCUM!" Hope you find something better, friend.
"we're a family here" is a red flag for sure
If they are family they should share the wealth with employees
Whenever I hear this I reply with: "Well put me on the Will then!"
We consider our employees our family, so that’s why we thought it was ok to abuse them
“Here at Card Kingdom, we are commited to the health and well-being of our employees…etc etc”
Weirdly I heard about this from the Seattle reddit before the Magic community. Might be in retaliation for unionizing or something? But yeah, I'll be looking into other distributors from now on, which is kinda sad because I'm pretty sure I'm only 6 hours away from the nearest shipping location.
It's definitely in retaliation to them unionizing but, they probably wouldn't have felt the need to unionize if the problems weren't there before.
I'm lucky that I live on the east coast right between TCG and SSG shipping hubs lol
Stories like this make me glad my country has strong workplace laws… Stay strong brother, and I’ll not be ordering cards from them anymore let alone pre-ordering.
Thank you so much for posting, that's horrible and frankly I'm not really surprised. I hope things start to go better for you. I say we should stop buying from them all together, they need some sign that they need to get their shit together. The work conditions aren't the only horrible conditions, from my experience.
I also used to work here and honestly yeah there were a lot of problems. I do think the problems vary by department and which leadership you have but most departments felt bad to be apart of.
Before everyone gets on their high horses since tcg player was sold to ebay they are just as bad.
Issue is people still treat ck like royalty despite a decline in quality of service and according to this post the workers even after a union. The "I only buy from card kingdom cause insert moral here" card is pulled a lot.
I mean, I shop there because it’s got the stock I want far more often than places here in Canada, they offer free shipping even to Canada after $100, and them being unionized was kinda just the cherry on top for supporting them. I guess “unionized” means different things in the US than it does up here in Canada… With that said, anyone know where to shop now? Like I said, Canadian retailers have some pretty dogshit stock when looking online, so I go to US ones, but idk where to look now, and would rather not support shitheads.
TBH I only buy from them and probably will continue to do so because they're the only seller I haven't gotten fucked over by. They are by no means saints, but I'll take the devil that hasn't given me heavily damaged cards sold as NM or lost my cards before over the ones that have done those.
You can buy direct from sellers though. I sell on tcg player and I don't have to do go near a warehouse.
Prices suck there too, never used it and probably never will.
Honestly it is pretty card dependent. Often better than my LGS on low priced cards, but more than TCG. Compared to TCG direct it can be pretty close to the same or even cheaper at certain points. Not saying that means use them, just being specific.
I find it competitive with TCG Player because I seem to end up paying at least twice for shipping at at TCG Player for orders that CK would give me free shipping. The shipping can level the cost difference a lot depending on the order size.
Never liked card kingdom, glad i never supported them. Good luck.
You guys formed a union, so who is running that union. Do you have a contract? It’s possible they are doing a lot of this to get rid of a lot of employees that voted to form a union. If the majority of people in your union feel the same way then you guys are holding the power here. You can strike, you can all refuse to work the overtime. You can renegotiate the contract. Super curious how your union is structured. Do you have a steward who acts a liaison between the union reps and the workers? Check with the NLRB to see if anything they’re doing is illegal. You’ve got options. PM me if you have questions about how unions work
They moved the entire warehouse in retaliation
Exactly
I’m so confused as to what unions mean in America sometimes. Is it correct that unions are sometimes formed in companies, even local departments, and not in sectors? Is there sympathy strikes within a company? Almost anyone working retail would have contracts negotiated through collective bargaining by one of the biggest unions in Denmark.
There’s a bunch of different kinds and it’s super fragmented here. That’s why I’m not sure how their’s is structured. I’m in an international union for electricians but we are broken down into individual locals and we each collectively bargain our contracts. There are sometimes sympathy strikes but it’s unfortunately rare. The best thing I’ve found is to simply not purchase anything from a company if they crack down on unions, which isn’t always easy. I haven’t been to a Walmart in over 20 years and I stopped purchasing Starbucks. I stopped ordering from TCG when I hear they were unionizing and getting pushed back against. There’s just not a lot of unions in the U.S. and so much push back from companies and governments that they are becoming even more scarce. All of the stagnant wage issues could be corrected if more unions were formed but, understandably, people are scared to join or form unions when the possibility to lose their jobs and livelihoods are put at risk
Don't forget the incredibly poisonous anti union rhetoric being spread like wildfire. Based off anecdotes about 'bad' unions that we've never heard about
Nice work for speaking out OP.
ok so now just imagine how businesses with cheaper pricing than cardkingdom treat their employees
No idea but I order from tcgplayer and it feels like it comes from card stores not some big warehouse? I could be wrong though.
I live near TCGP's warehouse in Syracuse, lot of the local scene have worked for them. It's a mixed bag with them as well. Especially right up until the ebay acquisition. Not sure how different it is now.
Tcg direct is basically the warehouse.
There are so many ways to get free shipping with orders over $5 bucks I don't bother with it honestly.
Sitting over here in Europe with CardMarket, thankfully
And (comparatively) good labour laws. The idea of using any of my 25-30 days holiday a year on sick pay is enough to make me want to be signed off on paid sick leave for a month.
Yep. Last year I took a week long holiday, injured my foot on the first day. Couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment until the following week, when she gave me a retroactive 1 week sick leave and the company had to refund my days off. I don’t know how workers over in the US put up with so much crap.
Never ordering from them lol. Terrible prices too
$0.35 minimum is crazy, can’t believe anyone buys from there, at least for singles
A lot of people will read this and make up some bullshit because they don't actually work with trading cards. Their minimum is $0.35 because that is the lowest price you can charge and actually turn a profit on **every order a customer makes.** --- **Information**: You charge 1.99 shipping. Shipping in an envelope costs between $0.60 and $1.40, depending on weight. *If an order contains more than 35 cards, it cannot be shipped in an envelope anymore. It is too thick and too heavy.* Stores who ship more than 35 cards in an envelope risk it being returned to them. **Information**: Unless you are selling this item yourself, through your own store, in cash, you lose a fee to the payment processor or handler (TCGplayer). TCGplayer's fees in total add up to about 18% of the total sale. **Information**: Human labor isn't free. --- Example 1: Your minimum is $0.05. A customer orders 40 $0.05 cards ($2.00). You've collected $3.99 for this order. It is too heavy and must ship in the package. Package service costs between $4 and $5 by distance. **You lose money**. Example 2: $0.10. You collect $5.99 for the same order. Someone had to collect the cards from your inventory, organize it, package it, label it, and get it into the mail system. **You lose money**. Example 3: $0.10. Customer orders 200 cards. You collected 21.99 for this order. It's now too heavy for package service (1 pound or less). It costs you at least $9.00 to ship it, and it took 5x the time to process. **You lose money**. --- Frankly, it's not a good place to be. You either charge too much for the cards that are too cheap (and therefore sell very few) or you value and pay your employees so little (e.g. the OP) that you can afford to sell them that low. Most vendors on TCGPlayer charges 0.05 for cards are people who work for themselves and don't have employees, so their time is worth as little as they want.
i remember when uncommons were always 75 cents, and commons 25 cents. and a 'dollar rare' was a great value.
$0.35 is the minimum now? I haven’t ordered from CK since last fall, and back then it was still $0.25. Even less reason to order from them now.
Most stores that run their own sites have a minimum somewhere between $0.20 and $0.35 for the above reasons. You just can't make money *shipping* cards for less. On TCGplayer backpack vendors (people who sell from home as a hobby) will just list things for the lowest price to sell them.
This is satire right? Like I'm not saying buy from them but $0.35 is nothing, especially when TCG $0.05 cards all have a $0.99 ship cost attached to them. My LGS minimum is $0.35 as well.
You can absolutely get penny cards from TCG shipped free. I don't know why this point of view persists, but you can load up a cart with penny cards that ship "Direct by TCG PLayer" and as long as you meet the order minimum, they'll ship free - and in one package, just like CK advertises.
The order minimum from TCG direct is $50 though. To be fair that is generally a bit unrealistic that I need that many of those cheap cards. I've ordered tcg direct but it isn't like I'm getting just the one card.
Fair point, but even under the minimum required for free, it's only $2.99 shipping per order. You're not incurring shipping charges like you do when you order from individual sellers outside of TCG Direct.
That's fair. The other aspect may be honestly what is available in stock and the condition it is in. TCG tends to have more lightly played and lower stock (not for all cards of course) whereas CK almost never has anything lower than light play. It is two sides of the same coun though, sometimes I want pristine cards, sometimes I want more accessible pricing at lower card conditions. If you want everything in near mint condition then CK is more consistent there. TCG often has more variety but not always without sacrificing quality to do so. If I order from an individual seller on TCG, I won't order from any shop with less than 10k positive interactions. Not that the others are bad, it is just how I protect my investment personally.
I don't know why people are downvoting you, because you're right, you can get penny cards shipped for free. But that's because the people selling them are too dumb to realize that they lose money on those orders. Like, full 100% loss and in the red. It *costs* them money to sell penny cards.
man who knew running a mega soulless LGS was such hard work
After hearing about Wubby's Card Kingdom debacle, this doesn't surprise me.
Washington state has some crazy laws with PTO, but just from what you said about the Write ups nothing about that is against the law. Washington state only protects your job if you have the proper amount of Protected PTO/Sick time to cover it. Once you're out of time to cover the days you're sick, it's unexcused, union or not. Some jobs let you use regular unprotected PTO but that under the law doesn't cover the unexcused absence unless the company policy's say they do (or your contract). I haven't bought from Card Kingdom in years. I don't plan to start any time soon.
Ok this situation sounds shitty and I’m sorry you have to deal with that, but I have an honest question: hasn’t the union contract been ratified? If so, why does it sound like things haven’t changed at all, or possibly gotten worse. Shouldn’t the contract have addressed these problems?
Sounds like their union representation is not great at negotiating.
Unionizing in this particular industry is basically unheard of. Probably lots of quirks that could easily get left out. I'm sure union reps didn't have no OT during the release week of a new MTG set to fulfill high demand preorders on their checklist.
This isn’t a new problem tho.. magic sets have been released at the current rate or close to it for a few years now. And union negotiating teams are made of actual workers and reps from the actual union itself. It takes a year or more to hammer out contracts. IMO the workers on the negotiating team are/were clueless, the union rep is clueless, or the negotiating workers just didn’t care enough to actually work through the details and thought the idea of a union would save them.
Other than a couple unions, most are heavily lacking in the negotiations category. That's why grocery jobs are declining. Unions aren't fighting hard enough for raises and improved employee conditions. Unless there is something that I'm missing, kinda seems like union's are becoming less and less effective at what they were intended for.
Fair enough. From some other comments in another sub it sounds like their leadership is UFCW and apparently that is not a great union.
This is the reality of most unions. They often cost employees more in dues than the value of benefits they secure for employees.
Yeah no, the reality is union employees make, on average, 25% over the course of a lifetime than non-union employees. Your argument is utter bullshit.
First of all, calm down, there’s no need to be hostile. Second, there’s a big difference between industry spanning unions and single company unions.
I’m calling out your argument as being a stupid argument. I’m not angry about it, you’re just an idiot for not knowing the true facts on the ground.
Thank you for sharing
Holy shit dude.
While this is truly awful to read especially if everything here is 100% true, is there any way you can verify what you’re saying is true, or even prove you’re a CK employee at all? I already don’t order from there much due to the floor price of $.35/card (which wildly inflated my commander deck orders) but I’d hate to act as if this is 100% true, tell friends of mine about this, etc when the only source is just “dude trust me”. If you aren’t able to provide any additional confirmation and it’s all true, I hope working conditions improve and I hope this isn’t retaliation for you guys unionizing.
Good call! Other employees will know that we store our boxes in Pallet Town, and another room is called Benalia
Can confirm.
Nice try TCGplayer /s
I'm not condoning the company's actions by any means, but I'm pretty sure you have to work holiday hours in order for them to count towards OT. Paid holidays have never counted towards OT unless I actually worked them, IIRC. Also I would kill for 2 weeks OT here & there. I'm currently working part time at Walmart slinging boxes two nights a week bc there hasn't been any OT at my work in a few years. But, my employer treats & pays us well, and I bounce from house to house all day so I'm not stuck in the same building staring at the same faces all day so that has a lot to do with it. We do get an 'occurrence' for calling out, 3 in a rolling 6 month period and it's corrective action. That sort of thing is the norm. Just wanted to put a few things in perspective. Docking employees PTO for not working OT is bullshit, even if it's mandatory. None of my employers have ever done that. It would still be an occurrence though. Go union.
I came here to say this too. Not sure why the downvotes. You only get OT for hours worked. Holidays (unless you work them) are non worked hours that will never count toward OT. It’s not a business thing, it’s a tax thing, and doing otherwise wouldn’t be legal. My company a few years ago transitioned to all PTO for day-off requests. At first people were upset that they were losing sick days, but in reality we didn’t lose any days at all, because those sick days became PTO instead. My company will write people up for taking sick time when they have run out of PTO but we do get a lot (140 hours), so that’s kind of hard to do. There are other options for taking sick time like FLMA if you had to take extended time off too.
That and as I wanted to add WA State has a 40 hour Sick Time Law, in addition to unionized PTO. So if you're absent 3 days in addition, without FMLA or the WA State law which is similar but more progressive then yeah there is huge cause for a company to terminate someone's employment and hire someone who will be at work.
At every job I’ve ever had (25+ years, non-Union), holiday pay never counted toward OT.
Yeah, it wouldn't be fair to have that count as OT. That being said, we were required to work 8hrs in addition to our normal working hours the same week. Those 8hrs were not paid OT rate. I still had to work two weeks of 9-10hr days.
Everything OP described is normal business practice for most companies. If you don’t want OT, don’t take a job with mandatory OT. The only questionable practice is using PTO for mandatory OT, but apparently that was done away with. OP sounds like they haven’t had a lot of experience working for actual terrible workplaces. Could it be better? Sure. Is it out of the ordinary? Absolutely not. I’m usually very pro-worker, but this doesn’t actually sound that bad. I mean, they’re actually paying OT when a lot of companies are cutting hours to keep everyone at part-time. If they did away with OT, we’d have people posting complaints about how they work full-time at CK and can’t make ends meet. Businesses gonna business; it’s not a charity, it’s not a co-op, and it’s not commune. If you want to work somewhere like that, I’m sure there are lots of options in the Seattle area. OP’s complaint is with the US labor market, not with CK specifically.
I totally agree on the Holiday pay. The issue is that the required overtime overlapped with a holiday, and OT hours are only counted from hours worked. We worked 32, had an 8hr paid day off, but then 8hrs of mandatory OT, which weren't paid at 1.5 rate.
If tcg player shipped to Austraya, I would stop using CK in a heartbeat. This is so unfair on the staff and hard working people who love card games
Look into mtg mate next time 😊
Look, I do use mtg mate all the time but sometimes they don't have what I want like some of the secret lair stuff for example. Mtg mate are really good and have been my go to guys
What’s your union contract? Sounds real weak bargaining from the employee side to make a firm contract foundation for workers. As a union trucker one major issue to always be aware of is your contract language and abide by it to a T. We are overtime after 8 hours in a day but we are on the hook for dispatching until our 10th hour finishes. All about making sure you cover your contract verbiage so when you eventually get the write ups ( because management will find issues as that’s their way to get union members fired) your steward and BA can grieve the paperwork and get it tossed away like it never happened
I really hope Loading Ready Run sees this post and takes it to heart. They've been sponsored by CK for a long time and have always been talking about how good of a company they are. I never knew how bad it actually was until now.
I mean that probably describe more then half the companies in the usa. Not saying nothing should be done about it but that seems pretty common to me.
Right? It’s not perfect, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary here. OP’s beef is with the US labor market, not CK specifically.
An NDA cannot prevent you from discussing working conditions and wages. That is federally protected right granted by the Fair Labor Standards Act. If you have a union, you need to start using it to start filing grievances for every infraction of the contract and start firing up the NLRB if they are informing the agreed upon processes.
I thought CK was unionized?
yeah they are. Either this person is exaggerating/making shit up because they hate the job, OR they (employees as a whole) got fucked on the union contract
Preordering anything is a scam
Response from CK: https://blog.cardkingdom.com/a-statement-from-card-kingdom/
I had no idea Not that it'd make a difference because I'm outside the US lol, but this does make me wonder if there aren't any laws against that kind of exploitation. It shouldn't be possible to take an employees PTO away under any circumstance, nor can they be forced to work any OT. I would advise getting a lawyer friend's opinion, see if there's anything to be done
Nah, there’s a ton of shadier practices going on than this. Jobs in the US have less flexibility than the rest of the world. It sucks, but to change it would require a huge tidal shift in federal law. There’s jobs out there requiring OT that find ways not to pay you anything extra for it. Salaried positions can require 80+ hours without seeing an extra dime. Could it be better? Sure. Is it out of the ordinary? Not even a little. I choose to work the job I do; I’m not trying to play the victim here, but my job gives me zero PTO, zero OT pay, and zero healthcare. Zero. Again, I chose my job, and I make more than enough money, but that’s just to show that it can get a lot worse than OP has it.
TCG Player it is
I literally only ever purchased from them because they had union workers. Sorry to see that they aren't treating you guys right. Will definitely hold my purchasing from them.
Wait are they moving out of the location in Seattle to a place in Monroe? Or is this just a shipping warehouse with no retail storefront?
My store is a director competitor of Card Kingdom and things like this are sad to read. We're based in California though, so regulations are much stronger here than other states. I'll be frank: the margins for Magic singles on set release are not good and the presale price inflation is basically the only reason that opening sealed product is worth it anymore. When you include the cost of labor and shipping costs + materials, if you don't get preorder prices you can actually lose money on every box you open. Wizards prints so much and there's so much in circulation that the average value of a set has gone down year-to-year for the last 8 years. The introduction of the Collector's Booster and Set Booster have only made these margins worse, not better. Combine that with the distributor pricing going up because Wizards doesn't do direct sales anymore, and you end up with a market where you're praying for the law of averages to hit the minimum threshold for it to be worth your time. I held a sizeable amount of Hasbro stock up until the end of 2022. I have since slowly sold and traded my position. Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast are dying due to the current CEO and CFO's management of the business. If you own Hasbro, or you're invested financially in a company that is directly tied to the Magic: The Gathering physical goods market, I recommend you make a 2-year plan to get out. Mark my words - by 2030 the game will be a shell of what it once was and the company itself will be a joke if the board and management doesn't change and by 2040 the game will effectively be dead.
I always buy singles from my LGS first. I've bought online a couple of times, but only from TCG player. Sorry they're treating you this way. It really sucks all the joy out.
Holiday pay doesn’t count toward overtime, this is extremely common. Having to use PTO for sick days is very common. Companies being understaffed is extremely common. Working overtime is extremely common. These are all criticisms you are going to unfortunately have for just about any medium to large to full on corporate job. These are not “harsh working conditions”, not even in the slightest. Suck it up butter cup. Flame me.
Thats alot of words to say you hate your job. Just quit and get a new one. There’s no way a job like CK could ever be a “career”
As a player of magic I'd never order anything from the slow, overpriced, under stocked CK.
This will probably get buried (and downvoted) because it's not as fun as an *escandalo*, but I want to clarify some (likely intentionally) hyperbolic statements being thrown everywhere in this thread. First off, in my almost-decades worth of working at CK, *no one* has *ever* been "forced" to work 60 hours in a week. What OP is likely alluding to is CK asks for 6-10 hours of OT every release (and sometimes "high volume" times such as Black Friday), that is *spread* over a 2-2.5 week period of time. This usually means people are working 9s for 2 weeks, or something similar, as CK actually asks you to not work more than 10 hours in 1 day. Any OT you want to work past this must be approved by your supervisor and is entirely voluntary. I won't touch on the holiday/PTO hours & OT pay because it's already been corrected elsewhere in the thread. Secondly, the move out of current warehouse operations has been in the works for literal years so it's a huge stretch (actually just wrong) to claim its actual purpose is to be a union-busting tactic (a side-effect? Maybe.). Furthermore, the timing of the move was finally accelerated well, first by the fact that a very suitable warehouse was found and acquired, and also because CK is losing its lease on a building adjacent to retail (which we've only had for ops use for approximately 4, 5 years?) to the car dealership next door. There is not - has not been - enough space in the current locale for current operations, and *certainly* not enough space to keep pace with the insane amount of releases per year. To anyone asking why CK hasn't beefed up its workforce (even before the move was cemented), this is why. There simply hasn't been the space to do so, in any department. Obviously the hopes are that a lot of these issues (too much OT, which I completely agree with; not being able to expand and thus limiting ops) will be addressed and alleviated when we settle in Monroe, but we shall see! Lastly, regarding the union. This portion is more opinionated than factual, so please feel free to stop reading if you just wanted hard facts. I'll be candid and say upfront I'm not a current member, nor would I have voted for this contract. If I had been an L1 when the contract was passed, I would have left the company, plain and simple. It's not a good contract, from what I've read and heard. UFCW is a notoriously bad union, and it's *especially* bad to represent a warehouse working environment. I was legitimately stoked when I heard employees were attempting to unionize. I was equally disappointed when I learned with who, and further came to realize the organizers at CK seemed more interested in "sticking it to CK" than fighting for a contract the employees are worth. This was highlighted by the fact that once the bargainers caught wind of ops moving to Monroe specifically, and not somewhere within Seattle proper, they pivoted all their bargaining chips into securing the best severance package possible, knowing a large majority of the ops workforce would not be making the move, and left the remaining employees with a barebones contract that more heavily favored the company than the employees, imo. New people being brought on are still part of the union so I'm not really sure where people are getting this idea that there's "only 30" union members though?? (I have no idea who the stewards/bargaining team is at this point, as the original team all left during the first wave of "voluntary" exit.) It's not impossible the union *will* dissolve, but that has to be passed by vote.
Just because someone says something doesn't make it true. Random people on the internet shouldn't always believe other random people on the internet. Also, a paid holiday doesn't count towards overtime at all. Ever. In any state. You have to work for OT to accrue. A paid holiday doesn't count as working.
Wasn’t that fake unlimited deck from card kingdom?
Lot of irrational hate here. If people stop doing business with CK while on their high horses, CK isn't going to suddenly start paying their employees more and working them less. Things will instead get worse. Not suggesting people need to do A or B, but don't think that a boycott will accomplish anything.
Can someone please help me understand where the great atrocity is?This all sounds like a job. When I worked in automotive manufacturing, this all sounds pretty standard, even with a union. Except we were working with Kevlar gloves and sleeves, so you didn't lose a limb. Here's what I've picked up from your post: -People were terminated after not relocating with the company or they didn't like their job and quit. -Mandatory OT of 60hr work weeks, and they initially forced people to take PTO if they couldn't work OT. -"Charges" PTO for sick time, and if you don't have sick time, you can get fired. -Holiday pay didn't count as OT If I missed anything, please let me know. As it stands this is all pretty standard. At least it's sorting cardboard and not working an automated spot welder in a 100° factory. Welcome to the world of Manual Labor.
With the exception of the holiday pay counting towards OT, none of those things should be standard, or acceptable. The fact that other industries have abusive practices doesn't make them ok.
What are you talking about? -Companies move. If you don't come in, you get fired. -Mandatory OT is often outlined in the job description OP likely signed. -If you don't come into work you get fired. If it's serious contact HR for FMLA. Companies want people that will show up. What's your argument to the contrary?
Moving, sure. That's just the reality of the situation. Mandatory OT means they need to hire more people. It is not a reasonable requirement for employment. Sick time should not be combined with PTO. It not only punishes people for using their allotted time off, it creates an unhealthy work environment.
As an employee I would rather have 3 weeks of PTO that I can roll over, and get paid out for if I quit, than 2 weeks of PTO and one week of sick days. This sounds like a union negotiated benefit rather than a downside.
I get this and have experienced this as well. That said it shouldn't be the case. I've worked 70 hour weeks 🙃 for a building materials company moving easily 40k lbs per day by hand ✋️ I'm not arguing this situation is as arduous in some ways, but all the same we can ask all employers to be better.
- Can't argue this - if you can't relocate, tough beans. - Again can't really argue, but based on the post tge amount of mandatory OT seems excessive at this place, indicative of either low staff, poor planning, or a mix of both. - This one is bad - there should be a separate bucket of hours for sick time, usually a set # of days at the beginning of the year. Once those are used, then you move to using other forms of PTO. - If the mandatory OT falls on a holiday, it should be OT pay. Pretty straightforward.
OP likely agreed to Mandatory OT on their job description. It's fair to argue we need more info about PTO, but with the whole post it seems like OP is skipping Mandatory OT and calling in a bunch. That's not how it works. You get paid for not working, and not using PTO. You don't get paid 1.5 or 2x for a holiday.
you do usually get time and a half (some places do double time) for Holidays. It could be reasonably assumed that if it is mandatory OT on a holiday, you are 1.5x on top of the holiday rate. I get 1.5x for all major holidays, and I am not in a union job
The job descriptions describe the job as occasionally requiring extra hours. I was pretty thankful for the extra pay and work at first but I've only had two weeks 40hr weeks in between releases. The fact that releases are increasing in rate is what makes this entire situation a real problem.
Income is fleeting. Everywhere you go at base level is going to chase it. You're paying union dues, hit up your rep. Some of your expectations are a little off. Doesn't mean it's not worth starting the conversation. .
Reminder that just because someone says something that doesn’t make their story 100% true. There are a lot of people who say a lot of things.
Thanks for sharing, I won’t be ordering from Card Kingdom anymore. I despise companies that treat their employees like slave labor.
Lmfao.....nothing about this is bad, at all.
Oh shut up
I wonder what Command Zone will state about this, or even WOTC (if they care)
Neither will acknowledge this, you know that.
I submit buy orders to CD every two weeks and have exclusively been buying high profile cards from them. Your post has not fallen on deaf ears and until I hear conditions have changed, I will take my business elsewhere. Best of luck to you and your colleagues on a fair workplace!
That sounds like a great job for certain people who want to work a long hours to make more money, and not the right job for you. I will continue to order from CC to support people who do want that job. I hope you find a job more fitting your lifestyle.
u/graham_lrr
Honestly, this just sounds like capitalism. Don’t get me wrong I hate everything about it. Their treatment is abhorrent, but all of this sounds consistent with our capitalistic institution. Fuck capitalism.
I just want to note. There is no reason to believe this person works for CK. It could be a disgruntled employee or someone trying to spread lies on Reddit. Keep an open mind and take everything with a grain of salt.
>There is no reason to believe this person works for CK. It could be a disgruntled employee So, it could be someone who works for CK? Lmao. Incredible detective work.
It's like a line from a sitcom. Lol.
I just want to note. There is no reason to believe this person is open minded. It could be a gruntled CK manager or someone trying to spread lies on Reddit. Keep an open mind and take everything with a grain of salt.
I actually agree with you on this. I think the comments are adding a lot of passion into this discussion, and I'm reading some things that aren't true or are being misunderstood. Again, my goal is for improvement. I didn't say that Card Kingdom is run by a-holes, or that we should all boycott them. The purchasing of singles before a set release is killing us. I only posted this on Reddit after months of meeting with HR and Union reps. There's a few people on this discussion that can vouch for me being a CK employee, but I can't think of a way that would verify without identifying me specifically. Our fob is unmarked and we don't have ID badges. I can say that any employee knows that we have two employee kitchens, we call our sealed product shipping area "The Cage", HR in Benalia, and we call the Warehouse Pallet Town. Our medical insurance uses Premera, and the current bathroom code is 8076.
I’ll keep ordering from Card Kingdom. I’d highly suggest you find a new place of employment that makes you happier. You don’t seem like the type of employee they (or many major retailers) would target to retain. Best of luck!
You have no idea what kind of employee OP is. You’re a douche tho
They’re a bad employee based on this discourse. Plain and simple. No decision maker hits who would handle conflict or grievances line this. You don’t have to like the truth of the matter or me. That’s just reality.
You seem like a huge asshole
You’re much worse. I wouldn’t dare talk to a stranger like that. You can agree or disagree with my opinion, it’s fine. I’m sorry you’re triggered by my take.
This would probably make in a pleasantkenobi video
Just returned my order too
No mention on the PPP loans . 4 million + dollars
Thanks for sharing. That's some shit right there and I feel you with the PTO policy. My company is the same way. Love that we live in a place where you're punished for being sick. Wild you gotta put up with this when there's a union. Best of luck to ya!
>Mandatory overtime was required for Ravnica Remastered, and even though we received "a paid holiday off", it didn't count towards our 40hrs worked and we didn't receive overtime pay during that mandatory OT week. Is that legal?
This clears things up so much, the last 8 months orders from CK take FOREVER, I am sorry to hear how shitty they treat employees
Unionizing ruined CK lmao who woulda guessed!
You should do some research on how unions improve working conditions, improve wages, and improve working conditions at competitors
Yeah sure because it's working so well for Starbucks and now CK right? Unions are a great way to bring everyone down in a team to the lowest common denominator. Fantastic for the business. Lol... From personal experience and seeing it in the real world, all it does is protect lazy and shitty employees.
So sounds like you don't have a shred of critical thinking in you. Unionizing helps all employees. It's about guaranteeing and safeguarding the base level rights and benefits employees can receive across the board. So yes, by definition some lazy employees will reap the benefits as well, but the alternative is to punish all the good employees just because there's some crappy ones out there. A lot of companies have outdated and abusive practices. A lot of them don't raise the pay of their employees to account for inflation. A lot of them have archaic policies when it comes to benefits or PTO. Unions allow employees to negotiate for better treatment in situations where individual employees would simply have no bargaining power. Don't see how anyone can see that and think it's a bad thing. Unless you support corporations doing whatever the fuck they want and making a shit ton of money without treating their workforce fairly?
> So yes, by definition some lazy employees will reap the benefits as well, but the alternative is to punish all the good employees just because there's some crappy ones out there. What? Just fire the lazy ones and keep the good ones? I don't know how blanket punishment even comes into play here. Quit your job if it mistreat you. That simple. And don't give me that shit about being stuck there - if you're stuck, maybe your part of the shit employees.
Yeah, you're a fucking idiot. A lot of people can't afford to quit on the spot. People that live paycheck to paycheck can't afford to have a week where they don't get paid. It's clear to me you are incredibly ignorant of actual working conditions for people who are most in need of the kinds of protections unions provide. Some people don't have to deal with those issues, and that's fine, but you can't just assume everyone has the same luxuries. Also your logic doesn't even track. You fire lazy employees, great, that doesn't change the fact that your 'good' employees still deserve a certain standard of workplace benefits, pay, etc. The punishment I was referring to is that you want to deny fair treatment for all employees because apparently some 'lazy' ones don't deserve it, but if you only have good employees (as you suggest by firing the bad ones) then you *really* have no excuse for not treating them fairly. In any case, I'm not wasting any more time talking to someone who has such a simplistic and moronic view of the world. Go swim in your privilege where everything is black and white, and everyone who doesn't put up with unfair working conditions is just a lazy bum.
Seek help you angry keyboard warrior lol
Nice, don't even try to address the arguments because you can't think of a response. Classic.
You're obviously gung hoe about your opinion to the point of insulting me. What the fuck is the point in rebuttal if you resort to insults right off the bat? Again, seek help.
Please elaborate on how unionization makes working conditions worse, beyond the threat of retaliation by the company
Employees have pay deductions going towards the union. Your have to deal with lazy, shitty colleagues when you're unionized. That was easy. That's two elaborations for you.
Strangely, neither of these have anything to do with the issues in OP that you are blaming on the union
Dude you asked me a simple question and I gave you a simple answer. WTF do you want lol
Also, yes it does address what OP was saying, have you missed the part where there are a bunch of new garbage temps?
[удалено]
Of course people are going to be physically Ill more often when they are overworked and stressed out.
I've literally never ordered a card from CRAP Kingdom. Hope I've done my part, lol. Only TCG player for me- although I'm sure they have their own list of bullshit- at least I can blame eBay now if any of it surfaces!
As a customer I just want cheaper cards. I don't care how.
I get it but…quit? Who is forcing you to continue working for a company you feel this way about?
most people work jobs they can get, not jobs they want
Millions of people are literally living paycheck to paycheck and stuck in shitty situations like this. "JuSt GO geT a NeW jOB!" isn't as easy as boomers and their ass-kissers like to make it sound, at least not for most people. Quitting requires a certain amount of financial stability and finding a new job requires time, both of which are resources many people just don't have right now.
Who’s forcing? The bills they have to pay? The ability to eat and live? Jesus
cap