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ABC News
ABC News
Business
Nathan Hoad, Margaret Burin and Ben Spraggon

Test yourself: Are you fast enough to work in the Amazon warehouse?

The Amazon Race lets you play the role of a 'picker' in an Amazon warehouse.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to deliver your online shopping to you so quickly — and so cheaply?

The Amazon Race is an ABC News game that tells the story of what it's like to work in Amazon's Melbourne warehouse.

The game is based on interviews with eight current and former workers. For the purposes of the game, the workers' real-life experiences have been condensed into one week.

Warehouse workers say the workplace is built around a culture of fear and they are expected to constantly work at 'Amazon pace', described as somewhere between walking and jogging.

They say high-pressure targets make them feel like they can't go to the toilet and sometimes push them to cut safety corners.

An Amazon Australia spokeswoman told the ABC these claims did not represent the Amazon she knew.

About the game

This game was created by the ABC News Story Lab.

Find out more about what it's like to work in an Amazon warehouse by reading our complementary story.

  • Reporting: Margaret Burin
  • Design: Ben Spraggon
  • Illustration and development: Nathan Hoad
  • Editor: Matt Liddy
  • Emojis provided by Twitter's Twemoji.

We'd also like to acknowledge prior art in this space: play The Uber Game by our friends at the FT.

Read more about life as an Amazon associate.

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