I need the people talking about “Growing vanilla in America” to understand that there is absolutely no way that happens. The growing requirements for vanilla are so specific that replicating it outside the tropics is nearly impossible, it takes three years of growth 1/?
With the strike EXTREMELY imminent at this point, I thought I’d offer a visual guide to why UPS teamsters are fed up, free of UPS propaganda. This is what it looks like when our preloaders are sorting and loading all the packages for delivery that day. 🧵 1/?
Just an FYI under RI state law they can not claim deductions and you can take them to small claims for 2x the security deposit amount if they haven’t provided deductions and/or the deposit by day 20, easy slam dunk middle finger to slimy landlords
Truly the fact that vanilla -only- costs about $5/pod retail is only possible because of the low labor costs in Madagascar combined with the natural climate being functionally perfect
before you get your first bloom, blooms last a single day and have to be pollinated by hand in a very specific and delicate manner. Post pollination you have to wait for the bean to mature over the course of six months before it can be harvested 2/?
So yeah, our part timers are CRIMINALLY underpaid for the insane work they do, and the amount of work expected of drivers (particularly when new and paid far less) is borderline inhuman, sure, full scale drivers are making $42-43/hr, but I’m at $20.50 for this.
once harvested the pods have to go through a curing process which takes an additional six months, requiring multiple steps that have to be done with the utmost care and attention to detail
They’re given 3.5-4 hours to load these packages into the package cars, in an order that allows the driver to easily find the package at every stop, most preloaders are loading 3-4 cars at once, for just over $16/hr. This is how my car looked this morning on my way out 2/?