--- title: "Amazon Makes Its Employees Use a Bunch of Stupid Made-Up Words" description: "According to Insider, there are several silly, annoying, and/or stupid words forced upon Amazon employees by its founder and Executive Chairman, Jeff Bezos." date: "2022-08-27" modified: "2022-08-27" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-employees-stupid-words" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "Amazon" - "bezos" - "jeff bezos" - "the digest" --- # Amazon Makes Its Employees Use a Bunch of Stupid Made-Up Words ![According to Insider, there are several silly, annoying, and/or stupid words forced upon Amazon employees by its founder and Executive Chairman, Jeff Bezos.]() *\Image: Sean Gallup/Getty Images\* ## Very Frupid "Frupidity." "Swag Bucks" (and/or, "Swaggies"). "CRaP." According [to *Insider*](), these are a few of the silly, annoying, and/or stupid words forced upon Amazon employees. We're not saying we expected more from [notoriously cringe Bezos](), king of both [being the worst]() and, importantly, [labor issues](). And, okay, making employees use frivolous words or phrases doesn't rank among the [worst allegations]() against Amazon — but some of these phrases do toe some seriously thin ethical lines. ## Make Rate To clarify, neither "frupidity" (the combination of "frugal" and "stupidity"), "Swag Bucks" (Amazon's version of internal Monopoly money, given to employees to be spend with the company), nor "CRaP" (shorthand for Can't Realize a Profit, referring to sub-$15 items like water bottles and paper towels that don't generate revenue) are related to questionable workplace practices. They're just dumb. But take the term "[Hire to Fire]()," which, according to *Insider*, refers to Amazon's notoriously brutal firing quotas. Managers have admitted in the past that they face so much pressure to ensure employee turnover that they often hire new talent with the only goal of letting those folks go shortly thereafter — and it apparently happens so often that the company has a word for it. "We might hire people that we know we're going to fire," one unnamed manager [told *Insider* last year](), "just to protect the rest of the team. That's small fish, though, compared to "make rate," a term said to measure whether employees are keeping up with their "stow rate," which refers to Amazon's absolutely [brutal productivity demands]() — you know, the ones so extreme that workers have been known to [pee in bottles]() on the warehouse floor so as to not get fired for bathroom breaks. And perhaps unsurprisingly, "make rate" and "stow rate" are just two of several company terms that refer to Bezos' penchant for [turning employees into productivity stats](), and churning through as many workers as possible. There are several more words on *Insider*'s list, and to be be fair, it's common for major corporations to promote [goofy company slang](). But in Amazon's case, cutesy names for bad behavior doesn't make those practices any better — if anything, it makes them that much worse. Gotta say, the [S-Team's]() [OV]() isn't looking too great from here. **READ MORE:** [*From 'frupidity' to 'swag bucks,' 16 secret terms only Amazon workers know, and what they mean*]() \[*Insider*\] **More on Amazon:** [*Jeff Bezos Says the Ftc Is Being Vewy Vewy Mean*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()