Amazon sent luxury Moncler jackets to cancelled MARS robotics conference guests

Amazon warehouse workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis won a long-fought battle this month when the company agreed to provide some of them with paid time off benefits.

[whohit]Amazon sent luxury Moncler jackets to cancelled MARS robotics conference guests[/whohit]Around the same time, another group of people connected to Amazon received an unexpected surprise in the mail: A stylish winter jacket from Moncler, a French luxury ski-wear brand known for jackets with price tags that can reach thousands of dollars.

The jackets were sent to VIP guests of a private Amazon event called MARS, short for Machine-Learning, Home Automation, Robotics, and Space exploration.

MARS is an invitation-only event that started in 2016 , in which CEO Jeff Bezos mingles with some of the most high-profile leaders in the robotics and space industries.

“As we’ll miss seeing you in person this year, sending our warmest regards. Be well! MARS 2020 Team,” Amazon’s team wrote in a note for the gift. MARS, which was scheduled to take place from March 15 to 18, was cancelled a few weeks ago because of the coronavirus outbreak.

An Amazon spokesperson stated that the jackets were purchased well in advance of the event’s cancellation, as they were supposed to be given as part of the event’s gift bag that goes to all MARS guests every year.

Bezos was not involved in the decision to send the jackets, customized with a MARS logo, which Amazon said had a cost of $600 each.

At a time when Amazon’s warehouse workers are in the spotlight for working long, grueling hours in conditions some say are unsafe, the Moncler jackets are salient example of the two-class system that underpins Amazon’s business empire, as well as much of today’s so-called gig economy.

That divide – between well-compensated “knowledge workers” and low-wage blue collar workers — is likely to come into starker relief as the coronavirus threat sends one group to work in the shelter of their homes while the other continues to report to the workplace.