I buy things on amazon when I feel the price is good or better than I can get locally. Whole Foods doesn't fit that mold at all.... now maybe they provide different products but then Whole Foods isn't Whole Foods anymore.
Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
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Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
#252Wow... all the articles I've been reading about Whole Foods lately deal with how they're hurting, and losing market share to more affordable competitors like Trader Joe's. If this is about Amazon thinking they can turn things around for Whole Foods, then it will certainly mean drastic changes to price, selection, and employee structure. If this is about Amazon using a brick-and-mortar chain as a tool to help Amazon's…
Whole Foods culture is a goner, but Whole Foods culture as of yesterday was already drastically different from WF culture as of a decade ago. Increased competition, the Great Recession and some self inflicted wounds have already hurt WF.
Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
#253Oof. I wonder what this means for Whole Foods culture and employees. If you don't know, John Mackey, the CEO / founder, is a major believer in conscious capitalism and of empowering his employees. Whole Food employees get paid pretty darn well with some crazy good benefits for their industry and line-of-work (UNION FREE most of the time too!). WF banks on them being true believers and motivators of the cause - includ…
The problem with 'conscientious capitalism' is that a competitor will take the idea and run with it, save for the 'conscientious' elements, and push out the original from the market.
Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's nice to see non-union employees treated well and paid well, not because of any negative feelings toward unions or unionization, but because I think it shows that you can be a successful capitalist without trying to suck every ounce of productivity and profit out of your lowest-paid employees.
>I think it shows that you can be a successful capitalist without trying to suck every ounce of productivity and profit out of your lowest-paid employees. Another example of this is Wegmans - http://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-this-be-the-best-company-i... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/13/why-w... http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/why-do-so-many-people-... http://m.csmonitor.com/Business/The-…
"Alec Baldwin spoke on David Letterman about his mother's refusal to leave upstate New York because there are no Wegmans stores in Los Angeles."
Ha, I think that's one of the most ringing endorsements of a business I've ever read.
Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
#255Oof. I wonder what this means for Whole Foods culture and employees. If you don't know, John Mackey, the CEO / founder, is a major believer in conscious capitalism and of empowering his employees. Whole Food employees get paid pretty darn well with some crazy good benefits for their industry and line-of-work (UNION FREE most of the time too!). WF banks on them being true believers and motivators of the cause - includ…
Probably best to look at Zappos, Woot and other past acquisitions.
How did that work out for the employees?
Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disclaimer: I work for AWS, but my opinions are my own. I don't think you have much to worry about if you're a WF employee. Amazon actually treats their employees very well. In my experience here, I've never seen any of the things the NY times article talked about, either on my team or any other team I've interacted with. People have a healthy work/life balance (40-50 hours a week), get paid very well (definitely abo…
I know that there are some stories about bad experiences in the fulfillment centers, but keep in mind that those positions are temporary seasonal work by unskilled labor. The tone of your writing suggests that you are OK with treating these people badly. If a company treats some set of its workers badly, what stops them from treating other employees the same way? In this case, they may treat SW engineers well because…
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Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's nice to see non-union employees treated well and paid well, not because of any negative feelings toward unions or unionization, but because I think it shows that you can be a successful capitalist without trying to suck every ounce of productivity and profit out of your lowest-paid employees.
>I think it shows that you can be a successful capitalist without trying to suck every ounce of productivity and profit out of your lowest-paid employees. Another example of this is Wegmans - http://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-this-be-the-best-company-i... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/13/why-w... http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/why-do-so-many-people-... http://m.csmonitor.com/Business/The-…
Wegmans is also privately owned so there aren't "activist" shareholders that want hockey-stick growth.
Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not? The important part is commute. 50hr work week in a job you like with a reasonable commute is no problem for your health. 30hr/week in a job you don't like with 2.5hr in traffic each day is much less healthy.
Unless all 50 hours are compensated, 10 of them at 1.5-2x base pay, the person working them is getting ripped off. Every one of my friends in engineering (actual engineering, e.g. civil, aerospace, etc.) positions get at least 1.5x for any hour over 40 they work in a week. In fact "unpaid overtime" is something I hadn't heard of for an engineering position prior to working in software. It's almost like workers in thi…
In the US, software developers are exempted from the law requiring 1.5x pay for overtime. Not sure it matters if they're salaried instead of hourly to begin with though.
Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
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Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
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