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Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

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Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#551

Post by throwaway40483 »

uxp100 wrote: post #415
m-j-fox wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're kidding, right? Programmers are decently paid but should strike for a 40-hour work week.

When I was hired I became the best paid person I knew. I think it would be pretty hard to unionize, but damn if I ain't pissed that that wage fixing scandal wasn't a bigger deal. I work at one of the guilty companies, and I would be happier if I felt like most workers even knew it happened. (even though this was not wage fixing for the average engineer, but for certain high profile roles.) That's something a worker's…

To this day, I'm still puzzled by the fact that the wage fixing incident didn't blow up in the press. Amazing..

Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#552

Post by richardknop »

andreyf wrote: post #527
jhall1468 wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work 40 hours a week. Sometimes I work 45, and I usually offset it by cutting it shorter the next week. I have no need (or desire) to "strike" just because some businesses/orgs/teams are garbage.

No competent programmer I know has to work 40 hours a week to have their needs met. The best ones charge rates would allow them to have their needs met working <10 hours a week.

I work 35-40 hours per week and am quite competent and senior engineer in London. You need to find a company which isn't trying to make employees work unpaid overtime. Lots of companies out there are fine with 40 hours per week and pay market rate salaries for senior people.

Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#553

Post by alphonsegaston »

jhall1468 wrote: post #533
alphonsegaston wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you have a documented record of mistreating you're employees, both white and blue collar, the onus is on you to rectify the situation and demonstrate that you'll behave better in the future. Amazon has done neither of these things. It's entirely "fair" to posit that a company with a documented record of abusive workplace practices might extend that same umbrella of mistreatment over an acquisition. Even more so…

> When you have a documented record of mistreating you're employees, both white Yes, the infamous NYT story. It's funny, because I've yet to see all the ugly that story implied was wide-spread across the company. AWS can be notoriously difficult (particularly the not-so-fun S3 on-calls). But there's an enormous difference between a wide-spread problem, and a problem that seems to be focused, very narrowly, on a few t…

If I seem to "have an agenda" based on widespread media reports that are far beyond that one NY Times piece, how exactly would you categorize your own stance? What's your relationship to Amazon? I'm only one of their occasional customers.

Anyway, here's reporting about how their warehouses used Neo-Nazis to intimidate immigrant laborers and worked a temp to death. If you have evidence of the drastic measures that would need to be taken to prevent this kind of behavior, I'm happy to hear about it.

http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/life-and-deat...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/amazon-used-...

Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#554

Post by 0x4f3759df »

tuna-piano wrote: post #92

I'm confused. Amazon is known to work backward from an imagined future press release, and then do the actions necessary to make that press release. How does Amazon see the future in this case? -Amazon already has PrimeNow and Amazon Fresh, which offer a great grocery delivery service. For those who have tried these services, it's easy to see how addicting they are vs going to a physical store. -I can't see Amazon usi…

I think the story is partially the decline of retail in general, malls are in big trouble, as people realize they get little joy from driving 30 mins to get a pretzel and a new pair of shoes. Some people are using the term food-ification of everything, coffeeshops popping up everywhere (target, etc), and the last man standing is the grocery store which is generally a pleasant experience and you might bump into your neighbors there (unlike the empty suburban sidewalks of our car infrastructure) so I think the acquisition makes since in an urbanism / decline of retail context as well as the other contexts presented

Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#555

Post by dsmithatx »

mdesq wrote: post #517
TheCondor wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a long time WF stock holder and fan of "alternative" grocers. Since it was Wild Oats. There are some big investors that have been unhappy and applying pressure. WF is fundamentally a regional thing that they made multi regional. It doesn't work everywhere with everybody. I'm just guessing, but I'd think WF would tighten up the philosophy a little, probably focus on whole and natural foods more than some of the ot…

Wild Oats was bought by WF, but that purchase was later reversed.[1] I used to be a Wild Oats shopper myself. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Oats_Markets

Yes Whole Foods started in Austin around 1981 as one small Coop named Whole Foods.

Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#556

Post by sidlls »

kingnothing wrote: post #547
sidlls wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm guessing you don't live in the US, or your friends are underpaid, or they work for a firm that chooses, but does not have to, provide overtime. Actual engineering should generally be considered exempt from overtime. 1. If nothing else, engineers are considered a learned professional. 2. They probably make over $100,000 per year. 3. They may hit the executive exemption. https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17a_overv…

Their firms choose to provide overtime. I live in the US, and so do they. They are underpaid, but so are software engineers (even adjusting for overtime or lack thereof).

Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#557

Post by michel-slm »

bluGill wrote: post #411
chc wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that I can't criticize pathological behaviors by investors because I myself invest in things makes about as much sense as saying I can't criticize bad US policies because I live in the US.

You are the investor causing the pathological behavior. A very large part of wall street is investors like you that just have a little bit in their retirement accounts. Do you vote the proxy for all the funds in your 401k? Do you understand how your vote affects the above - it all does.

there's a way to be an ethical investor - pick a 401(k) fund that invests in ethical businesses (according to whatever ethical standard you hold).

This might not be an option for everyone, of course.

Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#558

Post by hyperbovine »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #460
irfanka wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly the reason why there aren't any Software Developer Unions these days.

Ya, that EA spouse thing totally didn't happen: http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html

The plural of anecdote is not data.

Re: Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B

#559

Post by nerfhammer »

mdasen wrote: post #285
phreeza wrote: post #21

Somewhat off topic, but I have had a weird thought circulating in my head (triggered by reading Red Plenty) that I wanted to put out there: What is the relationship between a centrally planned economy as for example Gosplan was trying to run in the USSR, and the presence of these huge market-like but centralized entities like Amazon and Wal-Mart inside a free-market economy? This becomes particularly interesting beca…

The difference is the ability for new firms to compete. With centralized planning, there's only one source. If that source is inefficient or corrupt, that inefficiency and corruption stays around. You can try to regulate, threaten, and police it, but nothing can really take it down. By contrast, Walmart and Amazon might be very large, but they still have competition. Heck, Amazon started less than 25 years ago. Remem…

tangent: Sears is 130+ years old and arguably it was a close analogue to Amazon over the early 1900's.
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