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Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

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Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#411

Post by gimmeDatCheddar »

ummonk wrote: post #346
gimmeDatCheddar wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$500 a month is $6000 a year. $6000 a year invested from 26 to 66 at 10% interest per year is $2,921,110.87. At 12% it's $5,154,854.34. Keep in mind this is just from a single decision the average person is making.

So you're expecting people to make 10-12% in after-inflation returns?

Making 7 to 10 percent after inflation is possible and it is sufficient to amass more than 1 million dollars by retirement just from changing this one habit. The point was that the average financed car is worth a massive amount in opportunity cost.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#412

Post by dimal »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #98
kelukelugames wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bezos. Jeff Bezos is the reason why Amazon treats workers they way they do. Compared to other tech giants, Amazon is incredibly anti-employee. Look at how their stocks vest. I worked at Microsoft during Balmer's reign. The founder/CEO's attitude dictates the work culture. And causes harm if it's bad. I live in Seattle and often hear this joke: Being an Amazon customer is the best. An investor is great. An employee no…

Is is all on Bezos or does the way we structure society also affect why people are willing to endure this treatment?

When you have $100B, you're one of the people structuring society.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#413

Post by gimmeDatCheddar »

dtech wrote: post #383
gimmeDatCheddar wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$500 a month is $6000 a year. $6000 a year invested from 26 to 66 at 10% interest per year is $2,921,110.87. At 12% it's $5,154,854.34. Keep in mind this is just from a single decision the average person is making.

Not many places offering 10% ROI to people who can invest $500 a month.

So invest it as $6,000 per year. Doesn't have to be $500 per month.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#414

Post by NoGravitas »

munk-a wrote: post #335
dragonwriter wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem with Marxism is that in many of the places where it's been implemented in earnest, it's killed millions of people. That’s the problem with Leninism. The (biggest; there are others but this prevents even useful discussion of those) problem with Marxism is that people (even those who oppose Leninism and disbelieve everything else associated with it) accept Leninism’s propaganda that it is Marxism, rather…

Ayup, lets remember that the original councils of soviets in Russia were overthrown by the bolsheviks and dissolved when they came to power.

Indeed. All power to the soviets!

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#415

Post by gimmeDatCheddar »

CamTin wrote: post #372
gimmeDatCheddar wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$500 a month is $6000 a year. $6000 a year invested from 26 to 66 at 10% interest per year is $2,921,110.87. At 12% it's $5,154,854.34. Keep in mind this is just from a single decision the average person is making.

Ok so you're assuming 40 years instead of 30. That's where the discrepancy is. Thank you for clarifying.

Yep. You can also assume 45 years if someone starts working at 20 and retires at 65.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#416

Post by learc83 »

gimmeDatCheddar wrote: post #246
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #47

My fear is that the future of work for most people is not unemployment, but shitty jobs like this. My feeling is that in order to avoid this and prosper, the people need to own the robots that do all the work (Marxism heyy). If robots provide huge productivity gains, then they will provide those gains for their owners. If it’s the big corporations that own them, they will see the gains. But as long as people are trea…

That's a naive way of thinking about economics, finance, and business. Marxism will never work. You can have robots that increase profit and decrease costs for customers at the same time. Take autonomous driving, for example - it can be both profitable and affordable at the same time, meaning that the average person will be better off. https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2017/1... The average workin…

>The average working class American is financing their car. The average car payment is now an insane $500 per month. Over the average working career, that type of monthly payment represents a multi million dollar net worth at retirement.

This is completely wrong.

1. $500 is the average, averages are easily distorted by outliers. Most people who are worried about shitty jobs don't have $500 a month car payments.

2. Not spending $500 a month on a car doesn't mean you get $500 to invest. Most people need to spend > $0 on transportation.

3. $500 a month doesn't get you a multi-million dollar net worth. $500 a month at a realistic 7% gets you $1.2 million in 40 years. A more realistic $300 a month (from financing a cheaper car) gets you $700k.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#417

Post by jxramos »

notheguyouthink wrote: post #2

Are Amazon's margins razor thin? I'm trying to understand what compels them to be so toxic in their work environment. Especially compared to the people I know who work at Costco, I struggle to understand why Costco treats employees so well, and Amazon treats their employees so poorly. It's really sad, regardless.

I don't know about Amazon workers but Costco workers are dang happy as far as I can see. Always jovial, joking, and teasing with each other. They seem to form good friend networks there working side by side and stuff.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#418

Post by jpao79 »

temp-dude-87844 wrote: post #140
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #47

My fear is that the future of work for most people is not unemployment, but shitty jobs like this. My feeling is that in order to avoid this and prosper, the people need to own the robots that do all the work (Marxism heyy). If robots provide huge productivity gains, then they will provide those gains for their owners. If it’s the big corporations that own them, they will see the gains. But as long as people are trea…

Well, Marx and Engels did accurately identify that a large reserve of under-employed workers, or people who didn't previously participate in the labor force, is what enables the most exploitative jobs. All necessities in life cost money: food, housing, childcare, healthcare; and those in the most precarious social positions are the people most willing to accept abusive employment for reasons directly tied to their su…

What's interesting is if you look at percentage household spending, food and healthcare are really the only recurring ones that are not trending downward:

- housing - trending downward when not attempting to live in dense urban area (i.e. prefab modular homes)

- energy - trending downward once renewables and battery technology catch up

- transportation - trending downward when looking at non-luxury cars as well as on demand (Uber, etc.) and electric cars powered by renewables

- childcare/education - trending downward when combined with homeschooling and MOOCs like Coursera, Udacity)

- clothes - trending downward when you focus on store brands

- entertainment - trending downward (Youtube)

What happens if you could build an automated machine that you owned that farmed for you in your backyard and its cost trended downward?

Then really the only cost that needs to be managed is healthcare.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#419

Post by SubiculumCode »

bbddg wrote: post #314
SubiculumCode wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With truly advanced multi-purpose robots (like in sci-fi), it would take just one donation of a robot to a charity to start a 'robot self-replication for poverty movement', where one robot build another with its own labor, doubling, and doubling again, until every down and out has their own pool of robotic laborers.

This implies a world with unlimited energy and natural resources?

I didn't mean to imply doubling forever. Also, yes I assumed that the robot would have to be employed at least initially to earn a wage, so that it could buy materials and components off alibaba.

Re: Amazon warehouse workers 'peed in bottles' fearing punishment for taking breaks

#420

Post by decebalus1 »

xenostar wrote: post #374
laythea wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in no way an Amazon supporter, however I fail to see how any single company can "wipe out your career". As a skilled engineer, you have many options. And incidentally, from the sounds of it, it seems like if they let someone go, they would be doing that someone a favor.

Pretty sure he means to wipe out your career within the company.

Exactly what I meant. And this results in wiping out your unvested stock.
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