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Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

seattletimes.com

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Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#111

Post by threatofrain »

donarb wrote: post #84
gowld wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More to the point, the $1.6M number is wholly irrelevant, an accounting detail due to the "security" issue. Bezos makes $1B-$10B/yr because he is a major shareholder in Amazon. Probably includes private air travel and some bodyguards.

Not irrelevant because the news story is about direct compensation by the company to 2 different classes of employees. Factoring in stock ownership by Bezos is what's irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

I mean, I heard that Steve Job's salary was $1 as CEO before. Is it possible that by carefully following someone else's framing, you can nevertheless walk straight into irrelevance?

Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#112

Post by Reedx »

maxerickson wrote: post #53
sputniq wrote: post #3

So much for equality. I guess jeff bezos just thinks it normal

It's driven by Amazon's low prices just as much as it is driven by Bezos' wealth. Customers get the benefit of the low prices. I'm not saying that to congratulate Amazon, I'm pointing out that there are more people involved than Amazon shareholders and employees, people who apparently put low prices ahead of any concerns they have over compensation at Amazon.

Exactly. You can't have high wages and cheap shipping of cheap products. So far people are choosing the latter.

Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#113

Post by krapp »

SE4L wrote: post #109
krapp wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's impossible to give Amazon more incentive to automate, since they already intend to automate everything as soon as it's feasible. Raising minimum wage or even wages in general for warehouse workers wouldn't accelerate that schedule, since the obstacles to automation are primarily technical. Kivas are nice and all, but they can't pick and they definitely can't stow. They could probably move pallets, but couldn't p…

But it's a business decision to pay expensive engineering time to automate what can be done by people for much cheaper. If the people become too expensive, the business decision becomes easier. There are places in India where they pay 100 men pennies to dig a trench. Sure, they could buy a machine so 1 person could do the work of 100, but if the machine costs 100k and the guy who is trained to operate it makes 10 an…

I can't back it up with data, but I'm not certain that $15/hr would be too expensive for Amazon warehouse labor. Automating those warehouses entirely would either require very expensive, as yet technically infeasible, robots (and the engineering infrastructure to maintain them) capable of adapting to the existing human-centric ergonomics, and/or committing to redesigning all of the facilities around a new automation paradigm. Paying humans more still seems like a better deal for the forseeable future.

Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#115

Post by piva00 »

austincheney wrote: post #97
baby wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it mean these people should “survive” on such a salary? Is that what you are saying?

In short, yes. If a person does not like that amount of money, which is well below a skilled profession, then they should feel sufficiently motivated to devote time to developing a skill. I know that may sound cold, but it is just a reflection of basic economics.

And that is your problem, your basic economics doesn't necessarily need to be the only way that the world works.

Marketable skills should be better paid? Of course. Should it pay 10~15x more to be writing scripts at Google than to be frying burgers at some place? I don't think so.

If you care about people you should care that everyone has a minimum liveable wage, not that some should suffer because they can't/won't learn a high paying skill. What if instead of 10 to 15x a job at Google paid 5x what a burger flipper earns? It's still a quite good salary, incentive enough to not stop people from trying to learn better paying skills and would make the lives of people who aren't at that level a bit more comfortable.

Remember the human.

Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#116

Post by scarface74 »

krapp wrote: post #113
SE4L wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it's a business decision to pay expensive engineering time to automate what can be done by people for much cheaper. If the people become too expensive, the business decision becomes easier. There are places in India where they pay 100 men pennies to dig a trench. Sure, they could buy a machine so 1 person could do the work of 100, but if the machine costs 100k and the guy who is trained to operate it makes 10 an…

I can't back it up with data, but I'm not certain that $15/hr would be too expensive for Amazon warehouse labor. Automating those warehouses entirely would either require very expensive, as yet technically infeasible, robots (and the engineering infrastructure to maintain them) capable of adapting to the existing human-centric ergonomics, and/or committing to redesigning all of the facilities around a new automation…

Have you seen the videos of Kivas at work?

https://youtu.be/cLVCGEmkJs0

With enough money, they could probably reduce the amount of warehouse workers needed.

Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#117

Post by krapp »

scarface74 wrote: post #116
krapp wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't back it up with data, but I'm not certain that $15/hr would be too expensive for Amazon warehouse labor. Automating those warehouses entirely would either require very expensive, as yet technically infeasible, robots (and the engineering infrastructure to maintain them) capable of adapting to the existing human-centric ergonomics, and/or committing to redesigning all of the facilities around a new automation…

Have you seen the videos of Kivas at work? https://youtu.be/cLVCGEmkJs0 With enough money, they could probably reduce the amount of warehouse workers needed.

I work in a warehouse full of them, I see them more often than I see my own family. They do one thing well, but still require human intervention at times and still run into each other now and again.

Other facility jobs, like picking and stowing, run up against vision and fine motor skill problems that turn out to be really difficult for AI and robotics to solve. They'll be automated eventually, but I don't think it will be soon. I might be wrong, though.

Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#118

Post by scarface74 »

rinchik wrote: post #110
SE4L wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Equality of what? Should one of the people who works in their warehouse in North Carolina make equal pay with a software engineer who lives in Seattle?

Yep. That's the ultimate goal of the far left. Pure utopian Communism. Sad part is that they don't even realize it. The equality of outcome controlled by the Government -- to even think about this concept is scary. This shit will def end with totalitarianism.

I consider myself to be a "bleeding heart capitalist". I don't believe that we should be increasing the minimum wage because history shows anytime you interfere with the free market, there are unintended consequences. It's also not the role of private businesses to manage social policy.

On the other hand, I think the richest country in the world shouldn't have people starving on the street and without basic healthcare. We already know how to square that circle.

1. Universal Healthcare that's not tied to the employer.

2. Increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, make more people eligible, and make it easier for people to get it during the year to supplement their wages instead of at tax refund time. why go through the circuitous route of forcing companies to pay above market rates and raising prices on everyone? Just give working people money.

3. Better mass transportation to make getting to a job easier without having to have a car.

4. Subsidize child care. If conservatives truly believe in protecting life, caring about children means caring about the born - not just the unborn.

Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#119

Post by scarface74 »

seattle_spring wrote: post #28
throwaway637h wrote: post #14

That's more than a junior yearly salary for a software engineer with a degree where I'm from though. With higher taxes, higher prices for consumer electronics and much more expensive gasoline.

And, presumably, far lower housing costs and overall CoL.

And probably universal healthcare, and stricter worker protections.

Re: Amazon worker’s median pay in 2017: $28,446

#120

Post by scarface74 »

krapp wrote: post #117
scarface74 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen the videos of Kivas at work? https://youtu.be/cLVCGEmkJs0 With enough money, they could probably reduce the amount of warehouse workers needed.

I work in a warehouse full of them, I see them more often than I see my own family. They do one thing well, but still require human intervention at times and still run into each other now and again. Other facility jobs, like picking and stowing, run up against vision and fine motor skill problems that turn out to be really difficult for AI and robotics to solve. They'll be automated eventually, but I don't think it w…

I have no idea if this is relevant....

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-robots-ikea/fla...

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