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Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

businessinsider.com

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Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#451

Post by adventured »

stcredzero wrote: post #169
sonnyblarney wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, it's not quite 'economy 101'. Or rather, 'economy 101' is that anyone with enough leverage, will use monopoly powers in one area, to take control of an adjacent economy. American Oil empires were not built on some new amazing way to get at oil, it was because some had control of the railroads, and charged their competitors a little more to transport therefore putting them out of business (through aggressi…

As it turns out, poverty doesn't cause crime. It's relative poverty that causes crime. Basically, if people are low down enough on the dominance hierarchy, they feel like they have no hope of getting anywhere, then why shouldn't they start acting up? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3XYHPAwBzE (On the other hand, in societies where everyone is poor, there can be peace.)

If you're in a society where everyone is poor, there is not peace, there's extreme violence being applied by a government that is responsible for everyone being poor (it's not just a subtle thing for everyone to be poor, that requires an incredible amount of persistent violence and rights denial by a central authority with overwhelming power). You're just swapping one type of violence out for another.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#452

Post by adrianN »

tormeh wrote: post #450
mschuster91 wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No amount of tech worker foot traffic is going to clean up an area if the government isn't willing to police it. And policing will just drive the problem somewhere else. What America desperately needs is a new approach to a lot of issues that goes way beyond ever more police, courts and jails: - drugs and addictions (now that enough white middle class people suffer from heroin or worse, something hopefully will be…

What's worse than heroin? I thought it was the most addictive thing we knew.

Fentanyl

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#453

Post by adventured »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #413
michaelkeenan wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like the Golden Gate Restaurant Association endorsed it[0]. I couldn't find a list of which restaurants are members of the GGRA, but the board of directors[1] includes people from the Bluestem Brasserie, San Francisco Soup Company, Ladle and Leaf, Extreme Pizza, Rose's Cafe, Wayfare Tavern, Souvla, Canela, Palm House, The Dorian, and Perry's. [0] https://sf.eater.com/2018/7/25/17614570/san-francisco-corpor..…

This is such a shitty move, FAANG should buy all of them, and then just shut them down for good.

No, they should react much worse than that. If you buy the businesses out, you're handing them a financial reward for their obnoxious regulatory behavior.

All of the tech workers should boycott the restaurants involved in this political move. Tech workers in the bay area control most of the volume of high-end consumer spending (ie a lot of workers making a lot of money). It would decimate the targeted restaurants instantly.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#454

Post by JetSpiegel »

Zak wrote: post #448
sAbakumoff wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's not about the money. It's about slavery. Tech giants want their workers to spend as much time as possible near their working places. Even during their lunch time when people are supposed to get some rest from their jobs, walk to the nearby restaurant, maybe meet some new people instead of those faces they see every f'ng day. NO! Facebook, etc. don't allow any distraction. They wrap slavery in shiny candies…

I've read a number of definitions of slavery coming from a variety of political perspectives. Some go so far as to term hiring anyone who isn't independently wealthy to work for wages "slavery". None of them included giving employees perks in the hope that it will increase their productivity.

> giving employees perks in the hope that it will increase their productivity

By "their", you mean the company? Because employees receive the same salary no matter their productivity.

Slavers also fed their slaves, property requires upkeep costs.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#455

Post by sAbakumoff »

Zak wrote: post #448
sAbakumoff wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's not about the money. It's about slavery. Tech giants want their workers to spend as much time as possible near their working places. Even during their lunch time when people are supposed to get some rest from their jobs, walk to the nearby restaurant, maybe meet some new people instead of those faces they see every f'ng day. NO! Facebook, etc. don't allow any distraction. They wrap slavery in shiny candies…

I've read a number of definitions of slavery coming from a variety of political perspectives. Some go so far as to term hiring anyone who isn't independently wealthy to work for wages "slavery". None of them included giving employees perks in the hope that it will increase their productivity.

They definitely want to increase your productivity, you are right. Your productivity drives their revenue forward. They are willing to contribute small amount of that revenue for giving you free food. But do you really want to be like that? Work harder for free food?

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#456

Post by JetSpiegel »

dantheman wrote: post #437
zerr wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can split the work and do the rest next day, there is no rush, really.

There is rush. Tell that to people who die because medical technology is delayed years. Or companies that fail or never materialize because the products take too long to produce and are too expensive. Tell that to the farmer who's crops go bad. Not everything is the same.

FAANG companies don't do any of those things.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#457

Post by JetSpiegel »

Johnny555 wrote: post #250
FLUX-YOU wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Cool, so start-ups lose a potential hiring perk to the incumbents. They could just do something similar to what colleges do: - increase salaries just a bit - but the increased salary goes to a food card - employees can't easily turn this into cash - you swipe it and "pay" - the company is essentially paying for the employee's food Money changes hands, but no one is at a net loss than what a free food perk would cost…

Would this card be used at the company cafeteria, or at local restaurants? If it's the former, then I think it's still "free food". If it's the latter, then it removes much of the benefit of the company providing the meal -- keeping employees on-campus and near their desks longer. I like my company's free food since it's easy to walk down the hall and eat a quick lunch between meetings, no need to take an hour to hea…

Convenient for the company.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#458

Post by pas »

adventured wrote: post #451
stcredzero wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As it turns out, poverty doesn't cause crime. It's relative poverty that causes crime. Basically, if people are low down enough on the dominance hierarchy, they feel like they have no hope of getting anywhere, then why shouldn't they start acting up? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3XYHPAwBzE (On the other hand, in societies where everyone is poor, there can be peace.)

If you're in a society where everyone is poor, there is not peace, there's extreme violence being applied by a government that is responsible for everyone being poor (it's not just a subtle thing for everyone to be poor, that requires an incredible amount of persistent violence and rights denial by a central authority with overwhelming power). You're just swapping one type of violence out for another.

There's no need for a central power for that.

Tribes constantly warred with each other, because they saw that as a good way to get resources.

Of course, during the middle ages it was feudalism, which was not centralized at all, it was stratified. Classes, classes, classes. Haves and have not-s. The haves of course arranged things in a way to keep what they have, so they come up with rights for themselves, which were very much not egalitarian ones.

And of course there's the real centralized one-party autocratic setup, where instead of noble houses openly competing with each other, people just play the subtle game of extort those who are under you, which makes inequality even worse.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#459

Post by FroshKiller »

HenryBemis wrote: post #449
spike021 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure where you're getting those numbers in your first paragraph (other than the minimum wage increases). I live and work in the downtown part of San Jose, and on some days of the week work in downtown SF (SoMa near Caltrain). I rarely spend $12-15 (more so in SJ but also in SF). Usually the significant cost is adding a soft drink of some sort (soda, juice, tea, etc.) because I'm finding restaurants are increasing…

> because I'm finding restaurants are increasing the price of those for whatever reason ($2.50 at some). Soft drinks are easy money. Receive, unpack, refrigerate,sell. A soft drink that costs $0.10 to buy in a store and sells for $2.5. That's a 2500% profit margin. If the delivery system is not a bottled/canned productbut comes in a keg, and can deliver 50 litres instead of 330ml then the margin is higher. Of course…

It's a 96% profit margin. With a price of $2.50 and a cost of $0.10, the profit is $2.40. Thus the margin is 2.4/2.5, or 0.96.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#460

Post by ido »

Zak wrote: post #445
adrianN wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not an inherent problem of public transit. It's just a symptom of failing to take care of poor people in your society. Try taking public transit in a civilized country like Germany or Japan.

I have, in fact witnessed someone defecating beside an U-bahn track in Germany. It may be less common, but it still happens.

there are untreated mentally ill people everywhere, just like there is poverty and corruption everywhere. It's a matter of scale & proportion.
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