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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

#491

Post by mrep »

DeepYogurt wrote: post #131
justinzollars wrote: post #114

I'm sorry but this is so f*cking stupid. As a Bay Area resident my priorities are the cost of housing, cleaning our dirty streets and alleviating traffic congestion. This is an example of progressivism gone awry. Solving the basics is incredibly important. Our quality of life is in decline (in the bay area) and this is the best our politicians can do? I'm enraged.

If all tech workers went out for lunch every day that would be a huge boon to the local low skill labor market.

Except not everyone would. I ate out like once a month at my old company that didn't provide food and now eat breakfast and lunch everyday at my new office that does. If free food is banned, a lot of people will be like me would prepare their own food decreasing the overall demand for workers to make food.

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

#492

Post by jessaustin »

nostrademons wrote: post #341
jessaustin wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If zoning weren't legal, lots of things would change. Mostly for the better, but perhaps not entirely. There would be a lot more pedestrians and cyclists, and a lot fewer automobiles, in most urban areas. On the other hand you might live closer to a tavern. I lived in Denver for a few years; it's not so bad to live close to taverns.

There's actually a real example of this, and it basically shows the opposite of your point. The city of Houston has no zoning laws - you are free to build wherever, whatever, occupied by whomever, subject only to market forces and contracts. The result has been a sprawling, car-driven metropolis where to get anywhere, you need at least a 20-minute drive in a car. My sister lives in a development of over 10,000 people…

Houston has some problems. Would zoning have prevented the subdivisions inside the reservoirs? When they interviewed the county officials who should have enforced the admittedly rudimentary requirements Houston does have, they claimed not to know about the reservoirs. I sort of blame CoE, for not buying up the development rights for the farmland they condemned to flood. As usual with CoE (or USA military in general?), everyone would have been better off if they hadn't done anything.

Most of what you write here seems to confirm my point, with the exception of the zero commercial in your sister's development. Should we assume there is some sort of contract or HOA enforcing that? If so, I guess that isn't zoning, but it acts in largely the same way, doesn't it? Also, look at any other metropolis in Houston's timezone, and you'll find identical suburban situations. So maybe we can't blame the lack of zoning here? As I'm sure you're aware, in many situations zoning has been blamed for unmixed development.

It's possible that Houston might do some sort of BRT someday, which would help a great deal with commute times. BRT could even use some of those horrible un-American private roads. Already, the commutes you describe are better than those in lots of cities with extensive public transit.

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

#493

Post by BurningFrog »

sAbakumoff wrote: post #439
BurningFrog wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The benefit of a company cafeteria is mostly that you don't lose half an hour walking to a restaurant, waiting in line, ordering etc. It's not about the money.

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…

What words would you have left if you ever encountered real slavery?

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

#494

Post by noarchy »

gamblor956 wrote: post #324
noarchy wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>incentivizing behavior that's good for the community and disincentivizing behavior that isn't. Or what this very small minority thinks is good for the community, and forcing it on everyone else. That's how it goes with all government decisions, of course.

In this case, the minority is the many millions of people in the Bay Area that don't work in tech...

>In this case, the minority is the many millions of people in the Bay Area that don't work in tech...

Unless I'm quite mistaken (the article leads me to think otherwise), it isn't them making this decision.

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

#496

Post by hueving »

sAbakumoff wrote: post #484
Zak wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the purpose of free food is to incentivize employees to work harder . It's to let employees have lunch in the office without having to leave. As mentioned several times in the comments here, employees at companies that provide this option tend to like it.

it is to make employees have lunch in the office without letting them leave.

None of these tech companies make anyone eat the lunch and they certainly let employees leave. Do some research before posting.

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

#497

Post by deadmetheny »

pascalxus wrote: post #168
DeepYogurt wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all tech workers went out for lunch every day that would be a huge boon to the local low skill labor market.

are you kidding me? There's already enormous demand for unskilled labor. Every single cafe and restaurant i encounter here in the bay area has positions open in the kitchen, dishwasher and waiters. One restaurant had 9+ positions open!

And getting one of those jobs means fuck-all when tech workers have you priced out of living withing any sort of reasonable commute to your low-wage service industry job.

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

#498

Post by hueving »

JetSpiegel wrote: post #462
munificent wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they tried to take the cafes away from existing tech employees, they would have a riot on their hands. Googlers and Facebookers would burn the city to the ground. It is an intensely beloved part of the job.

If those employees can act in concert like you suggest, they could form an union.

Why do you think that's something any of those employees desire? They make significantly more money, have more benefits, and likely work fewer hours than any union employees in the US. Additionally, unions in the US tend to base pay on seniority rather than any kind of merit, which is a huge turn-off for ambitious people.

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

#499

Post by jobigoud »

s73v3r_ wrote: post #330
ghein wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's taxable in the US as well. There have been occasional attempts to enforce the law - IRS recently made noises in 2014/15. The challenge is that it's taxable to the employees but hard to track and prove, it's for relatively little money per employee, and the firms argue that it's for their benefit to secure information/improve productivity/build cohesion... Google can and will fight far harder than the IRS is will…

How is it hard to prove? These companies offering free food is very well known. It's not like the food is in a back alley behind a heavy door you have to knock on and say, "Walt sent me".

I think he means it's hard to prove at an individual employee level, whether they get their food from here or not.

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

#500

Post by s73v3r_ »

briandear wrote: post #390
s73v3r_ wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. I can tell you that most minimum wage workers are working far, far, far harder than most of the people in this board, myself included.

How much revenue is a minimum wage worker generating? There is your answer.

The answer to that is it doesn't matter.
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