Whole Foods workers seek to unionize • Hacker News Board

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#111

Post by cliffordthedog » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:32 AM UTC

notyourwork wrote: post #95

cliffordthedog wrote: post #86

Good timing, last thing Amazon will want right now is a battle with a union. Especially for a company they acquired so recently (shows that things got quickly worse with Amazon in charge). Good luck Whole Foods workers.

I'm not sure this shows things got quickly worse. It may just show Whole Foods employees lost control they used to have but I think you are jumping to conclusions.

Workers had a good relationship with the employer previously. Company gets bought by Amazon, a company with a notorious reputation. Workers decide not long after that they now need a union to protect their interests.

Perception wise, that seems like a direct line to "Amazon is a worse employer".

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#112

Post by anothergoogler » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:33 AM UTC

cedivad wrote: post #85

srtjstjsj wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the new trend in many grocery stores. Someone on HN or Reddit mentioned that grocery charities are actually a tactic to estimate the sign of the derivative of e the customer base's grocery-discretionary income, as a hint of when to raise prices.

HN; the place where people use "sign of the derivative" instead of "trend" or "growth".

I was particularly confused by the typo, "sign of the derivative of e", e being constant.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#113

Post by borski » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:33 AM UTC

biscoe9116 wrote: post #94

imagiko wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't you been pushed about getting an REI membership? I think twice before asking any REI salesman for help, because I know they are going to push me to get a membership. They're doing their job since their incentives are tied to memberships to some degree, but it makes for a poor experience. /edit:I'd rather be asked about a membership once at the cashier's than by every sales staff I talk to during my visit.

I've been shopping at REI for years and have never been asked about membership by the people working the floor. Also if you're shopping at REI without a membership you're doing it wrong. You get a percentage of every purchase back as dividend that you can put towards anything in the store.

They'll actually give it back to you as cash also, though I've never used that option because I always find more things I want/need.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#114

Post by swensel » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:36 AM UTC

DrScump wrote: post #101

srtjstjsj wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the new trend in many grocery stores. Someone on HN or Reddit mentioned that grocery charities are actually a tactic to estimate the sign of the derivative of e the customer base's grocery-discretionary income, as a hint of when to raise prices.

Or simply introduce themselves as the vector for charity, taking corporate credit for the donations of their customers.

This is what I always guessed was the reason.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#115

Post by spython » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:40 AM UTC

notyourwork wrote: post #99

spython wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you replied that you'll donate the money yourself to the charity of your choosing?

To which they replied, "no worries let me know your favorite charity and we'll send it over right away!" LOL

Here the potential employer is clearly looking for an indication of the financial situation of the candidate, to be in the position of power when negotiating the salary. So it would be important to deny this data. A simple "Here's my bank account, I'll donate it myself" should be enough.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#116

Post by cliffordthedog » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:41 AM UTC

s3r3nity wrote: post #15

My concern with this is that this will only accelerate the probability that Amazon Go merges with Whole Foods to have a cashier-free experience. >Shoppers, however, have saved millions as a result of the shake-up. This is why you're going to have a tough time getting sympathy from the public, and why I think (for better or worse) Amazon will win the PR battle. The average person now has access to healthier grocery /…

Amazon will do that the minute the math works out anyway. Encouraging workers to put up with worse and worse conditions out of fear of automation is just a race to the bottom that inevitably ends with automation anyway.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#117

Post by sweettea » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:42 AM UTC

nathansobo wrote: post #68

I miss the old Whole Foods. I feel like the shopping experience has gone downhill in a variety of ways.

Specifically, the fresh selection and quantity has gone down, the per-store unique items have disappeared, and the whole store is draped in Amazon upsells.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#118

Post by cliffordthedog » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:43 AM UTC

opportune wrote: post #10

Marsymars wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my home province, average social worker pay is comparable to average engineer pay.

I bet your home province doesn’t have many engineers

Opposite problem, too many relative to jobs.

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#119

Post by cliffordthedog » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:43 AM UTC

spython wrote: post #115

notyourwork wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To which they replied, "no worries let me know your favorite charity and we'll send it over right away!" LOL

Here the potential employer is clearly looking for an indication of the financial situation of the candidate, to be in the position of power when negotiating the salary. So it would be important to deny this data. A simple "Here's my bank account, I'll donate it myself" should be enough.

They had already rejected me, so who cares.

Though I do appreciate your well cultivated sense of suspicion and cynicism. Keep it up!

Re: Whole Foods workers seek to unionize

#120

Post by perl4ever » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 12:45 AM UTC

lsmarigo wrote: post #73

imagiko wrote: post #38

I have noticed that the cashier's have gotten pushy about asking about a Prime account, and very recently about a charity donation. It's a good way to 'make' people donate when asked upfront. I'm sure the probability of people donating increases. When I denied, I was asked if I'd like to round off my payment and have the balance donated. Honestly, it's very annoying. Whole foods is unfortunately becoming an REI store…

Panda Express kicks this up a notch and has a little bell they ring whenever someone donates their change adding an element of social pressure/shame, super scummy

If someone's going to make me uncomfortable, I'd stop going there. But if I really still wanted to go there, I'd work on a spiel about the charities I like and when they ask me to donate, I'd ask them to donate.