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Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

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Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#521

Post by wpietri »

ptbello wrote: post #191

Call me cynical, but it could also be that AMZN will be automating all those lower paid jobs - as in: soon they won't even need 7.25$/H employees because they'll have machines. In this scenario, 15$/H would just be their current price point for the following tier of bottom of the chain not-yet-automated tasks.

Which is fine by me. We've been automating jobs out of existence since the industrial revolution, and should continue to do so. There are very few people doing a job now that was a job in 1750, but there's still plenty for people to do. That's because we keep turning boring, lower-value work over to machines and finding more interesting, higher-value work for people to do.

This does produce temporary dislocation. Once all the elevators were automated, elevator operators were all out of a job. [1] But I don't think that's an argument against automation. I think it's an argument for a strong safety net and generous retraining programs.

[1] Yes, this was once a job. There are even a few left: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/insider/manual-elevators-...

Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#522

Post by stevespang »

Who is likely Amazon's largest competitor ? Is it Walmart who only agreed to raise minimum hourly for workers to $11 per hour previously ? The world is a giant poker game and everything Bezos does is carefully calculated. If he and his staff believe Amazon is or can be a more efficient workplace and can pressure his rivals (or Gov't intervention forces $15 per hour minimum) to equal his $15 an hour - - - - he can likely weaken their businesses who are not ready or perhaps cannot compete at $15 per hr. minimum.

Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#523

Post by TheKarateKid »

mc32 wrote: post #321
pkulak wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, does the top comment always have to be cynical? This is exactly what everyone wanted Amazon to do. Maybe it's time to suck it up and give praise where praise is due? There are also benefits to paying more salary than your competitors (no hiring shortages, best employees, low turnover, etc), so I'm not going to blindly accept that it's now in Amazon's interest to drag the rest of the industry along with them. But…

You can both be right. It’s great that they made this move after much criticism, prodding and foot dragging, but... this reaction can also be calculated so that not only they have to carry this load alone but spread it to competitors. In other words AMZN is willing to do it, but they don’t want to be the only ones “burdened” unlike Costco who did it out of concern and perhaps principle (and competitive advantage by e…

Exactly this, and it's probably Amazon's real motive.

They did the exact same thing with sales taxes for online purchases: When they were up-and-coming they fought it. Once they had warehouses in the states where most of their business comes from, they supported legislation to force online sales tax since they had to do it already anyway.

Like others said though, at least this move will benefit workers.

Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#524

Post by dogma1138 »

s3nnyy wrote: post #462
dogma1138 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only Switzerland has a higher minimum wage than 15$ an hour in Europe.

We don't have a minimum wage, the Swiss voted against it in 2014 (1), but yes, most people are paid more than CHF/$20. (1) https://www.bbc.com/news/business-27459178

Officially not but unskilled workers are paid around 2500 francs on average.

For the rest of Europe $15 an hour is what many people would like to have while working minimum wage even in developed nations like France and Germany.

Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#525

Post by crdoconnor »

komali2 wrote: post #343
mikybee93 wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's silly. You could also say that humans don't really deserve praise since our motives are ultimately guided by our self interest. We only do things to make ourselves feel good, or make ourselves look better. I think that companies have many paths towards self preservation, and that choosing the paths that lead to a better world deserve praise regardless of motive.

I disagree there, because all throughout history are examples of genuine heroes who stood to benefit not at all from their actions. Vince Coleman[0] comes to mind. Humans can be motivated by many things, profit and looking good included. I'm vaguely aware of a philosophical branch that postulates that all actions are selfish, but that ain't science and so I disagree. People will sacrifice their pyramid of needs towar…

>On that note, in this case Amazon obviously is shedding profit for a greater good here

They're obviously caving into pressure - from unions, social activists and Bernie Sanders.

>especially if they actually lobby

Which they'll do especially because they don't want to be put at a competitive disadvantage by companies who pay minimum wage.

Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#526

Post by monktastic1 »

superflyguy wrote: post #342
pkulak wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, does the top comment always have to be cynical? This is exactly what everyone wanted Amazon to do. Maybe it's time to suck it up and give praise where praise is due? There are also benefits to paying more salary than your competitors (no hiring shortages, best employees, low turnover, etc), so I'm not going to blindly accept that it's now in Amazon's interest to drag the rest of the industry along with them. But…

"Wow, does the top comment always have to be cynical?" The top comment is the most popular one.

Right, so put another way: "wow, why is cynicism so popular on HN?"

Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#528

Post by refurb »

throwaway080383 wrote: post #418
refurb wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course a minimum wage increase pushes all wages up. If you were working at Amazon for $15/hr before this change and the other guy was working at $12/hr, but now makes $15/hr, wouldn't you want a raise?

I'm saying it will not push my wages up. And that's a good thing.

It might not push your wage up by much, but it does create upward pressure on wages in general.

Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#529

Post by mbesto »

gowld wrote: post #366
mbesto wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the process, they're actually paying real people more money Except the OP was talking specifically about the company's plan to lobby. Yes, they're actually paying people more money, but if everyone has that same amount of money then you get wage push inflation. Then everyone loses. This is also why minimum wage discussions always spiral out of control...there really is no good long term solution for setting mini…

That's a radical theory; can you give a more detailed explanation? Mainstream economists and political theorists believe that raising minimum wage reduces wealth inequality which creates economic and political stability, which reduces the risk of things like crime, Great Depression, and violent revolution. Even if minimum wage growth hits its practical max and creates inflation, (1) that's easy enough to detect and c…

> reduces wealth inequality which creates economic and political stability

> which reduces the risk of things like crime, Great Depression, and violent revolution.

Which has nothing to do with the point I made...

> (1) that's easy enough to detect and correct, (2) it's not a big deal if all the numbers go up together

Inflation is easy to detect and correct? Japan would like to have a word with you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decade_(Japan)

Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

#530

Post by nbardy »

swebs wrote: post #17

>In addition, the company also pledges its public policy team will lobby for an increase to the federal minimum wage from $7.25 — it doesn’t identify a specific wage that it’s targeting, but instead says, “We believe $7.25 is too low. We would look to Congress to decide the parameters of a new, higher federal minimum wage.” I'm going to take a wild guess and assume it will be $15/hour. That way they'll get to look pr…

Raising the minimum wage to what they know they can afford looks more like an anti competitive manuever than a PR move. That would be a massive strain on most large retail chains.
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