Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees • Hacker News Board

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

#631

Post by ApolloFortyNine » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:28 PM UTC

hannasanarion wrote: post #606

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole reason why warehouse workers are paid so little is because just about anyone can be trained to do it. It's simple economics. You are kind of right about subsidizing workers, but that's more of the government's fault for how our social services benefits work. It's not Amazon's fault the going rate for labor is below the rate that the government will provide benefits for.

Since when is "economical" equivalent to "good"? The whole reason children work in coal mines is that others can't fit down the holes, it's simple economics. The reason black slaves work the fields is because white folks don't want to do the work for the going rate, it's simple economics. Economic forces are not guaranteed to produce a just society.

Did I say economical meant good? No, I said it's up to the government to change the requirements if it's decided that a certain pay is required to survive, and market forces won't lead to that amount.

Your other two examples are quite the jump though, and not really worth commenting on.

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

#632

Post by sib » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:30 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #409

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…

Amazon knows most of that $15/hour will be paid into Amazon - regardless of employer - as they have 51% of American commerce. They're turning America into a huge company town.

They don't have anywhere near close to 51% of American commerce.

* Total US Retail sales in 2018: ~$5.4 Trillion

* Amazon trailing 12 months revenue as of June 30, 2018: $208B.

This is a little less than 4% (and that's assuming all Amazon revenue is US-based and retail sales, rather than AWS or other...)

You may be thinking of share of growth of US eCommerce.

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

#633

Post by i_cant_speel » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:32 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #113

i_cant_speel wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here you go. I couldn't find anything that even registers in comparison to Amazon aside from Walmart. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...

That makes a lot of sense - there aren't that many companies that "even register in comparison to Amazon". On top of that, most of the other world's-largest companies to compare against aren't as labor-dependent. (Meijer is a regional chain. Sears is nearly out-of-business. Using them as examples would fall flat.)

I didn't realize Meijer was regional. And I thought Sears would be relevant since this is over the last five years (I guess I'm not sure how long they have been on the cusp of dying). For some reason I was struggling to come up with other chains on the spot, but obviously anyone clicking on the link is free to add their own.

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

#634

Post by skrebbel » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:33 PM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #588

skrebbel wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you comparing 12 weeks with the entire 2017 revenue? You'd have a better argument that this is peanuts for them if you'd make a fair and clear comparison.

> Why are you comparing 12 weeks with the entire 2017 revenue? They aren't. They're comparing to revenue per hour. It doesn't matter what period of time you calculate revenue per hour with, you always get the same number.

They're comparing 12 weeks of warehouse work to revenue per hour. Why twelve weeks? It still makes no sense.

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

#635

Post by i_cant_speel » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:34 PM UTC

liveoneggs wrote: post #214

i_cant_speel wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why any company treats any of their employees well. Google isn't giving their employees all these perks out of the goodness of their heart. They give them to attract the best talent to make the most money. Amazon is doing the same thing.

does google employ or contract-out many lower-paid employees?

I'm not sure but I don't see the relevance of that. I was simply pointing out that the incentives for both companies are the same, so Amazon shouldn't be bashed for this in particular.

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

#636

Post by Scarbutt » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:36 PM UTC

What happens or what are they going to do with those that are already earning $15/h?

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

#637

Post by behringer » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:40 PM UTC

genericone wrote: post #327

I suppose there has been some 'breakthrough' in their warehouse automation stack? I suppose in the rest of the USA a doubling of wages will definitely get them through an awkward longshoreman period, "well I'm being paid more unexpectedly, I suppose I can't complain about the robots". Once the robots are well established in operations, they can start to cut labor back some more.

Robots should be replacing workers. If a robot can replace you then the work you could be better spent on something else.

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

#638

Post by ams6110 » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:40 PM UTC

austenallred wrote: post #179

nebulous1 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that due to their currently loss-making Amazon Studios though?

It’s due to the fact that any ounce of profit they would have they instead re-invest into the business. Which, by the way, is (part of) why they’re so dominant.

Agree, and in any other situation we'd be praising this. They're investing in the future, looking beyond the next quarter, etc.

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

#639

Post by drawkbox » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:41 PM UTC

Very smart. Amazon and Bezos is one of, if not the, best at reinvesting profits back into the company, mostly for research and development or new products. Increasing employees pay can also boost the machine and the product which many companies have forgotten, wage increases are pro-growth which increase consumer power.

Many Amazon employees will probably buy more from Amazon and comparatively Amazon looks good to workers/customers/competitors which may end up in higher sales, all that can be reinvested back into the product.

Amazon is hard to beat with product strategy.

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

#640

Post by behringer » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 6:42 PM UTC

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #347

specialp wrote: post #245

Median amazon warehouse employee pay is 24k a year. Amazon has around 300k warehouse employees. Jeff Bezos's wealth alone is equivalent to all 300k of them working 22 years at their current rate.

Why are warehouse workers entitled to anywhere near the share the creator and owner makes?

I think they're entitled to a basic livable wage so that the federal government doesn't have to give them food stamps and rent discounts. The government's benefits to amazon employees is more or less a government subsidy for Jeff Bezos.