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Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

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Re: Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

#141

Post by muse900 »

WalterBright wrote: post #67
tlrobinson wrote: post #60

One of the more worrying things to me is how this pandemic (and/or our response to it) will disproportionately affect small businesses and individuals. As Amazon hires 100k workers how many jobs are being lost by small businesses failing?

Marginal businesses of any size are going to fail, and the less marginal will become marginal. Larger businesses have a proportionately larger need for money to sustain themselves. Big business doesn't mean rich business. Look what's happening to the airlines.

That's the principle, but it doesn't reflect to the reality around us, or at least my reality.

I am in the tourism industry, owning a small-medium hotel.

If I stop paying any loans and generally I am left out of cash-flow I am pretty much screwed for the next few years, if not closing down.

I know though a few people around my area with massive resorts and a debt over 100mil that have already stopped paying quite a few loans themselvs and they are getting away with a slap on their wrist. The gov gets involved cause the debt is enough to damage a bank, and the people that are going to be left without a job are enough to cause a mini crisis. Then the bank itself... well for them its not just about ceasing the asset as its gonna be a hard thing to sell or manage.

Meanwhile the owners are taking out massive salaries + bonuses for their personal accounts and don't care about their balance sheet being a mess and their debts growing.

Re: Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

#142

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

reaperducer wrote: post #91
tlrobinson wrote: post #60

One of the more worrying things to me is how this pandemic (and/or our response to it) will disproportionately affect small businesses and individuals. As Amazon hires 100k workers how many jobs are being lost by small businesses failing?

At least the airlines will get another bailout, after selfishly spending billions on stock buybacks while shrinking seats and hiking fees. Meanwhile, Joe Average, who ended up running a food truck when Wells Fargo "right sized" him during the last recession, will find a comfortable slab of concrete upon which to rest his head, under the viaduct.

Look, I complain about wealth inequality more than anyone I know.

Stock buybacks had A LOT of problems people don't discuss.

But this isn't really what ruined the airlines.

UAL -- the hardest hit and worst buyback offender -- bought back $1.2Bn in 2015, $2Bn in 2016, $3Bn in 2017, $1.2Bn in 2018, and $3Bn in 2019.

That's a total of $10.4Bn. To my knowledge, less than 4% of that was on borrowed money.

They returned roughly ~95% of free cashflow to investors mostly through buybacks instead of dividends.

UAL's Cash on Hand increased 25% in 2019 to $4.9Bn.

Even if they had that $10.4Bn, they could not get through Coronavirus. Airlines have HIGHLY volatile margins on INSANE amounts of revenue. None of them could withstand a 70% decrease in air traffic for a year.

Maybe they're all terribly run. I dunno. They were pretty bad buyback offenders, but far from the worst. And buybacks are not what ruined them.

Most companies keep less than 10% of Op Ex in cash on hand. UAL's Op Ex is about $38Bn/year. A lot of people think it's healthy for a business to have 25-50% of Op Ex in cash. For UAL, that would've been $9.5-$19Bn.

They could've been in that range if they didn't issue any dividends or buybacks since 2014. But they still wouldn't be able to make it through this.

And, no, I'm not saying that they should've done buybacks at the rate they did (or at all). I'm just saying this isn't what ruined them, and they are far from the worst offenders here. They're just the hardest hit.

Edit:

Curious if anyone familiar with the industry can comment:

How much of Airlines' Op Ex is fixed? How much can they realistically cut? I don't know enough about how this "mandatory" flight schedule works. How many flights do they need to keep flying to keep their gates?

Re: Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

#143

Post by akiselev »

umeshunni wrote: post #126
majormajor wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need taxes on vacancies. Encourage people to let property go to people who can put it to some use. Prevent blight and crime, etc, too.

Ah yes, the California solution to everything - tax it.

smh California has had a rigid cap on property taxes since like the late 70s. That decision is largely why the rest of California's taxes are so high.

Re: Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

#145

Post by y10 »

ezioamf wrote: post #144

At some point even Amazon workers will have to stop working to contain the virus. How Amazon if going to provide safety to workers when even doctors with all protection still gets the virus?

People who get the virus and recover will be able to go back to work without risk of being infected.

Re: Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

#146

Post by oarabbus_ »

parhamn wrote: post #117
reaperducer wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least the airlines will get another bailout, after selfishly spending billions on stock buybacks while shrinking seats and hiking fees. Meanwhile, Joe Average, who ended up running a food truck when Wells Fargo "right sized" him during the last recession, will find a comfortable slab of concrete upon which to rest his head, under the viaduct.

> after selfishly spending billions on stock buybacks I've been seeing this on twitter a lot. Is there some context you can provide for why these particular repurchases were in bad taste, given no awareness of the upcoming pandemic. I am assuming you don't view repurchases as 'selfish' generally.

It is prudent for an individual to have a rainy day fund for emergencies.

It is also prudent for a corporation to have a rainy day fund for unpredictable events like an upcoming pandemic.

An individual who didn't properly save can go bankrupt in a time of emergency. Likewise, a company which didn't properly save should also go bankrupt in a time of emergency. Look at Apple or Berkshire Hathaway. Both have a massive safety net in the form of liquid cash for hard times.

Re: Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

#147

Post by reaperducer »

_jal wrote: post #128
reaperducer wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like American Airlines that had a profit of $7.6 billion in 2015, and didn't save dollar one for a rainy day? Instead, it bought back $15 billion worth of stock over six years while raising fees and shrinking seats? “I don’t think we’re ever going to lose money again,” -Doug Parker, American Airlines CEO, 2017. Let 'em fail.

Letting them all fail would do more harm to others than warranted. But letting the weakest one fail as a warning to the others that the bailouts are over and perhaps they should learn to save against rainy days isn't the worst idea.

Letting them all fail would do more harm to others than warranted.

"Too big to fail?" We fell for that once before.

Re: Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

#148

Post by nixpulvis »

dmd wrote: post #125
nixpulvis wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like Mr Evil. Prolly has a base on the dark side of the moon.

Fortunately, the new moon is just a week away, at which point the "dark side" of the moon will be facing Earth and we'll have a clear view of his base.

I thought the new moon was a new moon each time!?

Re: Amazon to hire 100k warehouse and delivery workers

#150

Post by robocat »

allovernow wrote: post #105
stevenwoo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paranoid thought - what if it's on plastic or exposed steel on something inside the package (like the wrapping on a box or an ladle that doesn't come fully enclosed in a box), you need to wait three days or so.

I have an old Windex spray bottle that ive filled with rubbing alcohol and I've been blasting everything with extreme paranoia. Honestly statistically speaking in most areas out chances of coming into contact with the virus are still quite low. There's 300MM+ people here and even if 1MM are infected, those are good odds.

> those are good odds

You are presuming that you are meeting people at random - however you are most likely to meet people with a high number of social interactions, and they are far more likely to catch the virus.

Depending on the social graph, your chances vary, but the chance will clearly be far worse than a crude estimate.

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