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Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

businessinsider.com

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Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#11

Post by aldkj32 »

zpeti wrote: post #7

I’m genuinely interested in what people who think of amazon as an evil company think it should do. It hardly ever makes a profit. Any profit it makes is from AWS usually. It is popular because it’s so cheap, which is why people buy there. So really the solutions can only be: 1. Raise prices and consumers suffer 2. Keep wages low and workers suffer 3. Stop existing. I wonder how many people who complain about amazons…

if you reinvest every penny you do not make a profit, but you still grows your business...

that still should not stop you to pay a livable wage and provide fair conditions to your employees

amazon is far to close a monopoly anyway :/

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#12

Post by mping »

zpeti wrote: post #7

I’m genuinely interested in what people who think of amazon as an evil company think it should do. It hardly ever makes a profit. Any profit it makes is from AWS usually. It is popular because it’s so cheap, which is why people buy there. So really the solutions can only be: 1. Raise prices and consumers suffer 2. Keep wages low and workers suffer 3. Stop existing. I wonder how many people who complain about amazons…

Consumers suffer because they won't buy that 50in tv? Really, any business that exploits workers should not exist. If some goods are just too expensive then people should really learn to live without them. I don't mind "suffering" as a consumer if what I pay reflects the real costs of production. It's called honesty.

The problem is that any company as big as Amazon is a billion pound train moving at high speed, it can't make turns that fast. So while I would like for them to try harder I don't expect it to happen.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#13

Post by mjmasn »

Aside from the general tone-deafness of this move, shouldn't the management at the warehouses be the ones wearing the thank you t-shirts? To you know, thank the workers...

I'm sure those workers would probably prefer and deserve a bonus and a heartfelt individual thank you though.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#15

Post by deadgunslinger »

partyboat1586 wrote: post #3

Reminds me of the weekly clapping for the NHS here in the UK when what they really need is a pay rise and PPE supplies. Sometimes thank you is not enough. In the case of Amazon this seems much more sinister and cult like. I struggle to believe that any of the warehouse workers buy into it.

Do you believe permanently raising wages to offset black swan events such as the COVID-19 epidemic is a wise move? What about the next black swan event? Are they going to be paid enough then or they'll need a pay rise again?

Healthcare professionals are paid much more compared to the average UK citizen. Especially doctors, the average pay (100k pounds) is in the 2% of the earners. Emigrant doctors couldn't even dream of finding comparable wages in free market scenarios in their own countries and come to the UK.

I think the best we could do collectively is to pay out generous bonuses to frontline nurses for the duration of the pandemic.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#16

Post by jahaja »

zpeti wrote: post #7

I’m genuinely interested in what people who think of amazon as an evil company think it should do. It hardly ever makes a profit. Any profit it makes is from AWS usually. It is popular because it’s so cheap, which is why people buy there. So really the solutions can only be: 1. Raise prices and consumers suffer 2. Keep wages low and workers suffer 3. Stop existing. I wonder how many people who complain about amazons…

If high labour costs would be so detrimental to society then we Scandinavians would still be boarding those transatlantic steamers. But we aren't.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#18

Post by pwdisswordfish2 »

pwdisswordfish2 wrote: post #5

I’ve said it before and I won’t tire of saying it: »Gut, das ist der Pfennig! Und wo ist die Mark?« https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ihb2XqEsa4g The same bullshit is happening everywhere. In the German Bundestag MPs gave standing ovations for care workers. Meanwhile those continue to slave away for pennies, now more precariously than ever, while the next items on the MPs agenda are bailouts for airlines and fucking car ma…

Check out this CNBC interview with one of the warehouse organisers who was fired. (Which led to Tim Bray quitting.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HUGc7R8hw

At one point it almost seems like he is suggesting to this poor guy that it is unreasonable for him to protest for better working conditions because "people like me" need to be able to place orders on Amazon while in lockdown. Imagine the difference in salary between the guy working for CNBC and the guy working in the Amazon warehouse. Feels as if we are watching some dystopian fantasy film like Hunger Games.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#19

Post by zpeti »

mping wrote: post #12
zpeti wrote: post #7

I’m genuinely interested in what people who think of amazon as an evil company think it should do. It hardly ever makes a profit. Any profit it makes is from AWS usually. It is popular because it’s so cheap, which is why people buy there. So really the solutions can only be: 1. Raise prices and consumers suffer 2. Keep wages low and workers suffer 3. Stop existing. I wonder how many people who complain about amazons…

Consumers suffer because they won't buy that 50in tv? Really, any business that exploits workers should not exist. If some goods are just too expensive then people should really learn to live without them. I don't mind "suffering" as a consumer if what I pay reflects the real costs of production. It's called honesty. The problem is that any company as big as Amazon is a billion pound train moving at high speed, it ca…

That might well be, but your view of how consumers should behave is not what happens in the real world. A lot of things in the world should be some way you imagine but they’re not.

Otherwise amazon (or Walmart) wouldn’t exist, because everyone would support their local store. But they don’t. Prices matter.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#20

Post by econcon »

pwdisswordfish2 wrote: post #5

I’ve said it before and I won’t tire of saying it: »Gut, das ist der Pfennig! Und wo ist die Mark?« https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ihb2XqEsa4g The same bullshit is happening everywhere. In the German Bundestag MPs gave standing ovations for care workers. Meanwhile those continue to slave away for pennies, now more precariously than ever, while the next items on the MPs agenda are bailouts for airlines and fucking car ma…

How many Germans actually work in healthcare? Doesn't healthcare in Germany constitute very large portion of immigrants workers?
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