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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

#31

Post by harimau777 »

zpeti wrote: post #19
mping wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A potential solution would be to pass regulations that protect workers. Examples could include minimum wages, profit sharing plans, or mandatory benefits.

That wouldn't necessarily affect consumer behavior but it would affect what strategies corporations are able to use to service that behavior.

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

#32

Post by the-dude »

econcon wrote: post #29
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does that make a difference?

I am replying to >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 manufacturers. Slaving away for pennies and immigrant workers, anything sounds familiar?

I have not the faintest clue where you get your immigrant angle from.

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

#33

Post by harimau777 »

kalleboo wrote: post #25
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…

Is Amazon really that cheap? I live in a different market from the US, but Amazon is usually cheap but rarely the cheapest. But they are a one-stop shop for everything, they already have your credit card number, and you know what you’re getting in terms of shipping speed/return policy. They’re more convenient than cheap.

At least for me the differentiating factor is often shipping cost. When I look at purchasing certain products (e.g. weights for exercise) from other vendors, the shipping costs are often higher than the actual price of the product.

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

#34

Post by dean177 »

deadgunslinger wrote: post #15
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…

> Healthcare professionals are paid much more compared to the average UK citizen. Especially doctors, the average pay (100k pounds)

This is just utter nonsense. The average UK salary is around £30,000. Nurses can expect to earn anywhere between £22,000 and £30,000.

Junior doctors (which a new doctor can expect to be for somewhere around 5 years) starts at £23,000 increasing to somewhere between £30,000 to £45,000. GP's earn around £75,000.

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

#35

Post by nullandvoid »

deadgunslinger wrote: post #15
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…

Doctors != majority of health care workers. They are an exception

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

#36

Post by ido »

econcon wrote: post #29
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does that make a difference?

I am replying to >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 manufacturers. Slaving away for pennies and immigrant workers, anything sounds familiar?

A large portion of every sector in Germany (aside from maybe the parliament) is immigrant workers, because Germany has a lot of immigrants (2nd highest foreign born population in the world, after the US):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_d...

And particularly a lot of immigrants that come to Germany for work as it has a strong job market, relatively liberal immigration policy & a very old native population.

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

#37

Post by econcon »

the-dude wrote: post #32
econcon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am replying to >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 manufacturers. Slaving away for pennies and immigrant workers, anything sounds familiar?

I have not the faintest clue where you get your immigrant angle from.

Germany also imported farm labor from Romania and cramped them in airplanes without any social distancing.

Meanwhile I hear lots of Germans don't really work and still get to live high quality life.

I am here suggesting that Germany only cares about its own citizens as they help Germany enable control over capital and means of production, including technology financing, adminstration at the same time it doesn't care about immigrants as the supply is always there, up for grabs whenever a penny is thrown at them.

I wouldn't be suprized if foreign people usually don't make executives of top companies in Germany.

There is no reason for other EU countries to be coperate with Germany when it is known to treat people of other EU nation poorly.

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

#38

Post by ccthr »

zpeti wrote: post #24
ccthr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it makes no profit yet Bezos is the richest man in the world by some margin? How can you buy into that narrative. The no profit book keeping is just a way to avoid paying tax. As a shareholder I would rather see them pay fairer wages, be taxed appropriately and have a slower rate of growth. If the cost of scaling at the speed they scale comes from unethical business practices then the answer is to scale slower, not e…

I’m not buying into anything but investors are. Amazon isn’t profitable. It’s not to avoid paying tax, it’s to reinvest. And because investors don’t care about profits in amazon it makes bezos the richest man. This doesn’t have anything to do with my initial comment though. Amazon is cheap because it pushes costs down in every area. Including workers. And consumers like that.

My answer to your initial question (what do people think amazon should do?)

Invest less in growth and more in the human capital that is essential to running the business.

Playing by a different set of rules guided by Jeff's meglomania has driven them to the top and that is laudable.

Once you've conquered the world do you still need to keep squashing the people you lead? What is it serving at that point other than pure egotism ?

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

#39

Post by pastacacioepepe »

deadgunslinger wrote: post #15
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…

Yes. Rise all wages to the point where everyone can at least fully support a family with it. You know, like during the good times when capitalism was still generating prosperity beside the usual death and destruction.
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