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

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

#101
post #87
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where you get your information from but it's largely fantasy. Perhaps you should spend some time in Germany getting to know it. Then you might also find the implication that Germans are lazy and getting foreigners to do their work for them laughable.

Here's the technical essay on this: https://www.conradbastable.com/essays/the-germany-shock-the-... If people are against Chinese currency manipulation, they should be against what Germany does.

That article doesn't say what you claim it does. It also covers a lot of stuff that would be no surprise to anyone in the EU (within and outside of Germany), and it's not particularly well put together either. Any article talking about German manufacturing that doesn't examine its Mittelstand in detail isn't worth much. There are tons of other points missing there too. Let's just say it's not great, but it sounds like you have an axe to grind so we should just leave it here.

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

#102
post #30

I am trying to reduce my Amazon-usage to a minimum, which works better and better. Only feature which is left are actually the wishlists to keep track of my own desires and ideas for gifts to others. Anyone knows a good alternative for any kinds of goods, which integrates with all kinds of online shops? I live in Germany.

While certainly less convenient, but what about a real low tech solution:

A notebook.

While certainly not as spiffy it has the added advantage of being completely vendor agnostic.

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

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy from Amazon because they're the cheapest, but because of the convenience and the excellent support. I wouldn't mind at all if they raised all prices 10-20% to pay their workers better.

Likewise, I can't think of a single thing I get from Amazon that I wouldn't be okay with paying 25% more to, say, support their workers and be more sure the stuff wasn't counterfeit etc. Doing this WOULD make it more difficult for Amazon to crush and destroy every possible local store and national chain store that could ever exist, thus making it more possible for other choices to exist out there in the world (or eve…

So then why do you buy from amazon instead of elsewhere?

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

#104

Personnaly, the COVID episode is the final straw. I live in France rural area. Amazon brings huge benefits and comodities there but I can't stand their attitude towards employees anymore.

Shouldn't French Amazon employees be safe due to French labour laws?

Actually most of stories that influenced my decision are from US: employees fired by algorythm, fired because trying to unionize, etc. It seems all of this is impossible in France but still, this is not a culture I want to support.

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

#105

Personnaly, the COVID episode is the final straw. I live in France rural area. Amazon brings huge benefits and comodities there but I can't stand their attitude towards employees anymore.

The base salary in the warehouse is $15 per hour in the US, and similarly higher than average in France.

It's a bit odd that the one retailer than meets the most aggressively demanded Progressive goal, seems to be the target of near-daily attack articles.

It's almost as if there's something else going on with all this anti-Amazon news... isn't there?

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

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't French Amazon employees be safe due to French labour laws?

Actually most of stories that influenced my decision are from US: employees fired by algorythm, fired because trying to unionize, etc. It seems all of this is impossible in France but still, this is not a culture I want to support.

...but what if your impression is just based upon the bubble of news you consume? Isn't it possible you, from France, don't get unbiased news about US companies?

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

#107
post #60

Clickbaity title (and worse than the article headline). Amazon is not cutting pay. It is removing the hazard pay, which was extra on top of the normal wages.

Given the current scenario, isn't all pay hazard pay? Edit: And it's mentioned in the article as well: > The token comes as Amazon announced it would be cutting the $2 per hour wage hike it brought in for staff in mid-March as hazard pay for coming in during the pandemic. The "Hazard Pay" was a pay rise for coming in during the pandemic, which as far as I can see hasn't ended yet. Cutting hazard pay right now, in rea…

> isn't all pay hazard pay?

Not really. Not all jobs are risky. I fail to see how being in a well ventilated warehouse is risky. It's not like they're interacting with customers.

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

#108
post #26
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…

Amazon atleast in India is not the cheapest option. I usually buy stuff from Chinese e-commerce websites where you can find things much cheaper.

Imagine thinking that China is less evil than Amazon.

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

#109
post #19
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.

I agree. I even remember an article about an Amazon warehouse worker that could only afford diapers sold by Amazon because they were the cheapest. The irony.

But like someone else mentioned, there are countries where Amazon has to pay minimum wage and it works just fine. I think we as consumers have the responsibility to vote with our wallet but we as society have responsibility to put boundaries into laws to prevent abuse. So in my view consumers, suppliers and legislators are at fault.

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

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually most of stories that influenced my decision are from US: employees fired by algorythm, fired because trying to unionize, etc. It seems all of this is impossible in France but still, this is not a culture I want to support.

...but what if your impression is just based upon the bubble of news you consume? Isn't it possible you, from France, don't get unbiased news about US companies?

I consume a lot of news from US and France on a quite large political spectrum, so I think the bias is quite reduced. I also discussed with an Amazon french warehouse manager. My decision is cold and well thought. Btw I would love to be wrong because I will miss their services.
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