Earlier quoted context omitted.
3 more anecdotes isn't going to make the data any better :)
It makes 3 points better. Just needs a few thousand more!
Actually, more noise makes the data worse.
Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
101–110 of 271 posts
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>while the fact is that everything worked pretty well before the EU I don't know where you're from, but as a Pole I do not share this sentiment at all. Seeing the EU flag displayed everywhere makes me proud to be an EU citizen and it's a great thing to see.
If I was from Poland, I'd feel the same. Here in Czechia, it is a lie - this country worked well on its own. Membership in EU is great, but acting like there wouldn't be schools and public parks without EU is not.
Who is acting like that? The main criticism I have seen about EU funding is that it only gets allocated to the "easy" projects like renovating a park or some information board. Not that such things would never exist.
However even that is not true as the UK is finding out, as we are now scrambling to fill the funding gap that EU programs gave to anything from universities to farmers. All this while our corrupt government hands £37 billion to their corrupt friends for COVID "track and trace".
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#103I suppose the name of the magazine implies this, but the amount of "concept terms" loaded into each sentence sounds so old timey, or something, to me. " Such a relationship between the company and public goods like a high school is part of what it means to consider Amazon as “the major working-class space of suburban and exurban socialization.” The behemoth is here, producing not only profit but people, too. That ent…
Or maybe it's because the education system you were provided with has significant incentives to avoid getting you too familiar with these words and concepts? "Old timey" in this context might translate into "written by someone who is aware of a century or three's thinking and writing about the relationships between labor and capital and how they impact social and economic structure".
My early education was, in fact, was quite steeped in such terms. I'm a apostate, not an infidel.
Anyway, my point wasn't a criticism of the content, or anything really. Just pointing out that its clunky and verbose sounding, to my rusty old ears.
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Historically, company town companies also paid in their own currency that was only spendable in the company stores. Amazon still appears to be paying in standard dollars.
isn't this mainly because paying in anything other then the national currency is illegal in most western nations? For tax purposes, even things like free lunch are considered paymeny aswell.
> isn't this mainly because paying in anything other then the national currency is illegal in most western nations?
Which makes company towns illegal, hence Amazon is not creating company towns...
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#105The article ends with an idea like, "workers band together and fight Amazon". I'm all for workers getting a better deal and more humane conditions while these jobs last, but they won't.
Th most common jobs in these places are being intensely researched by roboticists. As soon as it's feasible and economical to replace the people with robots they will. For some of the jobs, that could come in a matter of months, or only a few years. It will continue.
I am going to tie this into something more controversial. Basic income. And I think even more controversial is that we may need to change how money fundamentally works in order to make basic income work.
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a long-time friend who tried to get an Amazon Warehouse job after relocating to a new city for his SO’s career. Given all of the negative press he assumed they’d be desperate for employees and he could walk right into the job. It turns out those jobs are highly competitive in the area because they paid relatively well and had good benefits. The hourly rate alone doesn’t tell the full story. Many more typical w…
>He said a lot of them tried to hire people for less than full time to avoid having to provide benefits. There needs to be naming and shaming of those that perpetuate this practice. I know retailers (Tractor Supply) for cashiers. If you're doing warehouse work, you are part of the logistics backbone, you deserve not to have your chain jerked around. Arguably, no one should be getting their chain jerked around, but I'…
> There needs to be naming and shaming
It's probably easier to name and promote the few places that don't do the "39.5hr week".
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#107Is there an argument for not having Amazon as an employer in these towns? Is there an argument for not having Amazon support the local school system? I understand that working conditions are rarely ideal. Many would prefer to enjoy leisure and collect a paycheck as the ideal source of income. Jobs pay because workers need an incentive to provide labor. What exactly would JacobinMag.com's alternative to Amazon employm…
> Why aren't they providing this alternative? Because Bezos/Amazon spent years building barriers to entry? Because people's preference for shopping at Amazon, like their preference for shopping at malls 30-40 years earlier, began the disintegration of other forms of retail work? Because "fulfillment" centers (are you fulfilled yet?) benefit from being in locations that are not typically the ones where people are choo…
>Because Bezos/Amazon spent years building barriers to entry?
What barriers? Is amazon lobbying local governments to prevent competitor warehouses from being built? Or is they're just so ahead of everyone in terms of service/price?
>Because people's preference for shopping at Amazon, like their preference for shopping at malls 30-40 years earlier, began the disintegration of other forms of retail work?
People's preferences change. If something better comes along, you have to adapt as well, not complain that your competitor is "disintegrat[ing]" your business model.
>Because "fulfillment" centers (are you fulfilled yet?) benefit from being in locations that are not typically the ones where people are choosing to live.
From the rest of the argument it looks like you're trying to paint this as an advantage for amazon, but to me it seems more like a disadvantage. If amazon warehouses are located in "locations that are not typically the ones where people are choosing to live", doesn't that mean they'll have an harder time finding workers and you having an easier time finding workers?
Also, I'm not sure how applicable your claim is across all of amazon. In a rural area your argument would make sense (ie. warehouse in the middle of nowhere rather than in a population center), but in metropolitan areas they're almost always surrounded by houses (eg. https://goo.gl/maps/bfT3ePP1dfupKnuo6)
>Because employee-owned business (a Jacobin and personal favorite) face numerous obstacles in the US due to legal, political and cultural factors.
I'm not sure why it has to be employee owned. It seems like you're repeating the nirvana fallacy that gp was talking about.
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#108An extremely efficient and competent corporation doing everything it can to deliver goods cheaper and faster to hundreds of millions of people while creating value for tens of millions of shareholders? And now it has more and more impact running social services too? How dare they do this travesty without democratic oversight. Clearly the best way forward is to regulate them so that they are on a level playing field w…
What happens when the largest employer in the company town shuts the warehouse or whatever town?
I guess the town shuts down, right?
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Was it ever different? The saying "All that glitters is not gold" exists for a reason.
Exactly. All your warm fuzzies about yourself are not for me to bother with. I am as beholden to coddling all y’all’s self as you are to making sure people who need it today have cheap insulin. It’s a semantics free market not a financial one. If my efforts undo your wealth, zero fucks. See we get to pick and choose who figuratively exists. Doesn’t have to be Bezos or you. Or me. None of us are gold or glitter. As no…
Good luck with your mental health.
Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States
#110So we are back to the 19th century ? Will they have their own money only usable there and pay their local employees with it too ? /s
19th century? This smells more of medieval style feudalism.
I mean- no one is bound to the land, and Amazon's claim is not contingent on Bezos providing an army to the state on request.