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Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

jacobinmag.com

191–200 of 271 posts

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#191
post #60

Earlier 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.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#193
post #158
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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? I can offer you 10 chickens to dig a trench, nothing illegal about that. You'd have to pay income tax tho, and the IRS does not accept (fractions of) chickens.

As a one-off barter or contractor arrangement sure, but in the U.S., if you're paying anyone who'd be considered an employee, you have to pay at least minimum wage in cash or equivalent, except that you can deduct the cost of room and board if you provide it. Details: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/531.27

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#194
If Amazon were to pay its employees with company scrips, employees could shop at whole foods and buy at least a loaf of bread and some bananas with a week of pay. Banana sandwiches can go a long way. Buy some peanut butter on credit and work some O.T. to pay it off.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question, how do you injure yourself in an Amazon warehouse? I thought there wasn't any heavy machinery or other dangerous machines. Is it just from too much walking?

Amazon calls their warehouse staff “industrial athletes” in internal docs. https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/2/22465357/amazon-industrial... > Amazon tells its warehouse employees to think of themselves not as overworked cogs in an enormous, soul-crushing machine, but as “industrial athletes,” and to prepare their bodies for that experience like someone training for a sporting event, according to a pamphlet obtained by…

I read an article about the native inhabitants of Australia and their very low rates of heart disease. It turns out that the males walked an average of 9 miles a day, the women 5.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#196
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's being rich not upper class. There is a difference.

no, class (in the marxist sense, everything else is meaningless cultural signifiers) is not about "upper" or "lower", it's about either getting paid for wage labor, ie being working class, or getting paid for other people's use of property you own, ie being capitalist class. this is extremely basic and is the fundamental divide under capitalism.

ah thanks for tankiesplaining

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#197
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A relative worked at Amazon’s warehouse, he described it as slightly above average pay for the area with above average benefits. However, the job really sucks, injuries are common, and turnover is high at least in VA. There is a huge range of warehouse jobs including many with a lot of paid downtime, the easier the job the less they can pay.

Serious question, how do you injure yourself in an Amazon warehouse? I thought there wasn't any heavy machinery or other dangerous machines. Is it just from too much walking?

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#198
post #179
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine working at an Amazon center injured himself because he walks 5+ miles per shift. He also weighs like 350 pounds. He’s lost like 50 pounds already so hopefully he’ll get to a weight where he’s not injuring himself before he ends up having to quit. Amazon isn’t obligated to provide my morbidly obese friend with a job, and he knows that, and he’s doing his best to keep on without destroying his body.

It actually sounds like a great way to lose weight if you can handle it. We need to walk more. I’ve thought about moving to NYC just to walk more.

Boston is pretty walkable, too.

Example: Some routes between Harvard Yard and Long Wharf take you through residential and nightlife areas where a lot of people life, past biotechs, MIT, a few FAANG outposts, over a bridge with great views, across the Esplanade park, past at least a major hospital, financial district, through North End (Italian restaurants), tourist area, and to harbor walk, to sit on Long Wharf and watch the boats and airplanes.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Harvard+Yard,+Massachusetts+...

(Separate from walking, a lot of people bicycle here, and you'll see heavy bikes on some streets during commuter hours, but don't beware that bicyclist safety is so-so here. If you decide to bike instead of walk, watch out for car doors opening into your path, trucks making turns, negligent car drivers, other bikers ignoring road rules, mild resentment of bicyclists, etc. Personally, I just walk, and know that there's a good chance that a driver even going through the busiest Central Square intersection is looking at their phone. :)

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#199
post #172
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The article seems to contain nothing that would qualify for the words "Company Town". It appears to boil down "look amazon is big, surely it means that it must be evil!". I guess this is the difference between a literal v. figurative interpretation of the title. The article itself is speaking to Amazon's efforts to sustain its hiring pipeline in the face of colossal churn, describing activities such as sponsoring s…

> I guess this is the difference between a literal v. figurative interpretation of the title. The article itself is speaking to Amazon's efforts to sustain its hiring pipeline in the face of colossal churn, describing activities such as sponsoring secondary schools while installing their own branding as a condition of sponsorship. Isn't this very banner in the outfield of little league games in America? As in, compan…

As in, companies big and small ask for their branding to be visible when they sponsor things

I think there's a material difference between a monopolist trying to impress its values upon the audience and a market participant trying to attract some of the audience.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#200
post #167

Jacobin finds the act of running a for profit business under any circumstances to be unethical so does it really matter what they have to say past that? Jacobin is left Breitbart.

I think they're actually more left authoritarian than Breitbart (feh) is right authoritarian.

I'm reminded of the old Soviet joke than under capitalism, man exploits man, but under socialism it's the other way around.

In the ideal Jacobin world, all towns would be company towns ("owned by the people"). Please keep that in mind.

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