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Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

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Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#221

Post by missedthecue »

Havoc wrote: post #68

Reminds me of the series "Incorporated". Corporations taking over more & more of the roles countries used to

I think this is because of the massive pushback in recent decades to Milton Friedman's essay “The Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Its Profits,” where he put forth that the most net benefit would be provided to society if firms focused their efforts and resources onto their core competencies.

Now, people think that is distasteful and that businesses should be doing all kinds of things like charity work and soup kitchens and funding housing developments and schools and so on so forth. This is called "stakeholder capitalism". It produces the result you describe.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#222

Post by throwaway0a5e »

strombofulous wrote: post #140
Retric wrote: 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?

These are repetitive strain or slip and fall injuries from handling heavy or unwieldy objects. Not mashed limbs from heavy machinery.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#223

Post by vmception »

randomdata wrote: post #52
jefftk wrote: post #21

A key aspect of company towns is that there's only one serious employer. This then gives that employer a very dangerous amount of power, which is why we don't like this structure. Possibly this is true in don't places with Amazon, but the article doesn't make the argument. The closest they get is saying that Amazon is a large employer in Seattle, but that's not enough -- the city is large enough that there are tons o…

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.

Every time I pay an employee with a crypto we issued, I always chuckle that I get to pay in corporate scrip

It's like "lol I read the wikipedia article about this!"

anyway, great way to save costs, extend runway and get massive tax deductions at the same time. the best tax deductions are ones that don't require you spending your fiat dollars, so this is pretty high up there.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#224

Post by rebuilder »

dehrmann wrote: post #213
wincy wrote: 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.

> 5+ miles per shift This really isn't that much. The average Disneyland visitor probably walks 5 miles per day. A nurse might walk 4 miles in a shift. I'd expect most people who aren't overweight would be able go adapt to 5 miles per day pretty quickly, and 10 is fairly doable.

Try doing that with 350 lbs bodyweight, though!

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#225

Post by imbnwa »

Itsdijital wrote: post #146
jefftk wrote: post #21

A key aspect of company towns is that there's only one serious employer. This then gives that employer a very dangerous amount of power, which is why we don't like this structure. Possibly this is true in don't places with Amazon, but the article doesn't make the argument. The closest they get is saying that Amazon is a large employer in Seattle, but that's not enough -- the city is large enough that there are tons o…

It's a band aid to bridge the gap between the insane demand in HCOL areas and the inability to find labor in those markets. How can you staff a warehouse for $15/hr in places were a studio starts at $1250/mo? I wouldn't be one bit surprised of Amazon starts getting into real estate, offering employees monthly "rent vouchers".

Or just starts approximating to the future of "Sorry to Bother You" and just builds its own campus where you live and work.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#226

Post by ghaff »

Itsdijital wrote: post #146
jefftk wrote: post #21

A key aspect of company towns is that there's only one serious employer. This then gives that employer a very dangerous amount of power, which is why we don't like this structure. Possibly this is true in don't places with Amazon, but the article doesn't make the argument. The closest they get is saying that Amazon is a large employer in Seattle, but that's not enough -- the city is large enough that there are tons o…

It's a band aid to bridge the gap between the insane demand in HCOL areas and the inability to find labor in those markets. How can you staff a warehouse for $15/hr in places were a studio starts at $1250/mo? I wouldn't be one bit surprised of Amazon starts getting into real estate, offering employees monthly "rent vouchers".

Why wouldn't they just pay more? If they're giving you a rent voucher for an apartment whose market rate is $1250 a month, normally that would show up as income on your W2. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/when-is-employee-housing-taxab...

There are cases like remote locations where an employer can provide housing tax-free but likely not near an expensive city.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#227

Post by prince781 »

dalbasal wrote: post #219
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what language would you use to describe the concept of "alienation from the product of labor" today, here in 2021, if the intended audience is the workforce of an amazon fulfillment center?

I wouldn't. The idea wasn't abstract in the 1830s. It meant the difference between having a loom in your house and working at a mill. We could debate the importance of this, but we'd be starting by talking about an actual thing that is happening in the world. You could talk to a mill worker about it and it described their life. You can't think of relevant ways of describing alienation, because the thing you are tryin…

Alienation isn't a historical event. It's a term that describes how a human being, in the present, relates to the things he creates.

The concept is simple:

Most people today are put in the unusual position (anthropologically speaking) of creating things they do not themselves sell. From this flows a lot of consequences for social conflict, politics, mental health, etc, something we should try to understand.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#228

Post by dalbasal »

nofinator wrote: post #139

A lot of people in this thread are caught up with the term "company town". I agree this headline is poorly chosen. The article itself lacks depth. For a better analysis of Amazon's entrenched relationship with the Inland Empire in California, check out Erika Hayasaki's writing for the NY Times Magazine: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/magazine/amazon-workers-e...

This article actually quotes her. It's the only part of this article that isn't just a string of abstract jargon. Without the quote, I would have no clue what it's even about.

Re: Amazon Is Creating Company Towns Across the United States

#229

Post by paulddraper »

kazen44 wrote: post #60
randomdata wrote: post #52

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.

Regardless the cause, it would still make it not a company town, yes?
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