Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

businessinsider.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 549 posts

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#31

Post by Spooky23 »

hncurious wrote: post #29
JacobDotVI wrote: post #26

Now do it for: * US DoD * Walmart * McDonalds * USPS

Walmart, which has a presence in communities of all shapes and sizes, is the largest private employer in the nation with 1.5 million workers. Yet the number of Americans who rely on the corporate giant for their livelihoods is dwarfed by the number who rely on the federal government for their paychecks. The federal government employs nearly 9.1 million workers, comprising nearly 6 percent of total employment in the U…

State and local is even bigger. Id guess 600k employees of New York state/county/city/town/authority payrolls.

Mass employment businesses aren’t common. I visited a gold ball factory once… there were about 3 people packing boxes and one dude fiddling with the machines.

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#32

Post by throwaway0a5e »

hncurious wrote: post #29
JacobDotVI wrote: post #26

Now do it for: * US DoD * Walmart * McDonalds * USPS

Walmart, which has a presence in communities of all shapes and sizes, is the largest private employer in the nation with 1.5 million workers. Yet the number of Americans who rely on the corporate giant for their livelihoods is dwarfed by the number who rely on the federal government for their paychecks. The federal government employs nearly 9.1 million workers, comprising nearly 6 percent of total employment in the U…

When you consider "part time + another job" vs full time employment the "who is solely dependent on what for their livelihood" comparison probably tips even further toward the federal government.

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#33

Post by dimitrios1 »

hncurious wrote: post #29
JacobDotVI wrote: post #26

Now do it for: * US DoD * Walmart * McDonalds * USPS

Walmart, which has a presence in communities of all shapes and sizes, is the largest private employer in the nation with 1.5 million workers. Yet the number of Americans who rely on the corporate giant for their livelihoods is dwarfed by the number who rely on the federal government for their paychecks. The federal government employs nearly 9.1 million workers, comprising nearly 6 percent of total employment in the U…

And those aren't the only checks people get from the government.

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#34

Post by binaryblitz »

barbazoo wrote: post #19
justinzollars wrote: post #11

I have to say - Amazon is almost the only thing that works during COVID. Everything else is pegged. I've been waiting 6 months to buy a couch, every time I check on an update, its delayed. Government services are impossible to work with, try getting a passport or license. If you have an emergency every office is closed or dysfunctional. Amazon on the other hand works fine. I'm so thankful for it.

You're comparing apples to oranges. Would you be able to buy a couch on Amazon? The #1 bestseller on Amazon currently says "Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock." so it doesn't work here the same way other retailers don't work. So you're saying you can't get a passport from the government but you're able to buy certain things on Amazon therefore Amazon is better?

Having had to get a passport recently, yes. At least better in the sense that you are actually receiving a service you've paid for.

It is virtually impossible to get an appointment at the passport office in the US right now. Not a local passport office, ANY passport office. There were people outside the one I went to offering a Nintendo Switch to people to trade for a time slot. The shortest wait time I had on the phone was three hours, and I called one minute after they opened.

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#35

Post by narrator »

In the spirit of the FSF's "Right to Read"[1] dystopia story, I present "Fully Automated Amazon Communism" :

1. Everyone works at Amazon

2. Amazon has vertically integrated into every conceivable industry.

3. Everyone gets paid in Amazon gift cards.

4. Amazon automatically delivers to your home everything you need to live your life without you having to ask. It knows what to order based on an AI model of everything you have ever done or thought. Your level of consumption is automatically scaled to your gift card balance.

5. You rent everything that's not a consumable from Amazon.

6. If you quit your job at Amazon, you starve to death. You must even return your clothes because your license to them has been canceled. You could try and live in the woods and eat nuts and berries. Using someone else's Amazon prime account is punishable by death since that's the practical consequence of getting fired from your job at Amazon. The right of first sale has been abolished for all goods, so even if someone wanted to give you food, they don't have a product license to do that.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_to_Read

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#37

Post by samatman »

barbazoo wrote: post #19
justinzollars wrote: post #11

I have to say - Amazon is almost the only thing that works during COVID. Everything else is pegged. I've been waiting 6 months to buy a couch, every time I check on an update, its delayed. Government services are impossible to work with, try getting a passport or license. If you have an emergency every office is closed or dysfunctional. Amazon on the other hand works fine. I'm so thankful for it.

You're comparing apples to oranges. Would you be able to buy a couch on Amazon? The #1 bestseller on Amazon currently says "Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock." so it doesn't work here the same way other retailers don't work. So you're saying you can't get a passport from the government but you're able to buy certain things on Amazon therefore Amazon is better?

I just moved in to a new apartment, and I've been ordering furniture on Amazon. Why? Because the local Ikea is out of everything I've looked for, which is unsettling because I don't think of Ikea as running out of things.

It works... ok. The delivery company only delivered one of three boxes for my bedframe, I got a refund but now I have a headboard and a mattress on the floor, and the model is out of stock. Woe is me, right?

Everything else has gone off without a hitch, and so, tl;dr yes you can buy a couch on Amazon. Or Wayfair. But not necessarily at Ikea, at the moment. At least not here.

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#38

Post by binaryblitz »

ketzo wrote: post #15
justinzollars wrote: post #11

I have to say - Amazon is almost the only thing that works during COVID. Everything else is pegged. I've been waiting 6 months to buy a couch, every time I check on an update, its delayed. Government services are impossible to work with, try getting a passport or license. If you have an emergency every office is closed or dysfunctional. Amazon on the other hand works fine. I'm so thankful for it.

Yeah, there's a reason Amazon is on or near the top of those "which institutions do you trust most?" polls. Regardless of what you think about the company's practices/dominance/anything else, there is a lot to love about consistency.

Not just consistency, but customer service. It's gone down a bit in recent years, but Amazon is still amazing at it. I can actually chat with someone, almost instantly, if I'm having a problem. Having had to deal with flight delays on American Airlines recently, it's insane how much of a difference there is.

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#39

Post by KoftaBob »

So 0.65%? Not insignificant, but using “1 out of every 153” seems intentionally worded to sound more outsized and draw eyes.

I wish HN posters would stop encouraging this lowbrow form of journalism. For an educated community, people sure do love their cheap clickbait headlines here.

Re: 1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

#40

Post by meepmorp »

MattGaiser wrote: post #25
meepmorp wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you expand the "What Agricultural Workers Do" section, it says: > Agricultural workers maintain crops and tend livestock. They perform physical labor and operate machinery under the supervision of farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers. According to https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/farmers-ranchers-and-othe... , there are 952,000 jobs as "agricultural managers," which isn't how I'd naively expect thi…

With automation, they may not manage anybody anymore, just machinery.

Eventually, we'll need philosophers to sort it all out.
Post reply on HN