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1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

businessinsider.com

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

#381

Post by queuebert »

katbyte wrote: post #363
nunez wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason why I'm personally okay with buying stuff from the Everything Store is because [1] retail is a brutal business, [2] _everyone_ in retail (except perhaps the executive leadership) is treated like shit, and [3] Amazon, for all of their failings, is still absolutely obsessed with customer satisfaction. Amazon is still one of few companies that has a completely seamless, no-BS return policy, for example. The "…

> no-BS return policy also no fee - the fact i can buy worry free knowing if its not as described/trash/broken i can just send it back at no cost is why i use them. don't know any other online store like that

Other than shipping damage, I don't regularly get misleading or broken items from other retailers, especially small ones. This only happens with third-party Amazon retailers, who mostly sell trash and hope you don't care enough to return it because it was so cheap.

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

#382

Post by mattmcknight »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #147
macintux wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, when I wanted a specific pair of shoes, I ordered them directly from the brand. It's very convenient to buy from Amazon, but it's hardly a hardship to not do so.

No reputable brand is going to sell even half decent shoes for $35. This is a good example where you can see how much people are really willing (or able) to spend on “local” or “quality” goods that can help pay for a store’s staffing needs and other expenses.

https://www.everlane.com/products/womens-forever-platform-sn...

Everlane shoe on sale for $35, with the actual cost breakdown at the bottom for info. $7.02 materials, $2.16 hardware, $6.35 labor, $3.11 duties, $3.00 transport. (true cost, $21.64)

They even give you a description of the factory. https://www.everlane.com/factories/forever-sneaker

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

#383

Post by cma »

8note wrote: post #347
morelandjs wrote: post #160

I’m not sure why everyone continually romanticizes brick and mortar retail. Its terribly inefficient, and wasteful of time, energy, space etc. Think of all the Walmart, Dicks, Big Lots parking lots and strip malls that could be converted into better space. Think of how much waste there is when you have to pack, unpack, stage and repack merchandise. Amazon’s distribution is a superior business model which is why it is…

Brick and mortar retail is an advertising scam from the last century. It's built to waste people's time by making them walk by different products to get to the things they want.

Like Amazon's sponsored listings and "Amazon's choice" (highest margins for Amazon) recommendations.

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

#384

Post by queuebert »

p_j_w wrote: post #374
BrissyCoder wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like he did due-diligence on reviews.

I've had far too many experiences buying well reviewed stuff on Amazon that turned out to not be as good as it should have been for this to be a convincing point.

I thought we learned from the Cliff Stoll incident that Amazon reviews can be heavily doctored and/or bought. So especially with third-party retailers and cheap import stuff, it's a gamble.

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

#385

Post by JimDabell »

tharkun__ wrote: post #314
learc83 wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still a bit early to celebrate. You really can’t trust aggregate review scores these days—even if you scan them with a 3rd party tool.

Not only that. Amazon also seems to have no idea what they sell shoe wise. Bought winter boots from them. So not sure on what size to get, because you should buy those larger. I also have wide feet too but they only offer them in M not E or wider. I don't know the brand yet, so no knowledge on how they fit vs size listed. Finally ordered after research online. Instead of the size I ordered, a 10 M, I get a 10 AA. It…

A friend of mine once received four disco balls in a row from Amazon when he ordered a set of speakers. Every time he would send the disco ball back, and every time they would apologise, tell him they would send him the replacement speakers, and then send him another disco ball. It was clearly an incorrect SKU somewhere, but I don’t think there’s any point in the chain where a person looks at whether what is being sent matches the product description.

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

#386

Post by queuebert »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #147
macintux wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, when I wanted a specific pair of shoes, I ordered them directly from the brand. It's very convenient to buy from Amazon, but it's hardly a hardship to not do so.

No reputable brand is going to sell even half decent shoes for $35. This is a good example where you can see how much people are really willing (or able) to spend on “local” or “quality” goods that can help pay for a store’s staffing needs and other expenses.

Maybe he wears Crocs.

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

#387

Post by gruez »

james4k wrote: post #306
andreilys wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wages are suppressed because it's _legal enough_ to suppress them I'm not an Amazon defender by any means, but doesn't Amazon pay the best in terms of comparable work which is why the warehouse jobs are so competitive to get? Or is that just Amazon PR to stave off regulations

It is mostly PR. Among all Amazon workers, the median pay is $28,446 a year ($13.68 an hour), a figure the company revealed this year for the first time because of a new regulatory requirement. That’s a worldwide figure that includes full and part-time workers. Glassdoor, an employment site, says average pay at U.S. fulfillment centers has been $13 an hour, according to nearly 900 people who submitted their data to t…

> It is mostly PR.

>Amazon’s pay is significantly above the $10.28 an hour that the typical retail worker makes, but it’s less than the $15.53 that a median warehouse employee is paid, according to Labor Department data.

It might be tempting to conclude from that amazon is under-paying for that, but it's unknown what the median "warehouse job" at amazon entails compared to the median "warehouse job" elsewhere. If the jobs at amazon is mostly low skill (comparable with retail), then it wouldn't be fair to compare to the median warehouse job that has higher proportion of skilled labor like forklift drivers.

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

#388

Post by queuebert »

allturtles wrote: post #161
underseacables wrote: post #72

I’m torn badly with Amazon. After read The Everything Store, and what has been written all over the place, Jeff Bezos is a massive turd. Employees are horribly treated, wages suppressed, and all sorts of terrible and abusive practices. Then it comes time for me to buy something. I needed a new pair of size 14 sneakers. I drove to Adidas, Footlocker, dicks, and a few other stores but I just couldn’t justify $100 sneak…

I'm increasingly put out by Amazon and am trying to stop the habit of shopping there. I like books, and Amazon was founded on books, but the way they ship books now (typically loose in a soft envelope or mostly empty box) means that >50% of the books I've ordered recently have arrived damaged and had to be returned. They used to shrinkwrap books to a cardboard plate inside the box. There are other problems: 1) Search…

This times a million. It irks me to no end that they ship books like they just D.G.A.F. I get them loose in boxes with other things, in soft envelopes, and always, freaking always, with bent or dented corners.

That's your one job. Ship me the thing in new condition, and you can't even do that. How much is that even saving them on packaging? A nickel? It's disrespectful and greedy, and it's a sign of how awful they really are. You can sell things cheap and be efficient without being trashy.

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

#389

Post by gruez »

XorNot wrote: post #357
dstick wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it’s a negative cycle. Those already budget stretched people are getting paid poorly by Amazon, so they too will shop at Amazon. We’re not there yet but the cycle is reminiscent of the factory owners with factory stores and pubs where the workers spend all their money during the industrial revolution. Unions and worker laws stem from that era. So who knows - maybe we’re on the cusp of another revolution that’s si…

See also: Walmart and its standard practice onboarding employees by signing them up to food stamps.

Why is helping employees get government aid bad? Isn't that what government aid is supposed to be for?

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

#390

Post by gruez »

hasmanean wrote: post #380
underseacables wrote: post #72

I’m torn badly with Amazon. After read The Everything Store, and what has been written all over the place, Jeff Bezos is a massive turd. Employees are horribly treated, wages suppressed, and all sorts of terrible and abusive practices. Then it comes time for me to buy something. I needed a new pair of size 14 sneakers. I drove to Adidas, Footlocker, dicks, and a few other stores but I just couldn’t justify $100 sneak…

Both of them pay low wages but retail stores have to pay rent for their facilities. Amazon doesn’t.

>Amazon doesn’t.

They need warehouse space though.

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