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1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

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

#471

Post by vidarh »

jatins wrote: post #446
drorco wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also the other option similar to what happened after the New York Elevator Operator Strike in 1945 -- the total elimination of a profession. https://www.inc.com/thomas-koulopoulos/100-years-ago-we-fear... "It wasn't until the middle of the twentieth century that the tipping point came along for the driverless elevator as the result of a strike by the elevator operators' union in New York City in 1945. The str…

Rest assured if Amazon could automate, Amazon would automate. > I don't see any way for the employees to win this beyond buying a bit more time. Why can't the government increase minimum wages? If those jobs are likely to get automated away then that's going to happen either way At least let them make decent wages _while_ they have a job.

And Amazon will over time or they'll get squeezed.

I get my groceries from Ocado in the UK. Their warehouses are almost entirely automated, including increasingly picking and packing groceries that often include soft or easily breakable products into bags.

They're moved from focusing on growing their own direct sales to increasingly licensing that platform globally.

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

#472

Post by goodcanadian »

kortilla wrote: post #378
heavyset_go wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One solution can be for a union, government, Amazon etc, is to put aside money for a fund that will invest in training these employees so they could one day not depend on these kind of low-leverage jobs. Unions have negotiated with companies that outsource or automate its members' jobs to secure compensation for the workers who were affected. However, I think this is a problem that requires a larger solution. There…

> We're heading towards a world where most work is done by machines, and only a handful of people will own, control and profit from them People keep saying that but we are no closer than we were 50 years ago. A lot of jobs have been replaced but new jobs have been created and society has absorbed the increased productivity (cheaper goods, foods, and much more complex high end goods (iPhone, airplanes, etc).

People keep saying that but we are no closer than we were 50 years ago.

People have been saying it for far longer than 50 years:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite

The trouble is, both sides of the argument are correct. When disruption occurs, many people are badly disadvantaged even if society as a whole moves forward. It would be best to find ways to reduce the impact on the affected people without holding up automation and other improvements which have been shown to be beneficial to productivity in the long term.

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

#473

Post by csunbird »

fosk wrote: post #453
katbyte wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

forget if it empties, the fact 90%+ of my vacuuming is done automatically is incredible! I can live with the 30 seconds to empty the bin every couple weeks

How is your vacuuming done automatically? You mean with a Roomba robot? Have you found those working? All my friends that have one just end up storing them somewhere never to be used again.

Not the parent comment, but I think it depends on the house you have. I find huge american houses with 3-5 rooms are unsuitable, except when you limit the robot to one or two rooms.

My apartment in Europe is suitable for it, as I do not have many rooms, so that it does a decent job on cleaning. I do not use the regular vacuum very often.

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

#474

Post by ekianjo »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #467
ekianjo wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

then is there any issue? it means workers find better opportunities or better conditions elsewhere.

1. No it doesn't. 2. Even if we assume it's true, "better" does not mean acceptable. Imagine a town with no amazon that only has terrible jobs available. Amazon moves in, some people try working there, the job is so awful that they quit and go back to the other jobs. Those jobs are still terrible. There's very much an issue.

for 2. I am not sure why you would blame Amazon if it seems rather like a general specific employment problem in said area. Amazon is not responsible to fix everytjing around them are they?

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

#475

Post by ekianjo »

shawnz wrote: post #444
kortilla wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because unions offer literally no upside for companies. They are meant precisely to organize the collective power of the employees to pressure the company into deals with its employees it wouldn’t have otherwise.

One upside for companies is that the unions are better able to represent the interests of the employees than, for example, the HR department would be able to, simply because of the incentives at play. This could attract more talent to the company, improve retention, and give the company more insight into the employees' needs.

only in theory. in practice unions become just like other orgs where leaders concentrate power for themselves and fail to represent anyone at all. making the situation worse for the employee and the employees.

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

#476

Post by sampo »

heavyset_go wrote: post #443
kortilla wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're heading towards a world where most work is done by machines, and only a handful of people will own, control and profit from them People keep saying that but we are no closer than we were 50 years ago. A lot of jobs have been replaced but new jobs have been created and society has absorbed the increased productivity (cheaper goods, foods, and much more complex high end goods (iPhone, airplanes, etc).

> A lot of jobs have been replaced but new jobs have been created and society has absorbed the increased productivity. Not in every case. You can look at workers in the Rust Belt. Their well paying jobs with benefits were "replaced" and new jobs never came, unless you think working at Walmart for close to minimum wage is one of those new jobs. Even when, say, manufacturers come back and produce domestically, they've…

> Not in every case. You can look at workers in the Rust Belt

And the old coal mining towns in Northern England (and South Wales).

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

#479

Post by distances »

WalterBright wrote: post #300
WalterBright wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we still don't have a robot that can take out the trash Because it's hard to justify the $$$ on a robot to automate a job that takes 30 seconds once a week. Modern people don't realize it, but an awful lot of household drudgery has been automated. I'm old enough to remember life before the microwave. What a marvelous time saver that is! You can even buy one from the thrift store for $10. I remember them being $1000…

Add to that the cheap-as-dirt popcorn maker. My mom would make popcorn in a frying pan. The machine is sooo much easier. There are the mothers of kitchen automation: 1. refrigerator 2. garbage disposal 3. dishwasher 4. electric / gas stove and oven These are really marvelous inventions. It seems I spent half my childhood washing dishes by hand. Ugh.

Out of interest, what do you mean by automated garbage disposal? The urban infrastructure of someone taking away your garbage, or the mostly-US device installed in your sinks?

The latter does not exist in Europe so I haven't ever thought it would be an important step in reducing chores. We have bio waste bins for food leftovers which seems pretty efficient already.

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

#480

Post by gambiting »

fosk wrote: post #453
katbyte wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

forget if it empties, the fact 90%+ of my vacuuming is done automatically is incredible! I can live with the 30 seconds to empty the bin every couple weeks

How is your vacuuming done automatically? You mean with a Roomba robot? Have you found those working? All my friends that have one just end up storing them somewhere never to be used again.

How? I've had a roomba for almost 2 years now, and I use it all the time - it runs and cleans our living room and kitchen at least 2-3 times a week. There has been a noticeable reduction in dust present in the house. And that's not even a fancy self-emptying model, just a normal roomba where I have to empty the bin by hand. Why would you stop using one?
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