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

511–520 of 549 posts

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

#511

Post by dstick »

kortilla wrote: post #403
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…

It’s not reminiscent of it at all. The factory stores had shitty prices and were the only option. Amazon employees can choose to spend their money anywhere. The company towns are gone.

Which is precisely my point. Amazon is forcing competitors out of business. And once they have a monopoly, history teaches us they will have no incentives left to keep their prices down, and introduce the very shitty prices you speak off. Hence: we’re not there _yet_

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

#512

Post by gruez »

annoyingnoob wrote: post #510
gruez wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Its going to impact traffic on both of those roads, construction already has. You think that big box stores and/or malls don't impact traffic on nearby roads?

Right, so how is the Amazon warehouse better?

Because each vehicle at the amazon warehouse delivers to dozens of customers.

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

#513

Post by underseacables »

shakezula wrote: post #90
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…

> So aside from “just stop buying from Amazon” what can we do ? The "just stop buying amazon" arguments never made sense to me in the first place, because most people who use it are the ones budget-stretched in the first place. A lot of rural communities have no other viable options for some items as well. It will take massive government action and that's it. There's no other way we can fix this problem. Wages are su…

I’m always curious about the cost of labor, and the breaking point for AI to be a solution to that. I’m thinking mostly autonomous robotics to pick, pack, and ship the products, make the burgers, and heck probably restock the shelves at night.

I also ask that Because I think humans are losing. The big one will be autonomous trucking. Once that hits, I think we’re going to see massive layoffs and unemployment, as robotics replaces humans.

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

#514

Post by hinkley »

shakezula wrote: post #90
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…

> So aside from “just stop buying from Amazon” what can we do ? The "just stop buying amazon" arguments never made sense to me in the first place, because most people who use it are the ones budget-stretched in the first place. A lot of rural communities have no other viable options for some items as well. It will take massive government action and that's it. There's no other way we can fix this problem. Wages are su…

Any rural community that has a trade deficit with the outside world slowly spirals into poverty. Buying local increases the number of times a dollar travels around the community before leaving.

There's a huge useful area between giving Amazon less power and giving them no power. Amazon is always the 4th place I look for something. Most of the time I never even have to go there. And things like their little tantrum where they stopped selling a bunch of Apple products just made that easier for me.

Also remember the audience. Most of the people who can't afford to shop anywhere but Amazon also can't afford to hang out on hacker news. Most of the people here can do better.

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

#515

Post by hinkley »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #288
hokumguru wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After having just taken my first trip to the big island I was actually very surprised how sparse the retail was. Felt very much like rural America.

They're probably using highly restrictive zoning/permitting to keep it out. Local businesses that are charging tourist prices don't want big box stores (who can't get away with a very big local markup) to compete with and local consumer facing businesses hold basically all the influence in that kind of economy.

The two times I went on a trip and we ended up at Walmart I was not pleased.

Of course we ended up at Walmart because the people I was with are suckers. Lovable suckers, but all-day suckers nonetheless.

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

#516

Post by hinkley »

andreilys wrote: post #292
shakezula wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So aside from “just stop buying from Amazon” what can we do ? The "just stop buying amazon" arguments never made sense to me in the first place, because most people who use it are the ones budget-stretched in the first place. A lot of rural communities have no other viable options for some items as well. It will take massive government action and that's it. There's no other way we can fix this problem. Wages are su…

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

I don't know a lot about warehouse work, and most of it is second hand, but I don't think anyone works as hard as Amazon warehouse workers. Yes, having robots deliver stuff to you is more efficient, but it sounds more like Lucile Ball in the candy factory trying to keep up with the conveyor belt.

Generally the conveyor doesn't go faster when you get faster. The warehouse robots are just working on queuing theory. However fast you go, they'll just schedule more shit to come to you.

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

#517

Post by hinkley »

opencl wrote: post #313
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

Only one data point but the local Amazon warehouse I worked at for a while has a Target warehouse about a mile away that pays ~20% more for similar work. People were leaving for them in droves, including management. I'm sure the competitiveness varies wildly in different areas though.

There's something to be said for poaching workers your competition has trained already.

The downside, especially for the managers, is that they bring their toxic attitudes with them. Diluted of course, but removing it entirely would be a huge effort.

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

#518

Post by hinkley »

dstick wrote: post #150
shakezula wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So aside from “just stop buying from Amazon” what can we do ? The "just stop buying amazon" arguments never made sense to me in the first place, because most people who use it are the ones budget-stretched in the first place. A lot of rural communities have no other viable options for some items as well. It will take massive government action and that's it. There's no other way we can fix this problem. Wages are su…

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…

My relatives come from a town of My aunt went to be a manager at the Walmart while everything else in town slowly went out of business. They carried sewing supplies until Franklin's went under and then they got rid of that section.

It's the same story with louder music.

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

#519

Post by [deleted] »

rejectedandsad wrote: post #368
WalterBright wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then they were one of Amazon’s first casualties! They're still in business. I browsed one last month. I was amused that one entire rack, 6 shelves, was filled with "Trump is Evil" books. Somebody at that store doesn't like Trump :-)

I want to quickly emphasize that they are data driven enough to understand that lots of people buy those books because about 51-54% of the country doesn’t and never did like him.

[deleted]

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

#520

Post by annoyingnoob »

gruez wrote: post #512
annoyingnoob wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, so how is the Amazon warehouse better?

Because each vehicle at the amazon warehouse delivers to dozens of customers.

With less efficient vehicles. If I order 10 things from Amazon its guaranteed to come in more than one box on more than one trip. If I drive to Target I can buy all of those things in one trip.
Post reply on HN