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One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

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Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#31

Post by nomel »

iancmceachern wrote: post #14
sandworm101 wrote: post #4

What percentage of non-amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps? We all love to hate Amazon, but such statistics are meaningless without context.

I dont agree. It's more about the relative income from the warehouse workers to the CEO. Even if the post office has the exact same percentage of workers on food stamps, I would argue that because the postmaster general makes so much less than Amazon leadership that Amazon has the privilege and ability to do better, and still run a profitable business. It's about profit, and sharing it more equitably.

For anyone curious about the math:

The Amazon CEO pay was $212 million in 2021.

There are 700k warehouse workers.

If the CEO put 99% of their pay to the warehouse workers, each would get an about $300/year, or $25/month more.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#32

Post by ketralnis »

astrange wrote: post #7
brevitea wrote: post #6

... Just like Walmart. It's a shame.

It's not, it's mostly a sign that benefits are working. Giving workers benefits /increases/ their compensation because it increases their negotiating power. This means they're earning more than they otherwise would. Not less. If it was less, that would mean benefits are bad and we should take them away!

It's incrementally better for them to be making $20 instead of $10, sure. But it's worse for the world for that to be footed by the tax payer instead of by the trillion dollar company that they work for. In effect the tax payers are lining Amazon's pockets.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#33

Post by macNchz »

WillAdams wrote: post #16
sandworm101 wrote: post #4

What percentage of non-amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps? We all love to hate Amazon, but such statistics are meaningless without context.

~12.6% per: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/food-stamp-... >More than 42 million Americans receive a federal stipend for food through the program formerly known as food stamps.

Two thirds of those recipients are not actually expected to work at all, being too old/young or otherwise excused: https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-provides-....

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#34

Post by astrange »

Vespasian wrote: post #25
astrange wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not, it's mostly a sign that benefits are working. Giving workers benefits /increases/ their compensation because it increases their negotiating power. This means they're earning more than they otherwise would. Not less. If it was less, that would mean benefits are bad and we should take them away!

I assume Amazon pushes down wages accordingly and is happy that the public subsidizes their margins. Why would they give someone more because they come to them with no alternative and under pressure from the government to take any Job.

No, wages are set by negotiating with workers; Amazon is not purely a price setter of wages. That means giving workers money lets them get better wages. (They would be one if they were a monopsony though. But mostly they aren't.)

> under pressure from the government to take any Job.

Work requirements for welfare can indeed hurt workers this way by making them take worse jobs.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#35

Post by mountainb »

This is how our system works. The government subsidizes corporate low wage work, and everyone pats themselves on the back for being so enormously virtuous, truly the most wonderful people ever to have graced the earth. The circuitous redistribution is a feature and not a bug of the system. It prevents competition, which makes shareholders happy. It also provides a minimum standard of care for workers, who would otherwise need to be replaced at higher rates.

Should the companies shoulder more of the burden? It would be fairer and more just, but words about justice are cheap and power is expensive.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#37

Post by lesuorac »

jonathankoren wrote: post #21
ars wrote: post #3

How many non-Amazon warehouse worked are on food stamps or Medicaid? Without that comparison this title is just flame bait.

What’s the point of a job, if you can’t live on it? If you feel anger when reading that the largest and most profitable companies in the world won’t pay a living wage, the. You should be. There isn’t two side to simple greed and exploitation.

You could just find a job to be fun.

Eventually there will be jobs not worth paying people to do; subsidizing that at the government level seems fine (albeit not capitalistic) but that does require taxation (not necessarily on the higher paying jobs) to cover the shortfall.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#38

Post by RobotToaster »

astrange wrote: post #15
dangus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one who can hold down a job and is currently employed should need government assistance to survive. Doesn’t matter if it’s Amazon or its competitors.

You need to apply marginal thinking here. They are better off with welfare benefits, which means it's a good thing that they have them. If you gave them more benefits, they would have more negotiating power and be able to become even more employed[0], and then would you complain more? [0] assuming that's what they want to do

Giving benefits to employees, instead of forcing the company to pay a living wage, is effectively a subsidy for corporate profits.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#39

Post by bombcar »

llsf wrote: post #18
blakesterz wrote: post #11

The numbers country wide: According to Pew [0] The numbers vary from month to month. But in April 2023, the most recent month with available figures, 41.9 million people in 22.2 million households received SNAP benefits. That translates to 12.5% of the total U.S. population. Fed says [1] 84,041,447 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP in the 51 states and the District of Columbia that reported enrollment da…

That is the number that a friend working for SNAP told... 1 out 8 Americans is on food stamps.

You'd be surprised, many people qualify for SNAP and may not realize it.

It's based on income, and handled by the states, and the income limit climbs based on number of children.

Some states you can get it if you're pregnant no matter what.

(It can often be a strategic thing to get if you can, because large numbers of other programs that require applications will declare you automatically qualify if you get SNAP.)

Most states are following the federal guidelines of 200% of the poverty line. Four kids is $80k a year and still qualifies.

Household size: monthly pre-tax income limit

- 1: $2,430

- 2: $3,288

- 3: $4,144

- 4: $5,000

- 5: $5,858

- 6: $6,714

- 7: $7,570

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