Amazon's War On The House Of Otto, Germany's $18 Billion Family

Post by eru » Thu, Mar 13, 2014, 10:17 AM UTC

EvaK_de wrote: post #99

mxfh wrote: post #9

If you see how Hermes Group, an Otto owned logistics company, (sub-)subcontractors have to handle their daily work load at (often below) minimum wage pay, often with their private cars, it's hard to believe he's that serious about running a morally superior business for any other reason than getting good PR. DHL is not golden either but Hermes is just bad in every aspect. As a private customer in Germany I would try…

There is no such thing as a "minimum wage" in Germany - at least not yet.

Post by EvaK_de » Thu, Mar 13, 2014, 10:25 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #101

EvaK_de wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no such thing as a "minimum wage" in Germany - at least not yet.

At least not outside of a few sectors.

Post by Houshalter » Thu, Mar 13, 2014, 10:55 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #102

Houshalter wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would work in the short term, but in the long term they are just going to get rid of the employees entirely with robots. Which is of course, far worse, and already widely done in other industries, with no one protesting them.

Why is that worse?

Post by normloman » Thu, Mar 13, 2014, 4:24 PM UTC

tedks wrote: post #61

normloman wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I guess it depends on what employees are looking for in their career - to be the best they can be, or live a laid back lifestyle." You're not being the best when you burn out. You're killing yourself and your productivity with it. We have decades of research concluding that productivity falls when you're overworked. "The company (in this case, Amazon) got great results from its employee, the employee had a good expe…

>Yes, because companies shouldn't have to work their employees to the bone to extract value from them. A long time ago, we decided that it's cruel, and created labor laws. Where have you been? Who is 'we'? You're wearing clothes and using a computer and probably exclusively using products that were made in nation-states that have virtually no labor laws. Where were you when globalization happened? Regardless of moral…

Post by rdl » Thu, Mar 13, 2014, 5:53 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #94

rdl wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, my argument is that corruption (by other people) causes innocent/good people to be poor, and then other people who are self-interested (at least) and potentially altruistic can help those poor people. Although generally my preferred form of helping would involve the corrupt people and some rope; much more efficient.

I think the Chinese govt. is roughly on the same page as you re rope, though I don't know how much of that is actually just a weapon to be wielded against opponents. I wonder how well that's been working at reducing corruption.