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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

#321

Post by zizee »

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.

There is no need to look for conspiracies.

There is only 185k people living on the "big island". I'm not sure why people would expect something other than a rural America level of services, when it is really just a small city of people effectively in the middle of no where.

Note that smaller cities in rural America service a much larger population than just the city itself. The island does not have a surrounding population that can drive an hour in once a week to make use of a big box stores.

Google maps says there is a Walmart, Kmart, Sears and a number of other well known American brands. It's not like they are being blocked from entering the market.

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

#322

Post by [deleted] »

forz877 wrote: post #269
prostoalex wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Employees are horribly treated, wages suppressed I never saw the definitive source on this, but around the time when the unionization vote was happening, people claiming experience in the logistics industry described Amazon as a place with low starting wages, but aggressive bonus structure for high performers. They also offered health benefits on day 1, which is unheard of in logistics. Other warehouses in the area…

Rewarding a select group of high performers is a great way to underpay overall. You sell the idea of a bonus, but bonuses get easily taken away, and only go to a few select individuals. I don't think Amazon "underpays" per say - but the working conditions described seem quite poor.

[deleted]

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

#323

Post by eitally »

foobiekr wrote: post #241
kungito wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Management isn't analysis of data, it is making a decision based on that analysis. A completely different and more complex problem. One could argue that the border between the two is unclear but we have for sure been automatizing the analysis and we are nowhere near removing the managers. Maybe we could say we have removed layers of management though

I'm with the bet-the-house guy. I've worked for huge organizations since 1990 and I really think that even a mid-grade student project could make decisions as well as the management I've known, which includes multiple Fortune 50 CEOs. When I say "known" I mean "known" and not "been ten layers under." What I think will happen is CEOs will be glorified actors that are tasked with delivering the decisions some ML system…

This is basically where we are today, except that instead of AI it's management consultants (and they're expensive).

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

#324

Post by 8note »

jfim wrote: post #186
jaredklewis wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This argument sounds entirely theoretical. Do you have an example of even one small town where average or median wages or benefits were decreased as a result of Amazon? I frequently encounter armchair economists on the Internet making sweeping claims about various, but it is frustrating. It takes basically no effort to think up something plausible. But to take even the first step towards empirically verifying a given…

> Do you have an example of even one small town where average or median wages or benefits were decreased as a result of Amazon? A couple of quotes from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/business/economy/amazon-w... In making the case against a union at its warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., Amazon has touted its compensation package. The company notes that base pay at the facility, around $15.50 an hour for most rank-and-…

Important to note: the vote result was already tallied to not unionize

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

#325

Post by 8note »

MereInterest wrote: post #281
_greim_ wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon has committed the "sin of success", so they're in the spotlight. Criticisms of Amazon make sense when viewed as criticisms of laws and incentives all business operate under.

Then how is it that I consistently hear about how Costco treats its employees phenomenally? Amazon's revenue surpassed Costco's in 2016, so if it is merely success that gets criticized Costco should have been similarly before that point. But that's not the case, and both Amazon and Costco have had their current reputations for much longer than that.

Costco is certainly the exception.

You could alternatively compare to McDonald's?

Pepsi?

Facebook?

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

#326

Post by antasvara »

tharkun__ wrote: post #298
brutus1213 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Walmart Canada's pick up seemed to develop in front of my eyes. At the start of the pandemic, there were almost no spots and they screwed up a lot. E.g you'd get half the items you ordered, wrong items, would not get pick up order ready in time, fee on orders, etc. Whoever ran the show, executed brilliantly. It kept getting better. A relative scoffed at my high praise, and I convinced him to try it .. he too was b…

To be brutally honest: What does "touchless" mean here except clever marketing that plays off fears about Covid? If anything more people touch your items in this system or its on par. Sure there's no cashier/packer touching your items at checkout. But the equivalent has to happen internally. I have no idea how it actually works but I gather since most stuff goes directly into the store and not the warehouse someone w…

I think "contactless" at this point has come to be a term for no human contact.

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

#327

Post by 8note »

hosh wrote: post #126
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…

That is the heart of “Aggregation Theory” from the stratechary blog. That these companies amass their market power by making their product so easy to use, they aggregate demand and are able to squeeze suppliers. They hold monopolistic power, but it is hard to argue that they “harm consumers”. Unlike old school monopolies, consumers go to aggregators because they want to, not because they are forced to.

I don't know that it's better for suppliers to have monopoly power

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

#328

Post by humaniania »

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…

Advocate to people that you know about joining the boycott. Stop choosing the cheaper and more convenient option, because you're supporting abuse.

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

#329

Post by 8note »

kelnos wrote: post #275
quantum_magpie wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>consumers go to aggregators because they want to, not because they are forced to. Recently I wanted to buy 10-ish dead tree books in English and get them shipped to an eastern EU country. Going through the first 20~ DDG results of online stores exactly zero would ship them here. Also, the local bookstores would have only few books in English, mostly the 'bestseller'-type stuff. Amazon was the only place that would h…

I think the statement you're replying to is more talking about staple items, not long-tail items. Things like toilet paper, toothpaste, shoes, etc. should be widely-available from local stores (both online and brick-and-mortar), and yet people still go to the aggregators for them, because it's easier and gives them predictable pricing, delivery, and quality.

Do you have a local toilet paper store? I only have local aggregators, who also sell toothpaste and painkillers

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

#330

Post by PostThisTooFast »

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…

Yeah. Amazon is disgusting and essentially criminal, stealing designs from people and reproducing them as their own (see the Peak Design story).

But then you go to a brick-and-mortar store and they don't have shit. I'm talking middle-of-the road sizes and products... nothing. I can't feel sorry for businesses that can't learn basic inventory control.

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