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Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

reuters.com

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Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing that I see a lot of. I grew up in Africa, and was exposed to extreme poverty, since as far back as I can remember. People living poor don't like it. They may have accepted it, and may have learned to deal with it, but they don't tend to like it. They want out, and generally jump at the chance to do so. People in richer communities may have fantasies about "living closer to nature," but that doesn't u…

I picked a place to live that's close to nature, right across my back fence from millions of acres of public forest. I love it here. Poverty is not required. I commute to work via Starlink and most nonperishables are delivered to my front porch by UPS, mostly from Amazon. It's green on both sides of my fence, and it's a choice that normal people, who can work remotely, can make if they value it. My house is far cheap…

That is all well and good and a setup I totally understand. Now that I am in the US I like that my home is 15 steps away from a good-sized network of forest trails. Nature is good. But it is good because of technology: unlimited potable water, plenty of energy to keep my home warm, electricity and internet and cars to get me to the downtown or an airport when I feel like it.

But my opponent, to whom I responded, wants to "severely restrict technology". And this is what I have beef with. Those folks tend to be from rich countries and want to freeze things at their current, comfortable for them, level. They do not want to give up the running water, swear off vaccines and antibiotics or go through dental work without painkillers. Which is where a large part of the world would be stuck under this "technology restriction".

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the world doesn't need a particular task to be done by humans, then the task should be performed by robots. The problem is, our society isn't ready for that shift, not even close. Employment opportunities for the low skilled have all but gone down the drain - there is a reason why Walmart, Amazon and the other usual suspects love to set up shop in devastated communities: they have a captive audience that has no…

Everyone cheering for automation and AI always says "oh we'll just implement UBI" but none of them ever seem to actually be working to help make that happen; I doubt we will get a glimpse of that until things get bad enough for CEO-murder to be a much more common thing.

MCD still needs middle class people to buy their Happy Meals.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#473
post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $20/hr still isn't much money and you can only survive, note I'm not saying thrive here, on that amount in the poor areas in America. That's enough to thrive in lots of places in the USA, in some cases. Maybe not the most desirable places, though.

absolutely not, maybe if you're living with parents and not paying for rent or groceries

Or living by yourself or with a spouse, maybe with a kid. Not everywhere is high cost.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> lots of tech (ever bought a device only to find out it doesn’t actually do what it’s supposed to do?) No, because I don't buy the cheap no-name junk off Amazon. It's pretty rare for me to encounter returns for stuff like that, because I already try and avoid supporting the e-waste game from the get-go. But I would say if you honestly tried to get a good and it wasn't what was advertised that's a good reason for a r…

Do you honestly think retailers are throwing away 50% of their returned stock? They’re absolutely, 100% repacking and reselling what they can.

I returned some hardcover books that were intended as gifts, but the corners got banged up in shipping (because why bother doing something right when you can make it up in scale?). Perfectly usable items, but I obviously wasn't going to pay the new condition price for items they damaged with incompetent handling. When I brought them to return, the clerk just stuck the Amazon return label right in the middle of the front dust jacket. I doubt that's getting resold.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#475
post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's my perspective. Not exactly related, but I hope you understand how I think: If I am a small shipping company, and all I need is someone to wrap boxes and store them, and the load isn't much, then should I be paying them full time for the job? Heck, should I pay them a living wage? No. I pay them the value of the job. Obviously, we need a certain minimum wage because nobody deserves to get scammed and make 10 c…

Unless you're the only one selling a product that people need and want to buy you're going to be undercut by your competitors that aren't paying for these things either as that is how it works in America. Quite expected when there's no worker shortage so companies have to compete for workers, but that's not the kind of competition capitalists want. In most of Europe workers wouldn't have to worry about any of that, e…

Thank you for your response. I hope I'm not misunderstanding here, but enlighten me if I am.

I wish all the benefits are possible, but it isn't feasible because different countries function differently, and I think your point explains it much better than I could have explained it.

America and Europe are different places, with different economies and as a result have different luxuries they can afford and costs they must bear. This means it is easier to offer benefits in Europe than America.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#476
post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's my perspective. Not exactly related, but I hope you understand how I think: If I am a small shipping company, and all I need is someone to wrap boxes and store them, and the load isn't much, then should I be paying them full time for the job? Heck, should I pay them a living wage? No. I pay them the value of the job. Obviously, we need a certain minimum wage because nobody deserves to get scammed and make 10 c…

My ex wanted to go work at a veterinarian's office. Several in the area had openings, but one significant caveat: Each was offering only part-time hours (16-24h) but required "full-time availability". That is not an fair exchange of effort. Small business owners all too often (as much as they are also a valuable part of the community) think that they are entitled to far too much of their employees, and seem to think…

I understand your frustration with these unfair offers, and I am not supporting that. In your case, you make an unfair generalization of small business owners and base your explanation of it.

In theory, if one employer offers a job with great benefits, they will win over the employer with not as many benefits. Clearly, that wasn't happening in your example.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#478
post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's my perspective. Not exactly related, but I hope you understand how I think: If I am a small shipping company, and all I need is someone to wrap boxes and store them, and the load isn't much, then should I be paying them full time for the job? Heck, should I pay them a living wage? No. I pay them the value of the job. Obviously, we need a certain minimum wage because nobody deserves to get scammed and make 10 c…

If they are working for you full time, but you aren't paying them living wage, how exactly are they supposed to make ends meet?

I don't know, but I think it is unfair to put all responsibility onto the business owner. In theory, a job is an agreement where you work for someone, and they pay you. Certain benefits may be required depending on circumstances, but making companies provide so many benefits is not a fair option.

Keep in mind, I'm not opposed to companies providing benefits, but I think regulating this would create more trouble than good.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#479
post #459
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea no. I understand the sentiment and agree with it, but not exactly feasible for a lot of companies, especially for the type of job they offer

Guys, you have to fix USA! > Healthcare, decent sized apartment, 5 weeks of paid vacation, free or easily affordable pre school, overtime pay, decent schools and free college, is a good start. This is literally the (by-law) standard of living for people with full time jobs with employment contracts[1] where I grew in Italy... that's not Silicon Valley, but one part of Italy that has been depressed for many years. (It…

Italy and America are different places, with conditions. Just because one is feasible in one country doesn't mean its feasible in another.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#480
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, the key feature of Amazon is the fast delivery with Prime. Do other merchants offer fast delivery often enough? Regarding credit cards, I started using privacy dot com for virtual, merchant-locked cards. It protects against (rare) card details leaks, but, of course, does not give you any points or cashback.

> To me, the key feature of Amazon is the fast delivery with Prime Most websites won't even give you a realistic shipping time (major brands might but the long-tail of online merchants don't). They might say "2-3 day shipping" but that's how long it takes after they ship it, sometimes it can take up a week before they actually ship it. It means than if I buy from anyone but a massive retailer I am rolling the dice on…

I was just looking at buying “The Great American Mail Race”, which is sold directly by USPS. They charge $16.45 for the shipping and don’t even provide the shipping speed! It could be anything from next day to next month- it’s not mentioned. And that’s from USPS’s own website! How does the USPS not think to consider sharing the shipment priority with the customer during checkout? Insanity.
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