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

reuters.com

521–530 of 560 posts

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

#521
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define what a livable wage is then. Is it $25/hr? $50/hr? $100/hr?

To start with, any definition that ends with a constant number is wrong. The living wage in an area depends on the cost of living in that area. I don't have that number on hand, but I expect it to be included in any discussion of what people should get payed. After that, we need to ask how much profit a person should be allowed to make on their labor.

Okay everyone recognizes this is true. Please share a reasonable number for a medium COL city, ballpark.

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

#522
post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't an emotional attachment, I just clearly see that lots of technologies lean on one another and you can't easily pick an choose which ones to abandon and the clock simply does not roll backwards. Every material good that isn't made of material near at hand relies on trade and specialized skills. The humble pencil is shockingly complicated to produce, as you can see in the 1958 essay "I, Pencil". If you want so…

Thank you for your input. You're right, and one day I hope to be elevated to your level of rationality and logical thinking. It's an honour to receive input from someone like you.

No one care what a smug fanatic like you thinks.

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

#523
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And you really think the local shopowner kept all the profit in their community? E.g. they didn't send their kids to college in another state? Imagine spending money and having that money allow people in your local community to afford college. Then imagine thinking that’s a bad thing. Obviously it’s complicated, but the gist is longer money stays in a local area, the better off that area is going to be. It’s better…

> Then imagine thinking that’s a bad thing. You seem to have missed my point entirely. I'm not saying that's a bad thing -- but I'm saying that by your logic, you seem to think it is. You're looking at money like it's some kind of zero-sum thing that ought to be hoarded by every local community. You say: > but the gist is longer money stays in a local area, the better off that area is going to be That is contrary to…

I’m not suggesting an entire economic system based around hoarding money. There’s no “money should never leave your local town” ideas here.

I’m saying that as a single pragmatic person in the current world we live in, it’s better to spend your money locally.

We don’t live in a world where any community is self sufficient, money comes and goes, but for many towns, it just goes.

As you said, this stuff is complicated.

An individual choosing to spend money at local businesses is not what makes a mercantile economic system.

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

#524
post #103
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had this exact sentiment for many years but... what are we supporting really? Is it because you want a distributed network of inventory across the country near you in case of emergency? Is it because you like talking to someone when doing purchases? Is it because you think someone is doing a societal good by parking money in inventory they brought near you? Is it because you just don't like someone doing it more…

> you just don't like someone doing it more efficiently For some value of "more efficiently". I mean if the most efficient way to work is to have delivery drivers pee in a bottle and warehouse workers develop RSIs, who am I to complain? Someone else's dignity is a small price to pay in order to get a 3% rebate on some commodity.

you have no issues using iphone/pixel/whatever you got based on how those are manufactured? you gonna buy your next phone from a local producer?

At least in the USA we have some semblance of a Labor Department etc...

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

#525
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It turns local businesses into showrooms for Amazon, and that is a failing business model. I do not patronize Amazon. But f I did, I would pick a margin - let's say 20% - and resolve to buy locally when the price is at least that close to the online price.

> But f I did, I would pick a margin - let's say 20% - and resolve to buy locally when the price is at least that close to the online price. Focusing on the price is a complete misunderstanding. Just looking at my recent amazon purchases. I have bought 3mm and 2mm thick brass sheets, 0.8mm endmills, a set of dwarven miner minis, and a highlander cow shaped slipper. I have no clue which shop would even hope to have th…

You do have a pretty niche use case tho. Aany issues with inferior product quality ?

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

#526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course Amazon cares. They measure fulfillment time religiously. Amazon is amazingly well run.

Amazon is only well run for the shareholders and executives. It is not well run for the people filling the boxes. It seems down right sadistic. Like the executives don't even see them as people. And they sent me a 43" Samsung TV when I ordered a 42" LG OLED. How the hell can their many billions of dollars of IT investment not automatically scan the barcode on the box or weight the box or use computer vision and notic…

If you buy this [0] Startech 25U open server rack (unsure about other sizes), there is a non-zero chance you’ll receive a pallet of them – 9 in total – for the price of one. It’s a running joke in r/homelab. It happened to me, and then I found out it happened to a lot of people.

Also, for this reason, it’s somewhat common to see them for sale at a steep discount in r/homelabsales. Only makes sense if you’re within driving distance, but hey – cheap rack.

[0]: https://a.co/d/2WJiDWz

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

#527
post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It amazes me how things used to make more sense back in the day.

With this line of thinking, I guess lynchings are acceptable too?

When the ruling class captures all the non violent methods of resistance, then perhaps a little bit of lynching may convince them otherwise.

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

#528
post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US Navy is rebuilding to fight a war with China. There are jobs available in the shipyards, mostly unionized. It's tough work, probably harder and more dangerous than an Amazon warehouse.

That's good for the coastal towns that have shipyards, but useless in the flyover states.

The US Navy, like all parts of the DOD, knows that the best way to build support for any weapons system is to have part of it manufactured in a Congressman's district. The most unsinkable projects are built, little by little, in 435 districts.

So, yes, the shipyards need to be on the coast. But much of the material on the inside of the ship may be built elsewhere.

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

#529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the dichotomy. Local stores can exist and their taxes can pay for things, but the Amazon HQ also exists and can pay for things. And its employees likely pay the higher taxation bands as well, although I could be wrong.

The local stores still support those higher-paying roles, though again probably more locally — the local accountant, the local lawyer when they need one, the local IT company. The Amazon HQ is great for Seattle and Luxembourg, but money spent there is gone from my local (or even national) community.

This is mostly the case from imports, though, isn't it? Anything you import rather than buy locally is money leaving the country. That seems to be by far the bigger effect if that's what you're concerned about. Ireland's situation, if I understand it correctly, is still to pull corporation tax from Amazon sales in Europe, just at a lower rate. So Ireland is going to be a massive net beneficiary, even if you only take into account the corporation tax paid by Amazon and not the larger effects (other taxes; infrastructure investment; etc).

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

#530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either you think the CEO was an undeserving victim, or you think that only billionaires and their enforces deserve a monopoly on lethal force. So, what's your take on this recent scenario: Ukraine assassinated a Russian general that authorised plans for chemical attacks that killed civilians. The general never directly murdered anyone in person, never "pulled a trigger", but was ultimately responsible for many deaths…

Either you think the CEO was an undeserving victim, or you think that only billionaires and their enforces deserve a monopoly on lethal force. Neither choice is valid, and this statement is just pure mindfuck. It is completely irrelevant what the CEO "deserved". I'm not going to condone lynching or vigilante killings in any civil context. There's no analogy with Ukraine/Russia, or any actual military conflict. You wh…

Of course there's an analogy. A guy kills a whole lot of other guys and is still killing more - is it okay to kill him so he stops killing more?

For example is it okay to kill Hitler halfway through the Holocaust, or are we normally obliged to wait to tbe end and then put him to a fair trial?

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