6 ms·

> But really, what can Amazon do about this? They could pay their workers a living wage and not treat them like dogs.

by s_kilk 10y ago

briandear 10y ago
Supply and demand.
- bhaumik 10y ago
  This kind of sentiment is exactly what's wrong with "disruptive" culture
- gaur 10y ago
  The Silicon Valley empathy vacuum strikes again.
  - AWildDHHAppears 10y ago
    It strikes across a continent and an ocean? And Amazon's US office isn't even in Silicon Valley.
- s_kilk 10y ago
  Ok, so it's all supply and demand right? And it's every man for himself, bootstraps and such. A dog-eat-dog world, if you will? Here's the deal: How about you and me go into a big pit, with knives. And if I win, I get all your stuff. Oh, I see, suddenly you'd rather get the State involved.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- noonespecial 10y ago
  I don't think you should be downvoted. Its amazing to me that people will spout high minded "living wage" nonsense and then spend an hour on their computer searching for the cheapest retailer on the whole internet. If Amazon took the advice and paid higher, the products would cost more and the web-potificators would congratulate them profusely for their magnanimity while putting them straight out of business with their buying habits. Amazon is huge so it distorts the picture and seems to muddle the thinking a bit but even the largest of ships are beached by a receding tide. I'm not saying that this is the desired order of things, just things work at the moment.
- ctdonath 10y ago
  I don't see how you could be down voted for this on a forum that specializes in exactly that: supply and demand. Amazon needs the work done, people are willing to do that work for that wage under such conditions - supply and demand. At least people have that option; impose restrictions, and many go from having that option to not having it (while the employer finds cheaper options).
merb 10y ago
> it was easier and cheaper than commuting from his home in Perth so it would be fair if somebody who did a poor job in his school days (probably, I never heard that anybody work at Amazon with higher education and even than in germany amazon pays way more than other employers Zalando for example) and already have a home to get as much money to have two homes because one of the fact that his job is too far away from his regular house? Btw. I'm dropped out of "College" (in germany it's called different) but I tried hard to get a decent job and search a place to live (which is extremly hard here in Freiburg) but I got a cheap one that I can afford, besides the fact that it's not big, but it's fine. And I never complained since It was my own fault that I don't live like the rich boys now and "only" drive a "small" car, but some people are just ridicoulus. I know there are a lot of problems in the world but actually Europe and USA are actually still not the one's with "really really" big problems, actually we discuss about problems that some people did not get enough money blabla, while in other countries they barly get any money, food and water, it's just ridicoulus that we live in the cockaigne and call out some big companies because they don't pay their workers more. What all people forgot, they have a job, without one they would get way way less.
intopieces 10y ago
Can you provide evidence to support how your solution addresses the issue? Would the wage you propose all workers make allow this individual to live closer to his work site? Does the wage he makes now specifically disallow him from living close to his work site? Would his employer treating him better mean he doesn't sleep in a tent? This article doesn't give us enough information to know.
amzn-throw 10y ago
They pay them what the market dictates. Unfortunately these jobs are less than a decade away from being completely automated away. This is sad but is not Amazons fault. The people of the western world need to demand Universal Basic Income. Maybe if the government provided such a safety net, Amazon would have to pay people more to get them to work.
- krapp 10y ago
  > The people of the western world need to demand Universal Basic Income. Maybe if the government provided such a safety net, Amazon would have to pay people more to get them to work. In the US, at least, we seem to have elected a President with a mandate of dismantling what little regulatory and progressive protections already exist, adding more would be culturally and politically unthinkable. We'll see the repeal of the minimum wage and the establishment of China-style "free trade zones" long before we see UBI.
matz1 10y ago
They could but they won't unless powerful entities such as government force them to do it. Then might as well government provide the cheap or free housing themselves.

> But really, what can Amazon do about this? They could pay their workers a living wage and not treat them like dogs.

by s_kilk 10y ago

> But really, what can Amazon do about this? They could pay their workers a living wage and not treat them like dogs.

briandear 10y ago

Supply and demand.

bhaumik 10y ago
This kind of sentiment is exactly what's wrong with "disruptive" culture
gaur 10y ago
The Silicon Valley empathy vacuum strikes again.
- AWildDHHAppears 10y ago
  It strikes across a continent and an ocean? And Amazon's US office isn't even in Silicon Valley.
s_kilk 10y ago
Ok, so it's all supply and demand right? And it's every man for himself, bootstraps and such. A dog-eat-dog world, if you will? Here's the deal: How about you and me go into a big pit, with knives. And if I win, I get all your stuff. Oh, I see, suddenly you'd rather get the State involved.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
noonespecial 10y ago
I don't think you should be downvoted. Its amazing to me that people will spout high minded "living wage" nonsense and then spend an hour on their computer searching for the cheapest retailer on the whole internet. If Amazon took the advice and paid higher, the products would cost more and the web-potificators would congratulate them profusely for their magnanimity while putting them straight out of business with their buying habits. Amazon is huge so it distorts the picture and seems to muddle the thinking a bit but even the largest of ships are beached by a receding tide. I'm not saying that this is the desired order of things, just things work at the moment.
ctdonath 10y ago
I don't see how you could be down voted for this on a forum that specializes in exactly that: supply and demand. Amazon needs the work done, people are willing to do that work for that wage under such conditions - supply and demand. At least people have that option; impose restrictions, and many go from having that option to not having it (while the employer finds cheaper options).

merb 10y ago

> it was easier and cheaper than commuting from his home in Perth so it would be fair if somebody who did a poor job in his school days (probably, I never heard that anybody work at Amazon with higher education and even than in germany amazon pays way more than other employers Zalando for example) and already have a home to get as much money to have two homes because one of the fact that his job is too far away from his regular house? Btw. I'm dropped out of "College" (in germany it's called different) but I tried hard to get a decent job and search a place to live (which is extremly hard here in Freiburg) but I got a cheap one that I can afford, besides the fact that it's not big, but it's fine. And I never complained since It was my own fault that I don't live like the rich boys now and "only" drive a "small" car, but some people are just ridicoulus. I know there are a lot of problems in the world but actually Europe and USA are actually still not the one's with "really really" big problems, actually we discuss about problems that some people did not get enough money blabla, while in other countries they barly get any money, food and water, it's just ridicoulus that we live in the cockaigne and call out some big companies because they don't pay their workers more. What all people forgot, they have a job, without one they would get way way less.

intopieces 10y ago

Can you provide evidence to support how your solution addresses the issue? Would the wage you propose all workers make allow this individual to live closer to his work site? Does the wage he makes now specifically disallow him from living close to his work site? Would his employer treating him better mean he doesn't sleep in a tent? This article doesn't give us enough information to know.

amzn-throw 10y ago

They pay them what the market dictates. Unfortunately these jobs are less than a decade away from being completely automated away. This is sad but is not Amazons fault. The people of the western world need to demand Universal Basic Income. Maybe if the government provided such a safety net, Amazon would have to pay people more to get them to work.

krapp 10y ago
> The people of the western world need to demand Universal Basic Income. Maybe if the government provided such a safety net, Amazon would have to pay people more to get them to work. In the US, at least, we seem to have elected a President with a mandate of dismantling what little regulatory and progressive protections already exist, adding more would be culturally and politically unthinkable. We'll see the repeal of the minimum wage and the establishment of China-style "free trade zones" long before we see UBI.

matz1 10y ago

They could but they won't unless powerful entities such as government force them to do it. Then might as well government provide the cheap or free housing themselves.