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Do you have any numbers on what you mean by 'close to minimum wage'? Quick Googling shows that Amazon pays fulfillment associates $12-13/hour starting, which is
by mabbo 10y ago
Do you have any numbers on what you mean by 'close to minimum wage'? Quick Googling shows that Amazon pays fulfillment associates $12-13/hour starting, which is much higher than the US minimum wage of $7.25.
The more important factor is competition. If Amazon hires 10 people, you can bet tradition retail needed at least 11 to do the same amount of work. If Amazon is undercutting them, those businesses will die off, and 11 people will be out of work.
If Amazon wants to hire 100,000 logistics/fulfillment employees, you can bet there's more than 100,000 people who will be out of work elsewhere.
Bias note: I spent 5 years making software for Amazon's logistics division.
- sbassi 10y ago"fulfillment associates", aren't they employees?
- mabbo 10y agoYes. Their job title is traditionally fulfillment associate, like mine was SDE.
- ThrustVectoring 10y ago>If Amazon is undercutting them That's the actually important question. If Amazon is convincing people that delivery service is worth paying a premium for, that's a new product/service that the economy is producing and employing people for, and is itself economic growth. If Amazon is instead more efficient and competing on price, then they're only freeing up the ability for the displaced to do productive economic work elsewhere in the economy.
- mabbo 10y agoBezos's famous quotation: "Your margin is my opportunity". They'll alway undercut the competition if they can.