4 ms·
Why should he pay them more than market value? As a shareholder, I definitely don't want this to happen. It's not Bezos' company, it's a public company.
by iopq 9y ago
Why should he pay them more than market value? As a shareholder, I definitely don't want this to happen. It's not Bezos' company, it's a public company.
- sp332 9y agoWhat's market value? Seems like a better description would be "as little as you can get away with".
- artursapek 9y agoIf he pays his workers too little, they will go work elsewhere. Nobody is forcing anyone to work for Amazon.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jsmeaton 9y agoThat makes sense in an economy where supply (jobs) is greater than demand. If there are no other jobs then your choice becomes work for as little as offered or starve.
- sp332 9y agoIf Amazon pushes out other businesses in an area, there might not be an "elsewhere" nearby. How are they going to move across the country for a job when they don't have any money? If they're having a hard time making rent, how do they take time off to do interviews?
- _sentient 9y agoYes, that's exactly how markets work.
- sp332 9y agoMarket value is not some objective number. Any value between the smallest acceptable to the seller to the highest acceptable to the buyer would work. More than half the people are trying to get the most they can instead of the least. The vast majority of people in this situation (the employees) are not getting what they want. Unless they start collective bargaining, Bezos has far more power than they do.
- saint_fiasco 9y agoYes. Just like you pay as little as you can get away with for Amazon's products. Why would anyone pay more than they have to for stuff? The only reason someone would do such a thing is if they do it for charity. Which Jeff Bezos is doing anyway, just for a different charitable cause.
- sp332 9y agoI don't think paying someone more because you appreciate the effort they put in, or their commitment to the success of the company, counts as charity. Edit: or realizing that you're all in this together and their success is your success.
- saint_fiasco 9y agoIf you need employees who are committed to the success of the company, then you can't really "get away" with paying them less. If you have competition, having loyal motivated employees can make a difference and provide a competitive edge. But if you don't need loyal motivated employees, paying extra for that is unnecessary and basically just very inefficient charity.
- tooltalk 9y agoMy co-workers (SWE) used to work at Amazon and their wages were fairly competitive (ie, market rate). I'm not too sure about non-technical, warehouse jobs, but I would expect those jobs to be much lower. How much do you think they should get paid?
- sp332 9y agoMaybe something that tracks how much value they produce for the company, or how successful the company is overall? The article says Bezos cut healthcare and pension plans, while the company is making more money than ever.
- iopq 9y agoIf he did that, then the company couldn't have gotten this popular. In the beginning, it was VERY difficult to get a better deal on products than Amazon because of how low their prices were. If they started to pay their employees more, then they could have never priced their goods as competitively. "But wait, that was then, why not start paying their employees better now?" Because this is just the beginning. Amazon will use that money to grow even bigger by investing into itself. You don't even know what they might expand into in the next ten years. And yes, they will have to do it by paying their employees as little as they can get away with to keep growing the business at the same quick rate.
- adjkant 9y agoIf he plans to donate to charity, he is acting on ethics. Why not translate that to the surplus money available in his business is the question. Of course there is nuance here with taxes, PR, and what dispersal of money does more ethical good. The point is, depending on the answer you settle on for this resulting question, there are multiple valid answers to your question above.
- saint_fiasco 9y agoIf he is acting on ethics, charity can still be superior. After all, the terrible way Amazon treats its employees is literally a First World problem. Many charity recipients have much more urgent needs.
- redblacktree 9y agoSays the guy who's likely posting this message on company time from an air-conditioned office.