11 ms·
I get what you're saying, but these are the ways that management finds the margins that allow you to receive cheap products on your doorstep in 2 days.
by jbob2000 7y ago
I get what you're saying, but these are the ways that management finds the margins that allow you to receive cheap products on your doorstep in 2 days.
- DangitBobby 7y agoThen the products should cost more or get here in 3 days.
- dev_dull 7y agoKind of like how people say “then unhappy amazon employees should simply find another job”?
- slothtrop 7y agolet's head over to the job tree, what sort of bullshit dropping to the ground today?
- DangitBobby 7y agoDamn, yeah, I guess these guys should really be asking their new employer if they'll be subject to wage theft before they get hired.
- mikelyons 7y agoOr just a̶s̶s̶u̶m̶e̶ be vigilant about it, corporations are amoral profit machines and have no incentive to care about replaceable workers.
- jonfw 7y agoI have no incentive to care about the grocery store I frequent, but it is still illegal for me to steal from them and I can expect to be held accountable by the government in the event that I do steal from them. I'm very libertarian- but at the end of the day I will always support the government authority to punish theft. And a failure to pay employees the agreed upon rate is theft.
- mikelyons 7y agoYou're neglecting to consider that you have to be caught.
- bigj0n 7y agoAmazon was just being tried in court. This isnt about being caught- the evidence is clear as day and was presented in court. This is about a failure of our legal system to protect basic rights of a laborer to be paid the agreed upon rate.
- mikelyons 7y agoHe was talking about their next job ...
- Buge 7y agoI don't see how it's that similar. Employees getting a new job is often very difficult, so would create a lot of difficulty for a lot of people. Whereas Amazon raising their prices by a few cents shouldn't be much work.
- mikelyons 7y agoIt's not about the difficulty of raising prices, it's about the impact to the bottom line profit to shareholders when a few cents is extrapolated over a billion transactions.
- Buge 7y agoThe percent impact would be negligible, I expect lower than daily fluctuation. Anyway, the law isn't just designed to protect shareholders, it's designed to protect everyone. If someone can make money by fraud, that money is not justification to allow fraud. The US economy relies on dependable contacts.
- Supermancho 7y ago> Anyway, the law isn't just designed to protect shareholders, Which law? "The Law" as an ideal, is impartial. That's irrelevant. In practice, applied law (and the cousin enforced law) leads to biased results, favoring the wealthy and the status quo while remaining "impartial".
- Buge 7y agoOk, then "the law shouldn't be just designed". We shouldn't let a defeatist attitude discourage attempts at improvement.
- Supermancho 7y agoNor should we pretend "the law" is perfect in application and outcome...or why would anyone try to improve it?
- gerbilly 7y agoThere's a huge imbalance of power between the company and an individual worker. So it's "kind of" not the same at all. Why are people so quick to defend the powerful?
- kazagistar 7y agoThis is the site of a tech investment company. Its full of the rich and powerful who are protecting themselves.
- eropple 7y agoAspiring rich and powerful. Most people here (myself very much included) remain part of the precariat, and the fangs-out defense of the rich and powerful is most frequently done by those who, in the end, may manage to not lose but likely will not win. John Steinbeck wasn't wrong.
- 4ntonius8lock 7y agoHuman beings are tribal creatures, not individualists. As such, we have leaders and followers. By definition of leaders and followers, most people will be followers, whether for genetic or environmental reasons. Followers will always support those who are leaders. In our current society, that would mean the powerful. If you don't believe me, look at behavioral sciences. Most people will shock someone to death just because an authority said so (yes the Millgram experiments were biased, but the results aren't completely invalidated by that)
- ummonk 7y agoIf Amazon sends you a different product, or charges your credit card more than the claimed price, do you just simply find another retailer, or do you demand a refund?
- goto11 7y agoI don't see how it should affect the speed of delivery that the Amazon employees gets paid for their time? But yeah it might affect the price - or Amazon might be able to optimize the "security check" if they have to compensate workers for the wasted time.
- jbob2000 7y agoMoney saved on labour means you can spend more money on more labour! Or you can buy more machines, or you could invest in a project to reduce packaging times, etc. etc. There's probably not a direct correlation between saving on security checks and reduced shipping time, but it's all connected. Maybe paying these wages means there's no money for more robots, so packaging things will take longer?
- SolaceQuantum 7y ago" Maybe paying these wages means there's no money for more robots, so packaging things will take longer?" It's not like Amazon is running a zero sum balance sheet here. They have profits this could take out of and maintain all their service and speed.
- Dylan16807 7y ago> Maybe paying these wages means there's no money for more robots, so packaging things will take longer? Packing an individual box takes minutes. So it's a question of capacity, and it's pretty binary. If they have enough capacity then a large majority of items can ship within a couple hours. If they don't have enough capacity then the 90th percentile shipping time becomes indefinite/never. A situation where packaging takes an extra day, end of story, is unlikely and unstable. And I'd say that some robots are R&D, so not having money for them has no effect on shipping times, and the rest are a cost-saving measure, so they'll always have the money.
- pnutjam 7y agoNot the workers problem.
- wnevets 7y agothis would cost the customer an extra penny, maybe a nickel?
- jbob2000 7y agoThat wouldn't be the news headline, though. The customer would find out about the cost increase via an article titled something like "Amazon increases prices by up to 20%, are your favourite purchases affected?". I'm with you though, it costs the consumer nothing.
- Frondo 7y agoThis could be addressed by having more labor-conscious journalists and headline writers. Framing it that way, of course people would respond negatively to price increases. "Amazon workers now paid for all the time they're clocked in, prices may be affected" is a lot more sympathetic to workers.
- stallmanite 7y agoI feel like they're labor conscious they just don't give a fuck or are actively opposed.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoLabor conscious writers mean nothing if their editors (and newspaper / website / whatever) owners disagree. Ultimately the wordsmiths need to get paid, too, and they write what gets them money -- which is what their bosses want to print.
- kaikai 7y agoThe Coalition of Immokalee Workers famously used this argument as part of their campaign for farmworkers. The argument was that fast food companies paying 1 cent more per lb. for their tomatoes would have a huge benefit for the workers picking the tomatoes, and they won.
- mnm1 7y agoTwo day shipping of cheap products justify not paying employees for their time? Wtf?
- jbob2000 7y agoI don't agree with it, but two day shipping is the silver bullet that separates Amazon from the competition. I don't hear these stories about Walmart or Costco's warehouses, clearly there's something about the way Amazon does business that causes these problems.
- SolaceQuantum 7y agoI hear a lot of horrific stuff about Walmart working, actually, including their anti-uninionizing efforts. Costco IIRC actually just plain cares for their employees and is doing well in its niche.
- specialist 7y agoSam's Club (Walmart) != Costco Please refer to this documentary about Walmart. They're not just anti-labor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wal-Mart:_The_High_Cost_of_Low_Price https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wal-Mart:_The_High_Cost_of_Low... While Walmart didn't invent bad behavior, they're pretty good at it.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- joejerryronnie 7y agoNot sure why you’re being downvoted here (maybe a misunderstanding of what you’re trying to say?) My takeaway from your comment is that we should first look to our own hypocrisy, i.e. we’re quick to post a comment about Amazon’s unfair labor practices, but we’re just a little quicker to click on that free 2-day prime shipping button.
- goto11 7y agoWhat is hypocritical about that?
- ClumsyPilot 7y agoI thought I was getting my product from a regulated and audited public company. If I wanted to take law into my own hands I might as well go to the local gangsters and smugglers.
- joejerryronnie 7y agoAt least you can purchase from your local gangsters and smugglers with a clear conscience ;-)