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Why does Amazon need donations for their workers when they have a market cap of almost $1T? Surely they have enough money?

by ipsum2 7y ago

nickff 7y ago
Market capitalization is not indicative of cash-on-hand. You should at least look at their assets, or maybe operating income, which are both substantial and publicly available. https://ir.aboutamazon.com/quarterly-results https://ir.aboutamazon.com/quarterly-results
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
klipt 7y ago
Because you don't get rich by helping people with your money. This is like those uplifting news posts about people paying for cancer treatment via gofundme ... strictly speaking it's better than the alternative of no treatment but at the same time a sign of something terribly wrong with our society: https://xkcd.com/463/ https://xkcd.com/463/
metacritic12 7y ago
I encourage anyone considering donating to this to instead (or in addition) donate to a general COVID-19 relief fund. The economic impact of donating to a fund that disburses selectively to Amazon associates is that it increases the value of being an Amazon associate. In effect, this allows Amazon to pay their associates less. In economic analysis, this is called the incidence of a intervention. The incidence of your donation is that a good fraction of each dollar is effectively a donation to Amazon. This is very similar to the finding that a lot of tax credits to the poor actually get co-opted by Walmart to pay their lowest associates even less.
ggreer 7y ago
- Market cap is not liquid assets. Amazon can't sell my shares of their company and use it to fund their employees. - This is not run by Amazon. It's run by the Emergency Assistance Foundation, Inc[1]. a 501c(3) charity. Their LinkedIn says they have around 20 employees.[2] I have no idea how effective this charity is. 1. https://emergencyassistancefdn.org/ https://emergencyassistancefdn.org/ 2. https://www.linkedin.com/company/emergencyassistancefoundation/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/emergencyassistancefoundati...
- ipsum2 7y ago
  - Amazon owns its own shares, thats how they give out restricted stock units to employees. They have plenty. - EAF looks like they're teaming up with Amazon, which is really admirable of them. Still doesn't excuse why Amazon isn't paying their employees and contractors.
eyegor 7y ago
Won't anyone think of the poor megacorps and airlines in their time of need? Seriously though, a humanitarian effort to support workers laid off during this crisis would be nice. The problem being that popup donation centers during disasters are often scams. This isn't exactly a scam but its purpose is to pay its own delivery crew. If you want to help people, donate to food banks (or volunteer!) Please support your favorite bands or artists directly by buying merch or music (bandcamp, patreon, etc). Performing artists have had all their income disappear overnight.

Why does Amazon need donations for their workers when they have a market cap of almost $1T? Surely they have enough money?

by ipsum2 7y ago

Why does Amazon need donations for their workers when they have a market cap of almost $1T? Surely they have enough money?

nickff 7y ago

Market capitalization is not indicative of cash-on-hand. You should at least look at their assets, or maybe operating income, which are both substantial and publicly available. https://ir.aboutamazon.com/quarterly-results https://ir.aboutamazon.com/quarterly-results

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

klipt 7y ago

Because you don't get rich by helping people with your money. This is like those uplifting news posts about people paying for cancer treatment via gofundme ... strictly speaking it's better than the alternative of no treatment but at the same time a sign of something terribly wrong with our society: https://xkcd.com/463/ https://xkcd.com/463/

metacritic12 7y ago

I encourage anyone considering donating to this to instead (or in addition) donate to a general COVID-19 relief fund. The economic impact of donating to a fund that disburses selectively to Amazon associates is that it increases the value of being an Amazon associate. In effect, this allows Amazon to pay their associates less. In economic analysis, this is called the incidence of a intervention. The incidence of your donation is that a good fraction of each dollar is effectively a donation to Amazon. This is very similar to the finding that a lot of tax credits to the poor actually get co-opted by Walmart to pay their lowest associates even less.

ggreer 7y ago

- Market cap is not liquid assets. Amazon can't sell my shares of their company and use it to fund their employees. - This is not run by Amazon. It's run by the Emergency Assistance Foundation, Inc[1]. a 501c(3) charity. Their LinkedIn says they have around 20 employees.[2] I have no idea how effective this charity is. 1. https://emergencyassistancefdn.org/ https://emergencyassistancefdn.org/ 2. https://www.linkedin.com/company/emergencyassistancefoundation/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/emergencyassistancefoundati...

ipsum2 7y ago
- Amazon owns its own shares, thats how they give out restricted stock units to employees. They have plenty. - EAF looks like they're teaming up with Amazon, which is really admirable of them. Still doesn't excuse why Amazon isn't paying their employees and contractors.

eyegor 7y ago

Won't anyone think of the poor megacorps and airlines in their time of need? Seriously though, a humanitarian effort to support workers laid off during this crisis would be nice. The problem being that popup donation centers during disasters are often scams. This isn't exactly a scam but its purpose is to pay its own delivery crew. If you want to help people, donate to food banks (or volunteer!) Please support your favorite bands or artists directly by buying merch or music (bandcamp, patreon, etc). Performing artists have had all their income disappear overnight.