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I don't understand why we expect Amazon to do the right thing vs we should expect in this case all retailers to do the right thing? Unfortunately as consumers w
by jasd 4y ago
I don't understand why we expect Amazon to do the right thing vs we should expect in this case all retailers to do the right thing? Unfortunately as consumers we are always looking for the best deal or the lowest price on everything. Which means retailers need to cut costs every way possible which in turn leads to sucking every ounce out of workers.
Let's assume that Amazon did end up making things way better for their workers. That means higher costs and hence higher prices. This will allow other retailers to win markets by setting the best prices.
I think we need regulation that applies to all retailers in this case or all industries that hire manual labor vs constantly targeting Amazon for being the bad guy.
- AlexandrB 4y agoIt's funny that this logic is rarely applied to executive compensation or stock buybacks. Apparently it only hurts competitiveness to increase wages for the low-level workers. Any of the other ways that money gets wasted in a major retail corporation is fine. And then there are the counterexamples, like Costco, that manage to pay well and be wildly competitive.
- lupire 4y agoJeff Bezos's $200B says he's not paying the most he can while still surviving in business.
- mdorazio 4y agoLet's do some math for fun. Amazon now employs about a million workers in the US. Let's naively assume 3/4 of them work in warehouses and delivery as opposed to corporate. Let's also assume they work, on average, 2000 hours a year (roughly full-time). For Amazon to raise those wages by $1/hr (or lower efficiency demands by ~7%) it would cost them around $1.5B every year. Now, you're probably thinking that's chump change compared to Amazon's profits, but fun fact: Amazon's online sales segment doesn't make much profit. In fact, it lost $200M in Q4 [1]. So you basically want Amazon to either go deeply in the red, or else they have to raise prices on products to also raise worker wages. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/04/amazons-profit-engines-are-humming-despite-retail-slowdown.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/04/amazons-profit-engines-are-h...
- MathCodeLove 4y ago
- notch656a 4y agoRich man reasonable, but the idea Amazon sales are gross-margin-negative is borderline retarded. Margins on sales are going into other things, like re-investment in the business instead of wages. The loss is engineered to increase future revenue. That may create more jobs in the long run and make Amazon more competitive, but lets call a spade a spade.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- jodrellblank 4y agoIf it was really losing $800M/year why would they keep it running at all? Could this be "creative accounting"?
- skinnymuch 4y agoAmazon doesn’t lose money with what you’re saying. They are moving money around. We need to stop trusting wildly rich and powerful people and corporations so much.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]