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So dystopian. You can imagine the vending machine kiosk on the first floor— no, the Alexa built into every unit- that’s ready to deliver anything you wish, and
by politician 4y ago
So dystopian. You can imagine the vending machine kiosk on the first floor— no, the Alexa built into every unit- that’s ready to deliver anything you wish, and accept your rent payment.
- lancesells 4y agoMight as well just house employees there as well and take the rent directly out of their paychecks. Frighteningly they have almost 1 million employees in the US, which is more than the population of a handful of states.
- plasticchris 4y agoI wonder what the tax treatment would be - I think company housing might not be taxed as income in this case (on prem, required to work there, etc), allowing them to pay much lower effective rates for labor by baking the cost of housing into a paycheck and pocketing the tax savings.
- longtimelistnr 4y agoThere’s not a fucking chance that’s legal
- zdragnar 4y agoEmployee benefits are routinely taxed differently. Health insurance, 401ks, some meals, etc. Most likely, it'd be considered a "fringe benefit" and the employee would still have W2 / income taxes and withholdings on it. How municipalities would tax the property value depends entirely on how they choose to tax on-site housing (as it is technically both commercial and residential space). Maintenance on the buildings would likely be partially deductible as operating expenses, no different than any other building operated by a landlord or business.
- dboreham 4y agoThe illegal aspect only pertains to doing something like this and not paying relevant taxes. Companies have been providing their employees housing for hundreds of years. Trump Org was perfectly free to provide employees apartments, provided appropriate tax filings and payments were made.
- onphonenow 4y agoCorrect, employer provided housing not taxed in certain cases, so you get some massive tax savings this way. Be interesting to see what argument amazon might make. Needs to be: * The housing is provided on the property owned by the business or employer. * The housing is provided for the convenience of the employer. * The employee must accept housing as a condition of employment. Intended more for folks like on-call firefighters living in a firehouse or a park ranger who is required to live in a cabin in a park or nanny's staying with their family. I could see some situations amazon might have an argument to make - they could probably do micro-units or shared housing / dorm style housing for workers and save massively on labor costs especially in high cost urban areas where folks would otherwise never be able to afford a place.
- missedthecue 4y agoHmm. I guess one man's dystopia is another man's utopia.
- jawmes8 4y ago> Hmm. I guess one man's dystopia is another man's utopia. That does seem true for most sci-fi stories! I would think the dystopian aspect is lack of entry for smaller businesses to reach those potential customers
- politician 4y agoAlexa: Wake up. It’s time to head to your shift. missedthecue: Snooze Alexa: Snooze boost activated for 10 minutes. $5 has been deducted from your account.
- int_19h 4y agohttps://marshallbrain.com/manna1 https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
- alexb_ 4y agoThis guy looks to be a doomer in the most literal sense, but this story is a fun read. Thanks for sharing it!
- int_19h 4y agoNote that this was originally written in 2003!
- abnercoimbre 4y agoI'm hooked. HN comments like these are hidden gems.
- tyingq 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town