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You're conflating two issues. Should the cashiers at supermarkets be upset that they don't get a share of the profit from every canned soup sale?
by mhb 3y ago
You're conflating two issues. Should the cashiers at supermarkets be upset that they don't get a share of the profit from every canned soup sale?
- skavi 3y agoI think it is not so crazy an opinion that surplus value is unfairly distributed.
- bad_user 3y agoThe cashiers at the supermarket are paid a wage they agreed on when they were hired. There's nothing more fair than supply and demand.
- earthling8118 3y agoThe number may be what they agreed upon but the value definitely doesn't remain stable.
- bad_user 3y agoRight. And the workers can renegotiate, or are free to leave.
- pgeorgi 3y agoSupply and demand is fair, if and only if both sides are entirely free to walk away from the deal. Depending on the labor market situation this isn't necessarily a given when the alternative is starvation.
- bad_user 3y agoIn the West, the alternative is seldom starvation. Given the very low rate of unemployment, despite the post-pandemic climate, it's pretty obvious that people still have choice when seeking employment. And there is always choice, which includes going back to school or moving to a different city. Heck, given the Internet, you can get education for free (until the ad-blockers ruin everything by normalizing paywalls). People forget, or never learned, what involuntary servitude or starvation was actually like, or what actually happened when the hammer and sickle was adopted as a state religion. And related to the parent, in the words of Thomas Sowell, the minimum wage is always zero. Or in other words, people should be glad that the demand for cashiers still exists, until the job gets fully automated. I find it funny, yet unsettling, that I have to state the obvious on HN of all places.
- pgeorgi 3y ago> Or in other words, people should be glad that the demand for cashiers still exists, until the job gets fully automated. ... because what happens otherwise?
- skywhopper 3y agoProbably.
- ballenf 3y agoI'm not sure that they would like their pay being docked when the profit is negative. Or having to help repay creditors in a bankruptcy.
- magicalist 3y ago> I'm not sure that they would like their pay being docked when the profit is negative. Or having to help repay creditors in a bankruptcy. Based on executive compensation vs company profits or shareholder value, apparently that doesn't need to be an issue!
- cool_dude85 3y agoI've been very misinformed about how stock ownership works. Can you point me to some situations in the past where stockholders were asked to pay for losses or had to come out of pocket in bankruptcy?
- latency-guy2 3y agoHow much do the world wide network of cashiers spend of their own money to maintain the tools, systems, and otherwise building they are employed in?
- fkyoureadthedoc 3y agoIf they invented the soup and the can, then probably.
- Kim_Bruning 3y agoIf they were to be partially paid in stock, they would actually get a share by way of dividend. There's upsides and downsides to such an arrangement, I would think.
- toast0 3y agoI've heard of cashiers getting comission, so it's not outlandish. Additionally, it could act as an incentive to scan things quickly and efficiently. Not a whole lot of margin at the supermarket for comissions though.