Posted on 10/02/2018 7:52:00 AM PDT by Theoria
Even Amazon can get squeezed by political pressure and a tight labor market. The online giant on Tuesday said it would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all of its United States workers.
It said the pay increase would include part-time workers and those hired through temporary agencies. The company said it would also lobby Washington to raise the federal minimum wage.
Amazon said the new wages would apply to more than 250,000 Amazon employees, including those at the grocery chain Whole Foods, as well as the more than 100,000 seasonal employees it will hire for the holiday season. It goes into effect on Nov. 1.
The company had previously said the average hourly wage, including stock and incentive bonuses, for a full-time workers at the fulfillment centers was more than $15 an hour, but it had not disclosed pay for part-time and contract workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
And now look for prices of all things Amazon to go up to cover it.
They were close to $15/hr already?
BTW ..why didn’t they do it during lord obama’s reign?
This will be interesting. In the small KY town where I live, if you make $16 an hour you are making good money. Most people work for $10 or less.
But we have the oldest (or perhaps second oldest) Amazon fulfilment center in the US here. They are constantly looking for people. But they only pay around $10. This would be huge. Who doesn’t want a 50% pay increase.
[Orders are now taking 2-3 days to leave the warehouse...
ebay is faster now-a-days.]
Yup. And if you select the free shipping for >$25/$35, the wait is even LONGER! At LEAST a week before it ships.
I try to by from eBay as often as I can.
Free shipping on a lot of items and I have it AT MY DOOR in 2-3 days.
You are both right on the money.
Note to Amazon: Over the years I’m finding it surprisingly easy to part ways with things I was sure I couldn’t live without. Don’t make me add you to the list.
Who wants a 50% pay increase if you lose your job soon after you get it? May be great for communities short-term, but communities need people willing and able to stick, buy homes, have kids, pay taxes.
What do you want to bet that if you looked at the stats for Amazon employees, most would be renters?
NYS has been in the process of continuing to raise our state minimum wage. It’s sending small businesses under, driving jobs and families out of the state. Upstate is an economic wasteland. If hiking the minimum wage arbitrarily was a good idea, NYS should be thriving. It’s not.
Amazon will cut their hours to make up the cost.
You know they will.
I guess we all go to $15 for November and December.
The average small, 3 bedroom home where I live is going for less than $50,000. One of the reasons I moved here from Seattle was it was close to the financial advantages of expatriating to Thailand or Mexico without actually expatriating. We’re 64 and expect to retire here, which is why we bought 32 acres.
But with $15 wages, if despearate, I could work there to augment retirement. I wouldn’t do it for ten, and probably not for $15, but it does sweeten the pot.
And yes, this facility is not yet automated. I think that you are correct and I suspected it when I read the article. Instead of 100 $10 people, they’ll have 10 $15 people.
Here is another important facet, though: I used to work for a company that managed call centers in small towns. Obviously it is due to the low cost of living and subsequent low wages they could offer. But what was interesting was that due to rampant drug use in small town America, they couldn’t drug test. However, one by one, employees would reach a threshold of incompetence or poor attendance that they had to be let go.
The result was that they would burn through every single employable person in the town after a couple of years. They would close up shop and move to a different town and start all over again. This is why I drive 75 miles one way to Louisville every day for my job. The only thing that pays well here is owning your own business. And some of them barely squeak by.
It probably won’t sweeten the pot for long, though, and that’s the prob. It’s less about what the wage is than who/what is establishing it. Example: By the time NYS gets finshed, a food server who can find a job will be making more than a starting pharmacy tech. Then pharmacies will be forced to raise their prices to cover higher labor costs and won’t that be great for consumers. This is a frickin’ nightmare. If I wanted this kind of economic cluster foxtrot, I’d live in Venezuela.
Hey, I agree. I’ve said two things about the minimum wage for decades:
1. It’s textbook fascism.
2. It’s function is to create price inflation. The only people that benefit are those at the leading edge, and then only temporarily.
It’s all a bunch of smoke and mirrors. What they gave in wages, they took back in bonuses and stock awards.Their compensation package is essentially the same.
It turns out that I am at a new sort facility that is only for prime and UPS Red Blue. We cover N Texas, Central Texas down to Waco area and a few other specialized cities.
There is a lot of intelligence behind the design, and I am amazed at the changes to this side of distribution verses the end user side that I am used to.
Feet hurt, especially the right heel but not that sore otherwise. Really a much better workspace than I experienced at UPS ~40 years ago.
At $12.85 it isn't really worth my time, except as a paid exercise class. At $15 with 40-60 hours then it will make a difference in our budget.
To have the body of a 20 Y.O. and the brains of ... maybe someone smarter than me.
No comments from the NY Times on how many benefits will be cut or how many workers will be replaced by robots?
Well done. Glad it is working out for ya. Thanks for the update.
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