The drivers are self-employed independent contractors, why would Amazon be on the hook for million dollar settlements?
Because their return address is on the box in the car when it hits someone? Do lawyers go rummaging through the boxes on a UPS truck when a big brown truck is involved in a traffic accident?
You assume that Amazon has NOT hit upon a "good enough" solution?
The boxes you complain about typically aren't big enough to incur a size charge, so box size doesn't affect shipping costs.
The price difference between a small box and a teeny box is very small, so small that as the order quantity of boxes goes up into the millions of units the price difference becomes irrelevant.
The real cost is time, if an employee can pack more packages in less time using over-sized boxes compared with taking the time to consider getting a smaller box and saving Amazon a few pennies on the box, then the bigger box will be used.
if the business isn't able to pay enough to keep it's employees in food, clothing, shelter, etc, then it is not a viable business. If it CAN but won't then it is a leech on society.
So the purpose of a business is to feed, clothe, and shelter their employees?
Funny, I never see those metrics in any annual report, instead I see sales, revenues, expenses, and profits.
His tax plan is going to f'n kill me (kid in college and I'm in a state with SALT). I'm getting the shit kicked out of me.
First off, your taxes haven't changed - yet.
Second, your inability to pay less federal income taxes because you pay SALT taxes makes no sense, how does paying higher SALT taxes entitle you to pay less federal income taxes? You are blaming the federal government for your high state and local taxes.
Perhaps you should ask why you have SALT taxes when other states get by without them.
They get paid a fixed amount per delivery. If they work 8 hours but the roads are busy they get less money.
No.
If they are paid per piece delivered the only way pay is reduced is to deliver fewer pieces. Taking longer to deliver the same number of per-piece items only reduces your EFFECTIVE pay RATE, not your actual pay.
Deliver 200 packages in 8 hours for fifty cents each, take home $100.
Deliver 200 packages in 11 hours for fifty cents each, take home $100.
Nobody in CA makes a minimum of $21 delivering packages for Amazon.
The employees of UPS, USPS do - independent contractors that deliver packages for contract shipping firms that deal with Amazon don't, but they are paid per-piece, and the per-piece rate will go up the moment there aren't a dozen drivers competing for for the privilege of delivering each package spilling out the back of the local Amazon facility.
Amazon charges what the market will bear, and just because you and your fellow Australians expected bigger discounts when Amazon came to town doesn't obligate Amazon to offer steeper discounts.
An Amazon tracking number doesn't mean the driver works for Amazon, it means Amazon is using an alternative shipper that lacks their own tracking system.
These are independent contractors, working for sub contractors, that in turn are paid per-piece by Amazon. Sure, these drivers could form a union, but as they are self-employed it seems kind of pointless.
These aren't hourly or salaried workers, these people are their own bosses.
No, that isn't the definition of a brutal job, that's called a low-paying job, and the problem these workers have is they fail to realize they are doing piece work as a sub-contractor, literally working for themselves, and they don't understand the economics of the business they entered into. They go out, lease a truck, take out insurance, fill the truck with petrol, then agree to deliver packages at below-cost rates, hoping to overcome the deficit by taking on delivery of ever more packages.
If you are losing money per package, taking on more packages doesn't change the math.
$14K is full-time employment at minimum wage, after taxes.
Once you 'earn' SS Disability, that is a key that unlocks other benefits - SNAP, housing assistance, free medical care, etc. the average disability claimant receive more total assistance than the average worker in many states.
First off, this is Amazon UK, and the 'Amazon Drivers' work for shipping contractors, not Amazon. They didn't apply to Amazon for the job, they aren't paid by Amazon, on what basis are they considered Amazon employees? Here in America, countless packages from Amazon are delivered by either UPS or USPS, yet no one considers them 'Amazon Employees', and they are paid better than minimum wages. (The greatest complaint from UPS drivers in America are the number of overtime hours UPS asks them to work, at time and a half, during the holiday season.)
Second, this is the Gig Economy, and these workers are trying to turn a 'pick-up' task that pays poorly into something that can support a family - it ain't gonna happen, not as independent contractors working at a per-piece job where they they are expected to pay for petrol, the vehicle, upkeep on the vehicle, and the insurance on the vehicle out of a few cents per kilometer.
By Computers I mean math execution units. IIRC It took thousands of person years of work to calculate the shape of the B-29's wings.
Seriously? Do you mean like 500 to 1,000 workers 2-4 years to calculate?
No, YDRC - You Don't Remember Correctly. It is inconceivable that 500-1,000 workers reported to work for two+ years to figure out the calculations involved in designing the wing on just one of several different bombers designed and built during the war.
This article talks about men and women in the workforce in the post-war era, AKA 1945... women entered the workforce to 'win the war', and once the war was won, went back to what they did before the war.
In the U.K., women in the government's low-paid "Machine Operator Class" performed knowledge work including programming systems for everything from tax collection and social services to code-breaking and scientific research. Later, they would be pushed out of the field, as government leaders in the postwar era held a then-common belief that women shouldn't be allowed into higher-paid professions with long-term prospects because they would leave as soon as they were married.
Perhaps, but aside from a dastardly evil plan to keep women out of advanced fields like programming, maybe - just maybe - at the end of WW2, when the boys came home, the women left the workplace and returned to being the homemakers they were before the war?
In 1945 the world was a much different place than it is today, don't Project today's motives on last century's actions.
Although each branch employed fewer tellers, banks added more branches, so the number of tellers grew overall. And as machines took over many basic cash-handling tasks, the nature of the tellers' job changed. They were now tasked with talking to customers about products -- a certificate of deposit, an auto loan -- which in turn made them more valuable to their employers.
I've never talked with a bank teller about a certificate of deposit or an auto loan - ever.
I love how the authors gloss over changes in the banking industry, attributing all changes to the influence of atms...
If I have a job at the local bank, and lose it when the bank automated, on a personal level, I take no solace in the bank i used to work for opening a new branch on the other side of town and creating a new position there - it may balance the score as far as job loss/creation goes, but I'm left unemployed.
online ordering allows has boosted sales at busy stores during peak hours
They have conflated kiosks with on-line ordering - it is unclear if adding kiosks or allowing on-line ordering was behind the increase in hiring. Common sense would tell you that adding kiosks would reduce the need for counter help, and could lead to more kitchen help, but it could be a wash. On the other hand, it's easy to imagine that on-line ordering could drive greater sales, as it removes the need to visit the store to make a purchase.
Slashdot Mirror
The drivers are self-employed independent contractors, why would Amazon be on the hook for million dollar settlements?
Because their return address is on the box in the car when it hits someone? Do lawyers go rummaging through the boxes on a UPS truck when a big brown truck is involved in a traffic accident?
And hey get a per KM allowance to cover the expense - your point?
Amazon's 'trick' is to hire an outside shipping firm which in turn hires independent contractors to deliver local packages.
Using a shipping company to ship packages is a standard business practice, not a 'trick'.
These drivers are self-employed independent contractors.
These drivers are self-employed, paid per-piece.
You assume that Amazon has NOT hit upon a "good enough" solution?
The boxes you complain about typically aren't big enough to incur a size charge, so box size doesn't affect shipping costs.
The price difference between a small box and a teeny box is very small, so small that as the order quantity of boxes goes up into the millions of units the price difference becomes irrelevant.
The real cost is time, if an employee can pack more packages in less time using over-sized boxes compared with taking the time to consider getting a smaller box and saving Amazon a few pennies on the box, then the bigger box will be used.
women weren't allowed to work in manual labor until the Second World War
Your teachers failed you, women worked in manual labor for centuries before World War Two...
if the business isn't able to pay enough to keep it's employees in food, clothing, shelter, etc, then it is not a viable business. If it CAN but won't then it is a leech on society.
So the purpose of a business is to feed, clothe, and shelter their employees?
Funny, I never see those metrics in any annual report, instead I see sales, revenues, expenses, and profits.
His tax plan is going to f'n kill me (kid in college and I'm in a state with SALT). I'm getting the shit kicked out of me.
First off, your taxes haven't changed - yet.
Second, your inability to pay less federal income taxes because you pay SALT taxes makes no sense, how does paying higher SALT taxes entitle you to pay less federal income taxes? You are blaming the federal government for your high state and local taxes.
Perhaps you should ask why you have SALT taxes when other states get by without them.
They get paid a fixed amount per delivery. If they work 8 hours but the roads are busy they get less money.
No.
If they are paid per piece delivered the only way pay is reduced is to deliver fewer pieces. Taking longer to deliver the same number of per-piece items only reduces your EFFECTIVE pay RATE, not your actual pay.
Deliver 200 packages in 8 hours for fifty cents each, take home $100.
Deliver 200 packages in 11 hours for fifty cents each, take home $100.
Nobody in CA makes a minimum of $21 delivering packages for Amazon.
The employees of UPS, USPS do - independent contractors that deliver packages for contract shipping firms that deal with Amazon don't, but they are paid per-piece, and the per-piece rate will go up the moment there aren't a dozen drivers competing for for the privilege of delivering each package spilling out the back of the local Amazon facility.
Amazon charges what the market will bear, and just because you and your fellow Australians expected bigger discounts when Amazon came to town doesn't obligate Amazon to offer steeper discounts.
Amazon does not have an in-house delivery service, they have contractors that send drivers to pick up packages at nearby Amazon facilities.
"local driver" =/= "Amazon employee"
An Amazon tracking number doesn't mean the driver works for Amazon, it means Amazon is using an alternative shipper that lacks their own tracking system.
These are independent contractors, working for sub contractors, that in turn are paid per-piece by Amazon. Sure, these drivers could form a union, but as they are self-employed it seems kind of pointless.
These aren't hourly or salaried workers, these people are their own bosses.
No, that isn't the definition of a brutal job, that's called a low-paying job, and the problem these workers have is they fail to realize they are doing piece work as a sub-contractor, literally working for themselves, and they don't understand the economics of the business they entered into. They go out, lease a truck, take out insurance, fill the truck with petrol, then agree to deliver packages at below-cost rates, hoping to overcome the deficit by taking on delivery of ever more packages.
If you are losing money per package, taking on more packages doesn't change the math.
$14K is full-time employment at minimum wage, after taxes.
Once you 'earn' SS Disability, that is a key that unlocks other benefits - SNAP, housing assistance, free medical care, etc. the average disability claimant receive more total assistance than the average worker in many states.
First off, this is Amazon UK, and the 'Amazon Drivers' work for shipping contractors, not Amazon. They didn't apply to Amazon for the job, they aren't paid by Amazon, on what basis are they considered Amazon employees? Here in America, countless packages from Amazon are delivered by either UPS or USPS, yet no one considers them 'Amazon Employees', and they are paid better than minimum wages. (The greatest complaint from UPS drivers in America are the number of overtime hours UPS asks them to work, at time and a half, during the holiday season.)
Second, this is the Gig Economy, and these workers are trying to turn a 'pick-up' task that pays poorly into something that can support a family - it ain't gonna happen, not as independent contractors working at a per-piece job where they they are expected to pay for petrol, the vehicle, upkeep on the vehicle, and the insurance on the vehicle out of a few cents per kilometer.
By Computers I mean math execution units. IIRC It took thousands of person years of work to calculate the shape of the B-29's wings.
Seriously? Do you mean like 500 to 1,000 workers 2-4 years to calculate?
No, YDRC - You Don't Remember Correctly. It is inconceivable that 500-1,000 workers reported to work for two+ years to figure out the calculations involved in designing the wing on just one of several different bombers designed and built during the war.
This article talks about men and women in the workforce in the post-war era, AKA 1945... women entered the workforce to 'win the war', and once the war was won, went back to what they did before the war.
In the U.K., women in the government's low-paid "Machine Operator Class" performed knowledge work including programming systems for everything from tax collection and social services to code-breaking and scientific research. Later, they would be pushed out of the field, as government leaders in the postwar era held a then-common belief that women shouldn't be allowed into higher-paid professions with long-term prospects because they would leave as soon as they were married.
Perhaps, but aside from a dastardly evil plan to keep women out of advanced fields like programming, maybe - just maybe - at the end of WW2, when the boys came home, the women left the workplace and returned to being the homemakers they were before the war?
In 1945 the world was a much different place than it is today, don't Project today's motives on last century's actions.
Although each branch employed fewer tellers, banks added more branches, so the number of tellers grew overall. And as machines took over many basic cash-handling tasks, the nature of the tellers' job changed. They were now tasked with talking to customers about products -- a certificate of deposit, an auto loan -- which in turn made them more valuable to their employers.
I've never talked with a bank teller about a certificate of deposit or an auto loan - ever.
I love how the authors gloss over changes in the banking industry, attributing all changes to the influence of atms...
If I have a job at the local bank, and lose it when the bank automated, on a personal level, I take no solace in the bank i used to work for opening a new branch on the other side of town and creating a new position there - it may balance the score as far as job loss/creation goes, but I'm left unemployed.
"Starbucks employed 8 percent more people in the U.S. in 2016 than it did in 2015, the year it launched the app..."
Good thing Starbucks stopped building new store fronts since 2014, so we have no other possible reason for the increase in their workforce...
restaurants have gotten more efficient
Which obviously leads to hiring more workers.
there is now a shortage of food workers.
We need more immigrants, there are too few unemployed English-speaking workers to meet the demand!
Define "hiring more"...
This jumped out at me in the synopsis:
online ordering allows has boosted sales at busy stores during peak hours
They have conflated kiosks with on-line ordering - it is unclear if adding kiosks or allowing on-line ordering was behind the increase in hiring. Common sense would tell you that adding kiosks would reduce the need for counter help, and could lead to more kitchen help, but it could be a wash. On the other hand, it's easy to imagine that on-line ordering could drive greater sales, as it removes the need to visit the store to make a purchase.