Are All Big Companies Jerks? Amazon.

hollydolly said:
Nope not correct... the warehouse workers here are on a minimum £11.10 per hour...for day shift .. and £13.06 for night shifts..and that includes 3 days off per week.. see the application form on the following link...

https://amazon.force.com/BBJobDetai...w_3Q3T7Cf3jafxUnbjJtNyoyOOK6LbFhoCvjkQAvD_BwE

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Yes,HD. I enclose a link directly from Amazon. I didn't do the money conversion but very similar.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits
 

Does capitalism work? Look at Amazon and judge for yourself. I saw the film and found it quite touching but then too, being such a large presence, worldwide, Amazon makes for a pretty easy target to aim at if you're looking for something to be upset about. Their success makes me think of the adage, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." And these days, you could probably order that better mousetrap and Amazon will deliver it to your door, next day, if not sooner.
 

Alligatorob said:
The only motivator any company can or should have is making money
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Well I disagree with this. I feel like a company should be motivated to provide a good product/service without poisoning the environment, injuring its customers, or taking advantage of its employees. Money is a good motivator and reward, but corporate greed I think is a real problem.
 
HoneyNut said:
Well I disagree with this. I feel like a company should be motivated to provide a good product/service without poisoning the environment, injuring its customers, or taking advantage of its employees. Money is a good motivator and reward, but corporate greed I think is a real problem.
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What can be done to deal with "corporate greed" then? What constitutes a good product or service? Which companies are poisoning the environment and how do they get away with this? Which companies are injuring their customers and why would they? If the customers are injured badly or often enough, wouldn't that make people hesitant to use or buy the products of those companies? And which companies are taking advantage of their employees and how? Are the employees enslaved? Are these things happening in the United States right now? If so, what are you doing to change it so I can do that too?
 
Amazon isn't the ONLY employer or supplier of anything YET but maybe in time, they could be. If you don't want to support them then don't buy from them and don't work for them either. Amazon's success isn't because they're Amazon or even Jeff Bezos. Amazon figured out a formula and planned accordingly. We are the ones who made Amazon so successful by spending our money with them or selling our talents and time to them. Be like Mitch86 and invest in their success. But I'd be hesitant to invest ALL of my money there. Amazon is on top now but they may not be forever. Disclaimer - I'm not an expert on investing.
 

Remy said:​

"Are All Big Companies Jerks?"​

Most of my working life was spent in a company called Hays. The company was founded in 1651 as an operator of wharves and warehouses on the south bank of the River Thames in London. The name can be traced to Alexander Hay, who acquired a brewhouse there in the same year. It was redeveloped as a 'wharf', in fact an enclosed dock in 1656, and renamed Hay's Wharf.
Today it's an international recruitment company, but when I worked there recruitment was just one of many divisions. Back in my day the head honcho was one: Sir Ronnie Frost.

My role was to run distribution centres. Among my clients were the leading UK supermarket company, Tesco. I ran their distribution centre in Kent, near the town of Maidstone. After a stint there I transferred to there premier client Waitrose, the supermarket chain of the John Lewis company at the new town of Milton Keynes. I also did spells of running the Newcastle & Scottish breweries, a parcel delivery company name of: Data Express and a private mailing company known as: The Document Exchange.

In my early days, Hays sent me on a couple of courses, namely fork lift driver training, and also truck driver training. At the time the latter was known as HGV, or Heavy Goods Vehicle training. I passed both and hold certificates and licences for both. Hays policy back then was for their managers to know, be aware of and be able to converse with the staff whose job it was to do the said work. Hays used a clever analogy. They said that the conductor of a band can't be expected to play every instrument, but he/she could tell you when one is out of tune.

So, it's taken me four paragraphs to answer the question, "Are All Big Companies Jerks?" My response would be an emphatic no. But then again I haven't had the misfortune to work under the likes of Facebook founder: "Mark Zuckerberg," or Amazon's: Jeff Bezos," so I have been shielded by the visionary outlook of the likes of the late: Sir Ronnie Frost.
 
HoneyNut said:
Well I disagree with this. I feel like a company should be motivated to provide a good product/service without poisoning the environment, injuring its customers, or taking advantage of its employees. Money is a good motivator and reward, but corporate greed I think is a real problem.
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I agree there are real problems.

However I believe that the way we have to deal with them is by making bad behavior money losing. That can be done by consumers making choices as to who they buy from based on the company's behavior, not just cost. Or by regulation.

To expect a company to do it on their own is just unrealistic. If it reduces their profit then they will become non-competitive allowing other companies to benefit. Just the way things work. Make it more profitable and they will do it and thrive.

In the end I suspect regulation is the only way to go, how many consumers are going to research company behavior and choose not to buy from bad actors. Most all of us will buy the cheapest thing that suits our needs and not think too much about who made it...
 
I think employees who are paid low wages and/or treated poorly are subsidizing the companies they work for. If a company can't afford to pay a living wage, perhaps they should not be in business.
 
WheatenLover said:
If a company can't afford to pay a living wage, perhaps they should not be in business.
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Perhaps not, but if they can continue to find employees it seems there is a need for the jobs. Even the low paid ones. What happens to those people when the company doesn't hire them?

If there were higher paying jobs available I'd think these employees would take them and put the company out of business or force them to pay more. That's the way our system has always worked, more or less...
 
Mitch86 said:
Amazon has a great return policy. No questions asked and the item goes back for a full refund.
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Totally agree, Mitch. I had to return something to Amazon so we took it to UPS dropoff where they wrapped it and scanned my code and off it went and it was an instant refund on my credit card. :)
 
Alligatorob said:
Perhaps not, but if they can continue to find employees it seems there is a need for the jobs. Even the low paid ones. What happens to those people when the company doesn't hire them?

If there were higher paying jobs available I'd think these employees would take them and put the company out of business or force them to pay more. That's the way our system has always worked, more or less...
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I remember a new direct boss at work. She didn't, for whatever reason, last long. I've gone through many, many direct boss' in my almost 30 years of doing the work I do.

I work in an industry where overtime can and does happen. In a meeting she stated "if you can't get your work done on time, we'll get someone who can." Luckily she was an exception, yet I do watch my overtime.

Sometimes I clock out and finish paperwork. Probably more than sometimes. I'm scared of the corporation I work for and I'm not the fastest (in my industry, believe me, the fastest doesn't win and neither do their clients) I do it out of fear. I want to keep my job. It pays a good hourly wage which I am grateful for.
 
Mitch86 said:
Amazon has a great return policy. No questions asked and the item goes back for a full refund.
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Not always so simple, some items are not returnable. And even those that are usually have a 30 day limit, so you need to open and test things pretty quickly.

And when something gets broken it can sometimes be hard to return. I ordered 5 bottles of syrup, two broke in shipment. The box was soggy and dripping sticky goo. No way to return it, I have to call Amazon (no simple thing) and spend a lot of time talking with someone to finally get a refund without return.

All in all though I agree they are pretty good most of the time.
 
CAKCy said:
The only type of company that (IMHO) wouldn't be jerks would be one where ALL the employees would have their fair share to the investments and profits of it (A CoOp if you like). Other than that (and since profit is the target of any for-profit company) human exploitation is inevitable.
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Chobani Yogurt is an example of employee involvement that improves the workplace. There are a couple of such companies.
 
In my experience and i've worked for a lot various sized outfits over the decades, without a strong commitment to high standards in having a pleasant as well as productive workplace and to product quality and customer service---there seems to be a 'tipping point' beyond which a company is 'too big': It becomes difficult to treat either employees or customers fairly and well if you view them as an easily replaceable 'commodity'. Smaller companies can't afford to lose productive employees and/or repeat customers.
 
I'm not a prophet. I cannot predict the future. However, my gut says to put most of my money in Amazon stock and probably allow my daughter to inherit enough money to retire after my wife and I die. Plus, as of now, I can get every consumer product I can think of from Amazon. Thus, for me, Amazon has become my God. I believe it is possible that even Jesus Christ is part of the Amazon steam roller. Maybe someone should open a Church of Amazon and let us believers have a better place to worship. Maybe Amazon would even offer additional discounts to members of an Amazon Church.
 

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