Amazon’s Whole Foods slashes hours after instituting living wage

[OldBrownsFan]

Amazon’s Whole Foods slashes hours after instituting living wage:

This is one of those articles where conservatives can say WE TOLD YOU SO.

Last year Amazon instituted a $15/hour minimum wage, otherwise known to liberals as a ‘living wage’, across the board. This included Whole Foods as well.

Due to some good reporting from The Guardian, we now know that Amazon slashed hours at Whole Foods after instituting this new living wage, often times offsetting the increase that employees had gotten.

This is what happens when liberal values meet reality, and it proves what conservatives have been saying for decades. You can’t just arbitrarily increase people’s salaries to absurd levels without having to make cuts or increases somewhere else. In this case it looks like Whole Foods decided to cut worker hours instead of increasing prices.

It’s just like with taxes. You raise them on businesses to make them pay their fair share, they responded by cutting workers or increase prices – or both! – in order to make ends meet.

Let’s do some math based on what’s reported above. I don’t know what Whole Foods was paying its part-time workers, but let’s assume they were paying them $10/hr. At 30 hours that’s $300 in earnings. Increase the minimum wage to $15 and cut their hours to 21 and now they’re being paid $315. It almost cancels the entire increase out. If they were paying them $11/hr before the increase, then after the increase they are actually being paid $15 less.

The bottom line is that it’s clearly kabuki theater for Amazon to raise their minimum wage to $15 per hour, because many of their employees just aren’t getting paid extra money to help them live better lives because their hours have been severely cut. Not to mention how frustrating it must be to have to do the same amount of work in less time.

https://therightscoop.com/amazons-whole-foods-slashes-hours-after-instituting-living-wage/

[Vambo]

[Clevfan4life]

only part time employees got hit with the slash. Full time employees only saw like a 2-3 hour drop. Those part time employees now have a decent gig making $15/hr, now go find another side job. They have 2-3 days now to play with. 

[OldBrownsFan]

1 hour ago, Clevfan4life said:

only part time employees got hit with the slash. Full time employees only saw like a 2-3 hour drop. Those part time employees now have a decent gig making $15/hr, now go find another side job. They have 2-3 days now to play with. 

Amazon to cut stock benefits, bonuses as it raises minimum wage to $15 an hour:

Amazon made a big splash this week with its $15 an hour minimum wage announcement, but lost in the fine print: Existing warehouse workers will no longer receive stock in the company or collect bonuses.

 

The online giant says next month it will end bonuses, which paid workers extra based on their attendance and warehouse productivity, as it boosts its minimum wage.

Amazon will also phase out its restricted stock unit program, which gave shares to workers if they stayed with Amazon for a certain amount of years. Amazon says it will replace it with a program next year that will allow workers to buy stock, but didn't provide details.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-to-cut-bonuses-for-warehouse-workers-and-stock-benefits-as-it-raises-minimum-wage-to-15/

 

[Westside Steve]

Color Me shocked.

WSS

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Amazon is a shit company.

[calfoxwc]

Flugels and I got into a bit of a snit over this. He said the poor should have more money to live on, that the current minimum wage was below poverty level, etc.

   I understand that, but it's true - raising the min wage FEELS great, but in reality, the disabled, etc get out of a job real quick.

Walmart ended greeters, etc. Fewer employees making bigger minimum wage, other cutbacks, etc.

Liberal/leftist utopian idealism moves defy practical applications in real life.

[Clevfan4life]

so the answer is, to entice American companies to pay their workers that base liveable wage. And I fully acknowledge that tax cuts are prob one of the best ways to do that. But they have to "prove" first that they're paying their workers that wage. They don't get the tax cuts "in the hopes" something "TRICKLES" down onto the workers. I think most companies do want to do right by their workers, but...and this is where conservatives are right....they often get buried under a mountain of horseshit regulations. Environmental regulations are fine, I think they're not enforced enough...as I personally witnessed myself at the last company I worked for. Small companies think they can get away with dumping obscene industrial shit into the sewers. 

It's not the environmental or the safety regulations necessarily that get to companies....it's the mountain of paperwork for everything they do. They can't buy toilet paper without having to put it on a ledger. Simplifying the tax code would go a long ways to unburdening companies from having to have entire dept's specifically to keep track of dumb shit. There's regulations that make sense, then there's regulations that are complete bullshit and only meant to frustrate and possibly stall out the smaller companies so ofc the larger companies who are public and get funding through wall street.....they can afford to keep up with regulations. I believe Trump has talked about this very issue and he's right. He is. 

[OldBrownsFan]

1 hour ago, calfoxwc said:

Flugels and I got into a bit of a snit over this. He said the poor should have more money to live on, that the current minimum wage was below poverty level, etc.

   I understand that, but it's true - raising the min wage FEELS great, but in reality, the disabled, etc get out of a job real quick.

Walmart ended greeters, etc. Fewer employees making bigger minimum wage, other cutbacks, etc.

Liberal/leftist utopian idealism moves defy practical applications in real life.

In a perfect world I can see what Flugels is saying but in the real world people get paid by what the market dictates and can afford. When extra costs get pushed on a business they pass those costs on in some fashion or another. Minimum wage jobs are not meant to be jobs to raise families, they are starter jobs, entry level jobs where usually young people start out at the first rung of the ladder and then move themselves up. The best way to have increased wages for workers is to have a thriving economy where it is important for employers to keep employees and are willing to pay more to keep valued employees from going elsewhere. When jobs are plentiful this is the best union a worker can have...it is when jobs are not plentiful and the economy is not doing well that employees become more expendable and less valued. 

[Clevfan4life]

2 hours ago, OldBrownsFan said:

 Minimum wage jobs are not meant to be jobs to raise families,

you realize no one's raising a family on $15/hr, right? So there goes that argument. And also, you don't understand the new world apparently...we're a "service economy". The middle class has essentially been declared war on. So these job you think are "starter jobs"...people have to rely on them to live. I don't like AOC but she does make some valid points...this right here is exactly why she said the young generations are abstaining from having children. Cause they're being "responsible". The people who run our economy have decided that paying people for an honest days work is simply too constraining to their shareholder value...so they've shipped those jobs they can overseas. And in a few years, they'll replace the service jobs remaining with robots. 

What exactly do you propose to combat that OBF? This is why although im not a fan of the notion of universal income, i'm looking at that future going "what else can be done?". Seriously what else? As soon as AI becomes good enough to start replacing even white collar stuff like engineering and certain financial shit.....where are people going to go for meaningful employment? Is that coming world what jesus had in mind 2000 years ago? Im being dead serious, not facetious. Does this coming world smell like what your savior, if we are to believe the book you say is an accurate recount of his life and message......would he approve of this bullshit?

[Vambo]

33 minutes ago, Clevfan4life said:

 I don't like AOC but she does make some valid points...this right here is exactly why she said the young generations are abstaining from having children. Cause they're being "responsible". 

Is this why she is for the 76,000+ illegals coming in every month?  Is that being "responsible"?   Don't have children import them?

[Westside Steve]

10 hours ago, DieHardBrownsFan said:

Amazon is a shit company.

Don't know much or care much about anybody's politics in the company but I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. Decent prices, even though you can usually find whatever it is a little bit cheaper, but the convenience is amazing 90% of the time.

But as far as a grocery store they are all pretty much the same and I go to the ones that I like. I prefer Giant Eagle butt they usually have too many self checkout lines so I will opt for the Acme Fresh Market or Buehler's.

WSS

[DieHardBrownsFan]

I go to Heinen's or sometimes Giant Eagle or Walmart.  Giant Eagle's prices are inflated compared to Walmart.  Their Get Go gas incentives means they raise the price of all their groceries.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

10 hours ago, OldBrownsFan said:

Walmart ended greeters, etc.

That ended my career at Walmart.

[OldBrownsFan]

8 hours ago, Clevfan4life said:

you realize no one's raising a family on $15/hr, right? So there goes that argument. And also, you don't understand the new world apparently...we're a "service economy". The middle class has essentially been declared war on. So these job you think are "starter jobs"...people have to rely on them to live. I don't like AOC but she does make some valid points...this right here is exactly why she said the young generations are abstaining from having children. Cause they're being "responsible". The people who run our economy have decided that paying people for an honest days work is simply too constraining to their shareholder value...so they've shipped those jobs they can overseas. And in a few years, they'll replace the service jobs remaining with robots. 

What exactly do you propose to combat that OBF? This is why although im not a fan of the notion of universal income, i'm looking at that future going "what else can be done?". Seriously what else? As soon as AI becomes good enough to start replacing even white collar stuff like engineering and certain financial shit.....where are people going to go for meaningful employment? Is that coming world what jesus had in mind 2000 years ago? Im being dead serious, not facetious. Does this coming world smell like what your savior, if we are to believe the book you say is an accurate recount of his life and message......would he approve of this bullshit?

We have become too much of a service economy and we lost higher paying manufacturing jobs. I like what Trump is doing in trying to bring manufacturing jobs back. Manufacturing produces wealth. If you think things are bad now if AOC and her crowd ever get their way look out. Her recent "triumph" of New York losing the Amazon deal will be typical of her "success". Government is not the solution. For all the talk from the left with their class warfare and taxing the wealthy (even more) there will be consequences . The wealthy and business owners will move to another state to pay less taxes and even move outside of the country. The saying business do not pay taxes is the truth because whatever taxes get placed on them gets passed on to the consumers so in the end we are just taxing ourselves. 

My solution is the tried and  proven successful way of less taxes and less government regulations to spur the economy. We obviously need to cut spending. As for more jobs being lost to AI and automation that is a tough one. How many truck drives alone may lose their jobs in the future with driver less  trucks? One thing  that will need to be done is workers continually getting new training during their lifetimes. As for your bible reference Jesus would not approve of selfishness but that is exactly why the early church could practice a form of communism/socialism where they did spread the wealth around from churches who had who gave to the churches who were in need. That worked because the early church was not selfish but full of the Holy Spirit and love of God. The world does not have that and that is the problem with communism/socialism being tried with selfish (by nature) people.

I saw the other day a person getting a computer chip in his hand where he would no longer need credit cards but they could scan his hand. Is this the vision John saw in Revelation that none could buy or sell without the mark of the beast?  Interesting, I am not saying it is or not because I don't know I just found it interesting in relation to the bible. Also it is very interesting the destruction of the world in the end times mirrors very closely the destruction that would be the result of a nuclear war. Seriously you know a nuclear holocaust is not a matter of if but when. Jesus said it is going to be bad when he returns. Don't blame God we will bring it upon ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gorka]

18 hours ago, OldBrownsFan said:

This is one of those articles where conservatives can say WE TOLD YOU SO.

https://therightscoop.com/amazons-whole-foods-slashes-hours-after-instituting-living-wage/

Actually it is one of many.

Carry on...

 

[Westside Steve]

Actually at what point in time were you able to feed a family of four on minimum wage? Of course that's all you make I have absolutely no doubt you qualify for subsidies for housing food stamps Medical Care energy etc etc etc.

So anybody that wants to go from eight bucks up to 15 and is willing to give up those perks raise your hand.

WSS

[Westside Steve]

So just for fun the provider for a family of four can make 33k and still get Medicaid.

WSS

[OldBrownsFan]

7 minutes ago, Westside Steve said:

So just for fun the provider for a family of four can make 33k and still get Medicaid.

WSS

I did a pre-sentence report back in the 90's for our judge and on the financial side of the report I noted the defendant had an income of about $40,000 (if I remember right)  and was getting food stamps. The judge called me to his chambers and questioned me about how someone could make that much not working (I told him the whole family was receiving disability) and he didn't believe me when I told him they could make that much and still get food stamps so he called Human Services and spoke to the Director who told him the same thing that receiving disability did not count against receiving food stamps. After shouting a few obscenities to the Director about how screwed up the system was he slammed the phone down. (And he was a democrat judge).

[TexasAg1969]

22 minutes ago, OldBrownsFan said:

I did a pre-sentence report back in the 90's for our judge and on the financial side of the report I noted the defendant had an income of about $40,000 (if I remember right)  and was getting food stamps. The judge called me to his chambers and questioned me about how someone could make that much not working (I told him the whole family was receiving disability) and he didn't believe me when I told him they could make that much and still get food stamps so he called Human Services and spoke to the Director who told him the same thing that receiving disability did not count against receiving food stamps. After shouting a few obscenities to the Director about how screwed up the system was he slammed the phone down. (And he was a democrat judge).

Ironic because if you carry a relatively small VA SC disability, it subtracts from the amount you get if you qualify for a  VA Non-Service connected pension. For example lets say for rounding off purposes you get $600/mo. Service connected disability and you qualify as a single vet for an NSC Pension which is now around $1130/mo. The actual amount you would get from the pension drops to $530/mo so that added together with the SC Dis. equals the same as the pension without SC Disability.

I have no idea if a single vet getting that much per month also then qualifies for food stamps. I suspect that is up to each individual state food stamp program.

[OldBrownsFan]

10 minutes ago, TexasAg1969 said:

Ironic because if you carry a relatively small VA SC disability, it subtracts from the amount you get if you qualify for a  VA Non-Service connected pension. For example lets say for rounding off purposes you get $600/mo. Service connected disability and you qualify as a single vet for an NSC Pension which is now around $1130/mo. The actual amount you would get from the pension drops to $530/mo so that added together with the SC Dis. equals the same as the pension without SC Disability.

I have no idea if a single vet getting that much per month also then qualifies for food stamps. I suspect that is up to each individual state food stamp program.

Remember this was in the 90's and I bet they have changed it now where if you make too much on disability you will not qualify for food stamps. I know in the 90's in Ohio the amount your received on disability didn't affect receiving food stamps because I saw it firsthand.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

51 minutes ago, TexasAg1969 said:

Ironic because if you carry a relatively small VA SC disability, it subtracts from the amount you get if you qualify for a  VA Non-Service connected pension. For example lets say for rounding off purposes you get $600/mo. Service connected disability and you qualify as a single vet for an NSC Pension which is now around $1130/mo. The actual amount you would get from the pension drops to $530/mo so that added together with the SC Dis. equals the same as the pension without SC Disability.

I have no idea if a single vet getting that much per month also then qualifies for food stamps. I suspect that is up to each individual state food stamp program.

https://www.va.gov/pension/eligibility/

[Dste Ace]

2 hours ago, OldBrownsFan said:

We have become too much of a service economy and we lost higher paying manufacturing jobs. I like what Trump is doing in trying to bring manufacturing jobs back. Manufacturing produces wealth. If you think things are bad now if AOC and her crowd ever get their way look out. Her recent "triumph" of New York losing the Amazon deal will be typical of her "success". Government is not the solution. For all the talk from the left with their class warfare and taxing the wealthy (even more) there will be consequences . The wealthy and business owners will move to another state to pay less taxes and even move outside of the country. The saying business do not pay taxes is the truth because whatever taxes get placed on them gets passed on to the consumers so in the end we are just taxing ourselves.

My solution is the tried and  proven successful way of less taxes and less government regulations to spur the economy. We obviously need to cut spending. As for more jobs being lost to AI and automation that is a tough one. How many truck drives alone may lose their jobs in the future with driver less  trucks? One thing  that will need to be done is workers continually getting new training during their lifetimes. As for your bible reference Jesus would not approve of selfishness but that is exactly why the early church could practice a form of communism/socialism where they did spread the wealth around from churches who had who gave to the churches who were in need. That worked because the early church was not selfish but full of the Holy Spirit and love of God. The world does not have that and that is the problem with communism/socialism being tried with selfish (by nature) people.

I saw the other day a person getting a computer chip in his hand where he would no longer need credit cards but they could scan his hand. Is this the vision John saw in Revelation that none could buy or sell without the mark of the beast?  Interesting, I am not saying it is or not because I don't know I just found it interesting in relation to the bible. Also it is very interesting the destruction of the world in the end times mirrors very closely the destruction that would be the result of a nuclear war. Seriously you know a nuclear holocaust is not a matter of if but when. Jesus said it is going to be bad when he returns. Don't blame God we will bring it upon ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

There is an excellent series of articles this week in the Washington Post about the closing of the GM plant at Lordstown.

It describes how many of the workers never graduated from high school and were making $30 an hour. Many of them reject government-paid retraining into other careers for a variety of reasons: age ("I'm too old to go back to school"), fear of embarrassment ("Hell, I didn't graduate from high school, I'm supposed to go to school to learn a new career?"). And many refuse retraining because getting a good paying job will require moving, often out-of-state. The Lordstown workers remind me of the out-of-work coal miners in southern WV. In 2016, Hillary went to the coal fields of WV to tout her plan of offering government paid retraining to victims of mines that had closed down. One miner in particular voiced the opinion of the majority when he rejected the idea of retraining with great contempt because 'this is my home, what the hell, I'd have to move to another state.' Just like the Lordstown workers who are hoping GM will reopen the plant in the near future.

As Springsteen sang, "These jobs are going boys, and they ain't coming back..."

[OldBrownsFan]

29 minutes ago, Dste Ace said:

There is an excellent series of articles this week in the Washington Post about the closing of the GM plant at Lordstown.

It describes how many of the workers never graduated from high school and were making $30 an hour. Many of them reject government-paid retraining into other careers for a variety of reasons: age ("I'm too old to go back to school"), fear of embarrassment ("Hell, I didn't graduate from high school, I'm supposed to go to school to learn a new career?"). And many refuse retraining because getting a good paying job will require moving, often out-of-state. The Lordstown workers remind me of the out-of-work coal miners in southern WV. In 2016, Hillary went to the coal fields of WV to tout her plan of offering government paid retraining to victims of mines that had closed down. One miner in particular voiced the opinion of the majority when he rejected the idea of retraining with great contempt because 'this is my home, what the hell, I'd have to move to another state.' Just like the Lordstown workers who are hoping GM will reopen the plant in the near future.

As Springsteen sang, "These jobs are going boys, and they ain't coming back..."

It's a hard pill to swallow for me. I never realized how "spoiled" I was right after graduating from High School in 1973 and having all the higher paying manufacturing jobs that were available without a college education. Those opportunities are not so available today as almost all of the factories we had in our town in 73 have all closed down. It is a different world for high school grads today.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

The only people I saw getting the jobs at Chevy, Ford, Republic Steel ,etc. were people who had relatives working there.

[Westside Steve]

9 minutes ago, DieHardBrownsFan said:

The only people I saw getting the jobs at Chevy, Ford, Republic Steel ,etc. were people who had relatives working there.

That goes hand-in-hand with the union doesn't it?

WSS

[Dste Ace]

50 minutes ago, OldBrownsFan said:

It's a hard pill to swallow for me. I never realized how "spoiled" I was right after graduating from High School in 1973 and having all the higher paying manufacturing jobs that were available without a college education. Those opportunities are not so available today as almost all of the factories we had in our town in 73 have all closed down. It is a different world for high school grads today.

Before he died, my dad and I had this exact same conversation many times. He often said that he felt sorry for today's generation of up and coming workers. He told me how he drove to Cleveland from WV in 1957 after he got out of the military and walked into Republic Steel to apply for a job. He was told to have a seat and someone would be with him shortly. No "we'll call you" or "where do you see yourself in 5 years" or "why do you want to be a part of our team". He was asked what can you do and he pointed out the window at a truck loaded with steel and said 'I can drive that truck.' The guy took him for a test drive on that very truck and asked 'when can you start?'

I just don't know what happens in the future. In the southern coal fields of WV there is a culture of distrust when it comes to education. People honestly don't want their kids to go to college because they fear they will move away out of state and never come back. SMH, just stay ignorant but at least we'll all be together. You can go work in the hole like your dad and granddad and his dad before him. And coal is in it's death throes---has been for decades. In 1950 there was something like 800,000 coal mining jobs in WV---by 1954 that number had been cut in half due to automation. Machines that could mine more coal in 1 day than a crew of humans could mine in a month. People talk about how someone has to service and maintain the robots and machines. But if you're uneducated and your parents don't encourage---hell, in many cases they discourage their kids---from doing well in school, how can they expect to attain the knowledge necessary to work in robotics.

[Clevfan4life]

11 hours ago, Vambo said:

Is this why she is for the 76,000+ illegals coming in every month?  Is that being "responsible"?   Don't have children import them?

sigh, I said she had a point about younger gens not having children. I am not going to now be made to defend every last word that comes out of her mouth especially when I EXPLICITLY stated I don't like her. 

[Vambo]

12 minutes ago, Clevfan4life said:

sigh, I said she had a point about younger gens not having children. I am not going to now be made to defend every last word that comes out of her mouth especially when I EXPLICITLY stated I don't like her. 

Her point is wrong...sorry you're having a bad day try this works for AOC!

[Clevfan4life]

5 hours ago, Vambo said:

Her point is wrong...sorry you're having a bad day try this works for AOC!

whether you believe she's wrong or not on an issue wasn't the point you idiot. You were asking me to rationalize something else she's apparently for that I never suggested I was behind. Follow along if you're capable. Because I agree with someone on one issue, doesn't mean i'm in "lockstep" with them on everything. In fact, when it comes to AOC...I've pretty much blatantly stated for weeks now that im not terribly fond of her. I know of no other way to effectively communicate that other than the written English language. If there's something else that does it better for you, lemme know and i'll run some translation software through it.