A large proportion of Amazon's US fulfillment-centre workers are on food stamps | Hacker News Reader

A large proportion of Amazon's US fulfillment-centre workers are on food stamps

theintercept.com

30 pointsleoc15 comments

So Amazon's business brings a bunch of low-skill jobs to depressed areas of the country that have been hit by decades of job loss and wage stagnation. (Driven in recent years partly by the Internet's effects on retail, led by Amazon itself.)

Why is it surprising that they're so flooded with applicants that they can get away with offering not much more than minimum wage?

Why is it surprising that people who work such low-wage jobs can't make ends meet without government assistance?

This article is framed to shame amazon for having so many employees who rely on SNAP. It could be framed to laud them for employing so many who are poor. It could also be completely neutral: Amazon hires unskilled labor for unskilled jobs.

Blaming and shaming does make for a saucy read however.

It was bad when Walmart did it; it's still bad when Amazon does it.

> It could be framed to laud them for employing so many who are poor

Oh yes, so good of Jeff to become the worlds richest man by exploiting some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Such genorisity so I can get ping pong balls in 2 days

Arguments like this are naive and pointless. Bezos could dump half his Amazon shares and give that as bonuses to all Amazon warehouse workers. How long would that last until you share the same complaint again? It's a serious question. And if Bezos did that, what would it do to Amazon's share value with shares flooding the market? Would Amazon have to layoff these workers? They go back to food stamps and no jobs, no?

I am not saying the current situation is ideal. I am saying the system is working exactly as intended. Welcome to capitalism. You can't be complicit with all the aspects and security you get personally but then complain when others are reaping the same benefit, just at a 1000x scale.

Many people believe it shouldn't be possible to be employed full time and still require food stamps -- that the minimum legal wage should be a living wage that covers the average price of food and rent in that area, at least.

So, it follows that they would only believe it laudable to employ the poor if you're employing them to a standard that allows them to survive.

The issue is that if Business A and Individual B are paying taxes, why should those taxes be used to increase Business C's profit margin by subsidizing their employees? Should this not be the responsibility of Business C?

There's no one forcing those food stamp recipients to work at Amazon. I do believe that there are other, better paying jobs they can get.

And if they can qualify for food stamps, I'm sure they could qualify for student loans/grants that would put them out of the low-skill job arena...

Edit: ...Unless they wasted their education on some worthless degree.

I used to work at Amazon. Hourly workers make significantly more than minimum wage.

How much specifically?

In the warehouses?

I'm very happy to see this type of thing getting more attention.

12% of Americans are in food stamps.

14.5% of Americans live below the poverty line

Seeing a few other sources that say other numbers (all above 12%, however)

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