Amazon fined for stealing the tips their drivers earned.

[crimson5pheonix]

Yeah, tipping is such a crucial part of how we handle restaurants and some other things in the United States that where it typically occurs, 99%+ of the time there's a spot on the bill for you to write in how much you want to tip and include it in with the rest of it. Usually(?) employers don't use this in order to steal tips (I think?), but the universality of being able to include the tip in the bill itself and pay it with a check or credit card makes it easy for them to steal tips if they want to.

And don't forget the jobs that pay below minimum wage and just use tips to paper over the difference.

 

[tippy2k2]

When a poor man robs a rich man with a gun, that's criminal. When a rich man robs a poor man with a pen, that's business.

THAT's the actual quote I was trying to think of but my brain didn't work so I just kind of made one up with the same general concept

 

[Gergar12]

If you don't think the left hates billionaire CEOs and that Bezos is the modern day poster child for that group alongside Musk then I can only assume you don't talk to many people on the left. If you're wondering why the left doesn't focus on him specifically it's because of that fact, that he is just emblematic of CEO behaviour under modern day capitalism. Having one specific enemy, although cathartic doesn't actually address the wider issues that allow Bezos to exist.

Being angrt that the world is heating up achieves nothing, you need to focus on the things causing it.

Also maybe, just maybe, we can now accept that the kind of person who hoardes such obscene amounts of wealth that he and his descendants could stop earning money today while spending the equivalent of the median yearly Irish salary a day and not go broke until after the year 17000 might be a vile greedy lowlife. Anyone who craves wealth beyond anything they could ever need will probably steal from you just 'cos. He will take it because in his mind he should have all the money.

I literally tried to talk to someone on a lefty political campaign about the chamber-of-commerce, and they didn't care that much.

 

[Baffle]

The problem is that it's too late to do much about Amazon in many cases. Hands up who ordered something from Amazon in the last month?

I don't use Amazon unless I absolutely have to, but I needed a new tap cartridge and I couldn't find the right one anywhere else.It must be available from other places because Amazon aren't making them themselves, but given lockdown and Google, the only place I could find selling the one I needed was Amazon. (For anyone interested, tap cartridges can be very (stupidly) specific to the model of tap you have.)

We've fucked it, lads.

 

[Gergar12]

Systemic issues, not people.

The problem with that is the fact that Amazon is very popular, and Bezos is known as a god by the business world, if you don't start trying to do hit-pieces on him, and decreasing his popularity, it's harder to do other issues like a wealth tax, capital gains tax, changing priority from owners of homes to renters, and so on.

I would argue Musk is an even bigger problem than Bezos in the long-term, Musk has an army of fans supporting him despite him paying below-market rates for engineers, and using slave labor in the Congo for his Cobalt mines. He actually does good things like building EVs/ electric vehicles, and arguably space travel, and high-speed transit. But if his space-travel plans succeed, and he mines asteroids he will be richer than god and could be impossible to fight in the future due to lobbying.

 

[Baffle]

Musk is an even bigger problem than Bezos in the long-term, Musk has an army of fans supporting him

Musk fanboys are fucking nuts. "Woo! Another successful rocket explosion! This man is the genius we deserve!"

 

[tippy2k2]

The problem is that it's too late to do much about Amazon in many cases. Hands up who ordered something from Amazon in the last month?

I don't use Amazon unless I absolutely have to, but I needed a new tap cartridge and I couldn't find the right one anywhere else.It must be available from other places because Amazon aren't making them themselves, but given lockdown and Google, the only place I could find selling the one I needed was Amazon. (For anyone interested, tap cartridges can be very (stupidly) specific to the model of tap you have.)

We've fucked it, lads.

Honestly, that's what makes it so shit.

I'm well aware Amazon is an awful place. I know a couple of people who worked for Amazon (both as drivers). The stories are absolutely true how shit they are.

...and yet, when I needed a 50 ft extension cord last week, where did I go?

I actually did try to find even a decent price for it elsewhere but the $20 for the extension cord I needed was EASILY the cheapest I could find (the next was $50 at Menards). Ultimately, even if it's a drop in the bucket, I'm part of the issue as well.

The "And yet you participate in society" argument can only go so far. It's time to look in the mirror and realize that the reason this shit is $20 on Amazon and $50 at Menards is that Menards treats their employees (mostly) human. At some point, I need to make the decision; is $30 worth it?

I'm hoping next time, I'll remember this and the many other stories and start taking responsibility for my minor role in this shitshow and just take the $30 hit at Menards.

 

[Trunkage]

I literally tried to talk to someone on a lefty political campaign about the chamber-of-commerce, and they didn't care that much.

It's going to depend on whose on the chamber of commerce. Generally, I'm all for small business (as long as they don't trear their workers like big business.)

 

[Baffle]

I'm hoping next time, I'll remember this and the many other stories and start taking responsibility for my minor role in this shitshow and just take the $30 hit at Menards.

It's worth doing. I genuinely feel better about myself making more ethical (by my standards) decisions. I know it won't make a real difference, but I'm doing the little I can.

And just buy a length of cable and whack a plug and socket on either end. It's a pretty quick job, and you can just steal the plug and socket off an old device and a shitty too-short extension.

I get that my rebellion won't bring down the man, but, fuck, I don't want to help the man either.

Edit: I can afford to make the choices I make; I know not everyone had the luxury of that. But when it does become a luxury, please think about it.

 

[Gordon_4]

I honestly don’t even know if Amazon has actual drivers in Australia, almost everything I’ve received has either come from AusPost or it’s subsidiary, StarTrack.

 

[Cheetodust]

The problem is that it's too late to do much about Amazon in many cases. Hands up who ordered something from Amazon in the last month?

I don't use Amazon unless I absolutely have to, but I needed a new tap cartridge and I couldn't find the right one anywhere else.It must be available from other places because Amazon aren't making them themselves, but given lockdown and Google, the only place I could find selling the one I needed was Amazon. (For anyone interested, tap cartridges can be very (stupidly) specific to the model of tap you have.)

We've fucked it, lads.

Haven't ordered anything off of Amazon in over a year. Accidentally ordered some books from a site that it turns out was owned by Amazon and since then only buy at local bookstores... I mostly buy books so it's pretty easy for me I guess. I realized today that I'm coming up on the ten year anniversary of buying the one hoody that I own and I have a t-shirt that is 20 years old because apparently I was a very fat 10 year old. It's honestly not even an ideological thing, like I'm glad that the end result is that I create less waste but the actual reason is that I'm just lazy and only buy clothes because people prefer it when I wear clothes. I'm way less scruffy than all that makes me sound. I mean if it wasn't for my girlfriend I would probably live in a shack in the woods and survive on a diet of spuds and eggs.

But you're right we've fucked it.

 

[Eacaraxe]

A homeless man stealing $20 from a person will get 20 years in prison while a Suit stealing $20 million from thousands of people will receive a $200,000 fine and told not to do it again.

We have a word for those people, you know.

"Senator".

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Haven't ordered anything off of Amazon in over a year. Accidentally ordered some books from a site that it turns out was owned by Amazon and since then only buy at local bookstores... I mostly buy books so it's pretty easy for me I guess. I realized today that I'm coming up on the ten year anniversary of buying the one hoody that I own and I have a t-shirt that is 20 years old because apparently I was a very fat 10 year old. It's honestly not even an ideological thing, like I'm glad that the end result is that I create less waste but the actual reason is that I'm just lazy and only buy clothes because people prefer it when I wear clothes. I'm way less scruffy than all that makes me sound. I mean if it wasn't for my girlfriend I would probably live in a shack in the woods and survive on a diet of spuds and eggs.

But you're right we've fucked it.

Lol, I'm pretty much the same.

I still own tee-shirts, jeans, and shoes that I wore in high school, and I went from being 6' 130 pounds in high school to It really helps 6' 170 pounds since i hit 30. It really helps that when I was in high school baggy cloths were still in style, so as I gained weight and muscle mass the cloths got appropriately tighter to today's fashion.

These days I barely ever buy cloths. Most of my new cloths are free swag that I get from work.

 

[Trunkage]

I honestly don’t even know if Amazon has actual drivers in Australia, almost everything I’ve received has either come from AusPost or it’s subsidiary, StarTrack.

Amazon has been very slightly successful here. Drivers would be an expense they couldnt afford.... well they could easily afford but that would cut into profits