Many Amazon Warehouse Workers are on Food Stamps

[DamianTV]

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/18/04/21/1634237/many-amazon-warehouse-workers-are-on-food-stamps

Many of Amazon's warehouse workers have to buy their groceries with food stamps through America's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, reports the Intercept.

In Arizona, new data suggests that one in three of the company's own employees depend on SNAP to put food on the table. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, the figure appears to be around one in 10. Overall, of five states that responded to a public records request for a list of their top employers of SNAP recipients, Amazon cracked the top 20 in four.

Though the company now employs 200,000 people in the United States, many of its workers are not making enough money to put food on the table... "The average warehouse worker at Walmart makes just under $40,000 annually, while at Amazon would take home about $24,300 a year," CNN reported in 2013. "That's less than $1,000 above the official federal poverty line for a family of four."

In addition Amazon uses temp workers who may also be on food stamps, notes the article, adding that in 2017 Amazon received $1.2 billion in state and local subsidies, while effectively paying no federal income tax.

"The American people are financing Amazon's pursuit of an e-commerce monopoly every step of the way: first, with tax breaks, subsidies, and infrastructure improvements meant to lure fulfillment centers into town, and later with federal transfers to pay for warehouse workers' food."

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References on Source article on link at top.

 

[tod evans]

Many of WalMart's are too....

 

[A Son of Liberty]

So what?

 

[tod evans]

So what?

So let's stop the program!

Cold turkey, work or starve.

While we're at it free (tax dollar supported) housing and medical need to go too.

 

[Origanalist]

So let's stop the program!

Cold turkey, work or starve.

While we're at it free (tax dollar supported) housing and medical need to go too.

You just want people to die.

 

[tod evans]

You just want people to die.

I don't give a shit if they work and prosper or if they lounge and die.

What I give a shit about is supporting their collective asses.

Same sentiment applies to all government 'workers'..

 

[TheCount]

K.

 

[Danke]

You just want people to die.

 

[specsaregood]

Many of WalMart's are too....

And so do many workers at hospitals and nursing homes and all over the place. Hell, MIL was just telling me about an RN at her work that complained about them getting a deli tray for a company event instead of pizza because, "I can buy a deli tray with SNAP."

 

[Brian4Liberty]

This is tragic. Americans should not have to tolerate such low wages. The government should pay them all a living wage, and they can focus on arts, humanities and social justice.

Immigrants can work in the warehouses.

 

[Ender]

So let's stop the program!

Cold turkey, work or starve.

While we're at it free (tax dollar supported) housing and medical need to go too.

The problem isn't the "program"- the problem is that we are so submerged in The Matrix and what we think is "reality", that we are clueless to what life ought to be. Working 8-12 hrs a day for The Man is NOT freedom, it's a government prison for all.

Real freedom would be to have the right to travel, roam, own land, learn, exchange, set your own perimeters, be a real entrepreneur, w/o constant gov interference. Most people would do quite well- and all charity would be local.

This 9-5 American Dream, that everyone accepts as "reality". is utter bullshit.

 

[tod evans]

The problem isn't the "program"- the problem is that we are so submerged in The Matrix and what we think is "reality", that we are clueless to what life ought to be. Working 8-12 hrs a day for The Man is NOT freedom, it's a government prison for all.

Real freedom would be to have the right to travel, roam, own land, learn, exchange, set your own perimeters, be a real entrepreneur, w/o constant gov interference. Most people would do quite well- and all charity would be local.

This 9-5 American Dream, that everyone accepts as "reality". is utter bullshit.

Nobody HAS to work for big business, it's a choice.

Just like nobody has to patronize them either...

The 'free-shit' only enables big business and supports big-gov.

 

[kahless]

Some of this thread demonstrates why Libertarians will always be 1% and after years of listening to the callous rhetoric and advocating for billionaires instead of the poor masses I am beginning to think maybe rightfully so. Instead of non-government alternatives offered up and calling out Amazon, <some> Libertarians attack poor people and rejoice in their demise while giving Bezo's, a billionaire that is profiting off the backs of taxpayers a free pass.

Later this year, Amazon will begin accepting grocery orders from customers using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal anti-poverty program formerly known as food stamps. As the nation’s largest e-commerce grocer, Amazon stands to profit more than any other retailer when the $70 billion program goes online after an initial eight-state pilot.

Amazon profits off the backs of taxpayers by paying low wages to the point their employees need government assistance to survive and in turn these same employees will use the taxpayer dollars to enrich Amazon further. That is not very Libertarian.

If Libertarians really had compassion for their fellow man and sense of morality, Bezo's would be called out for accepting SNAP and for not providing groceries as charity to their poor employees if they do not want to pay a living wage.

 

[euphemia]

Nobody HAS to work for big business, it's a choice.

And there is nothing stopping people from taking in roommates or working another job. I know many people who work two jobs, or maybe more.

 

[Ender]

Nobody HAS to work for big business, it's a choice.

Just like nobody has to patronize them either...

The 'free-$#@!' only enables big business and supports big-gov.

Oh, I agree- and I chose another path.

However, many people don not understand this- plus small businesses are regulated to infinity and beyond, so any chance of real personal success is very limited.

 

[Zippyjuan]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/30/news/companies/amazon-warehouse-workers/index.html

Amazon wouldn't say how much it pays its workers. But according to data gathered by career website Glassdoor.com, Amazon pays its 20,000 warehouse workers an average hourly wage of about $12, which is below the national average.

Spokeswoman Mary Osako said Glassdoor's numbers are closer to wages for entry-level workers.

She added that the figure also doesn't represent the Amazon worker's entire compensation. Its employees get full benefits and stock awards on top of their salaries. In the past five years, this has added an average of 9% to workers' base pay annually, Osako said.

Amazon also offers to pre-pay up to 95% of tuition for courses for its workers, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.

 

[euphemia]

I have a friend whose husband does package delivery for Amazon. She is a supervisor, and she says he makes more than she does.

 

[kahless]

Oh, I agree- and I chose another path.

However, many people don not understand this- plus small businesses are regulated to infinity and beyond, so any chance of real personal success is very limited.

+1, out of rep.

Also, limited by monopolies like Amazon who have a history of selling at a loss in some sectors for the entire purpose of putting their competition out of business.

 

[A Son of Liberty]

Amazon profits off the backs of taxpayers by paying low wages to the point their employees need government assistance to survive and in turn these same employees will use the taxpayer dollars to enrich Amazon further. That is not very Libertarian.

If Libertarians really had compassion for their fellow man and sense of morality, Bezo's would be called out for accepting SNAP and for not providing groceries as charity to their poor employees if they do not want to pay a living wage.

Are you fucking kidding me? You must be a fucking moron.

Labor is worth what it is worth. If the State intervenes in the market and artificially props up the low end of the labor market, how the FUCK is that Amazon's problem?

How is it Amazon's responsibility to pay MORE for labor than it values it?

Jeezus Criminy what is going on here at RPF? Please don't tell me this is what is passing for libertarian around here any more.

 

[asurfaholic]

Enough people thought that was good enough pay when they took the job, enough to staff the entire operation.

I think the “someone needs to do something” crowd is barking up the wrong tree..

Clearly if government benefits weren’t being handed out to people making a fair wage so freely you wouldn’t have this whole discussion about why amazon employees are on snap.

Some people seem to think that a business should pay more than people are willing to work for if the business is successful.

Lowest guy working for me is making 16. He’s happy, I’m happy. He could probably stand to make 4-5 more, but accepted the wage when i hired him. Other guys negotiate higher.