Many Amazon Warehouse Workers are on Food Stamps

[ElNono]

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 (https://theintercept.com/2018/04/19/amazon-snap-subsidies-warehousing-wages/)... "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 (http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/30/news/companies/amazon-warehouse-workers/index.html). "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 (https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/maps/the-amazon-effect), while effectively paying no federal income tax (https://www.seattlepi.com/business/tech/article/Amazon-paid-no-US-income-taxes-for-2017-12713961.php).

"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."

[baseline bum]

Policing and criminally charging staffing firms and their management is where Trump should be dumping money to combat illegal immigration instead of his stupid fucking wall. So much temp labor is illegals. I don't expect Trump to give a shit though since it would cause Americans' wages to rise.

[DarrinS]

Bezos is one of those greedy right wingers. :lol

Lol, making almost double at Walmart.

[Spurtacular]

:cry

This is all perpetrated by your WaPo guy.

[DarrinS]

Robots do most of the warehouse work, tbh.

[ElNono]

Famous trickle down at work, tbh... lawmakers trip over themselves to give these guys cash to bring 'jobs' to their states...

[SpursforSix]

Nm

[DMX7]

Lol, making almost double at Walmart.

That's pathetic.

[SnakeBoy]

Walmart's new slogan "yeah but what about amazon"

[monosylab1k]

:lol Chinese Foxconn workers are reading this like “wow, such delightful working conditions”

But yeah, Bezos is still one of the biggest pieces of shit on this planet.

[SpursforSix]

:lol Chinese Foxconn workers are reading this like “wow, such delightful working conditions”

But yeah, Bezos is still one of the biggest pieces of shit on this planet.

Yeah...but two day shipping and Bosch.

[SpursforSix]

Plus...do they get health insurance and/or retirement benefits?

[monosylab1k]

Yeah...but two day shipping and Bosch.

Oh yeah, I’m not gonna stop buying iPhones and random shit on Amazon over this :lol exploit away, corporate assholes.

[SpursforSix]

Oh yeah, I’m not gonna stop buying iPhones and random shit on Amazon over this :lol exploit away, corporate assholes.

Word.

[DMC]

You almost have to be a piece of shit to make 100 billion in your lifetime.

[Nathan89]

Famous trickle down at work, tbh... lawmakers trip over themselves to give these guys cash to bring 'jobs' to their states...

The trickle down is the savings in time and money to the end consumer from creating an efficient business. Oh, and it's probably a net plus for the environment as well.

[ElNono]

The trickle down is the savings in time and money to the end consumer from creating an efficient business. Oh, and it's probably a net plus for the environment as well.

That's not what trickle down (aka supply side) economics is at all. Read up a bit about it, The Way the World Works by Jude Wanniski (1978) is a good primer of supply-side economics, well intention, but incredibly naive, looking at the following 40 years.

You don't need to contort yourself much trying to defend it, tbh, it's a well know canard considering it's only natural for corporations to seek monopoly status (or lack of competition, if cornering the market doesn't work out) and the highest ROI (which go hand in hand, capitalism 101, tbh).

Love me some free market and capitalism, but the larger the corp, the more they fight it, and they largely win these days, IMO.

[Nathan89]

That's not what trickle down (aka supply side) economics is at all. Read up a bit about it, The Way the World Works by Jude Wanniski (1978) is a good primer of supply-side economics, well intention, but incredibly naive, looking at the following 40 years.

You don't need to contort yourself much trying to defend it, tbh, it's a well know canard considering it's only natural for corporations to seek monopoly status (or lack of competition, if cornering the market doesn't work out) and the highest ROI (which go hand in hand, capitalism 101, tbh).

Love me some free market and capitalism, but the larger the corp, the more they fight it, and they largely win these days, IMO.

I'm pointing out the advantages of the system as it currently exists. That's why I also mentioned environmental advantages. Amazon also reinvests the most money out all companies to continue to improve their business. Their cloud service for example makes easier for new businesses to get started which leads to even bigger impact on your quality of life. That's how the free market that you love works. Much more effective than what the government does with your taxes.

[ElNono]

I'm pointing out the advantages of the system as it currently exists. That's why I also mentioned environmental advantages. Amazon also reinvests the most money out all companies to continue to improve their business. Their cloud service for example makes easier for new businesses to get started which leads to even bigger impact on your quality of life. That's how the free market that you love works. Much more effective than what the government does with your taxes.

You responded to my trickle down post, with something that has nothing to do with trickle down. I pointed you to relevant information but you keep arguing from ignorance. smh.

Trickle down (for dummies) is the notion that flushing these companies with money and removing regulations allow them produce a cascade economic effect that lifts the poor, by providing them with money for growth, investment and expansion, which in turn is supposed to translate to the creation of a lot of jobs, and by the law of demand and supply, cause a shortage of workers which lifts wages. An extremely naive proposition that doesn't take into account a plethora of other real economic factors, like automation, the fact that unqualified labor is fungible, etc.

My comment was aimed strictly to that.

Now, on the unrelated side, I agree with government doing a piss poor job, that's exactly being pointed out with the corporate welfare these companies are getting and on top of that, having to provide food to the employees of the third richest company in the world. Plus, the continued use of tax loopholes to what can only be considered 'legal' tax evasion. More oversight and regulation should definitely be in order, because Amazon clearly will use any tool at hand to fulfill their shareholder promise to maximize revenue (that's their job), and the very real casualties are the poor chaps in the OP.

As an aside, the cloud services, or any other service Amazon provides, has nothing to do with my quality of life. I happen to be one of those companies that use their web services (which is top notch) to improve people's quality of life, and I get billed every month for them. They didn't invent, code or promote the product that I run on their platform. They're just a convenient tool that charges for their services (as they should).

[Nathan89]

You responded to my trickle down post, with something that has nothing to do with trickle down. I pointed you to relevant information but you keep arguing from ignorance. smh.

Trickle down (for dummies) is the notion that flushing these companies with money and removing regulations allow them produce a cascade economic effect that lifts the poor, by providing them with money for growth, investment and expansion, which in turn is supposed to translate to the creation of a lot of jobs, and by the law of demand and supply, cause a shortage of workers which lifts wages. An extremely naive proposition that doesn't take into account a plethora of other real economic factors, like automation, the fact that unqualified labor is fungible, etc.

My comment was aimed strictly to that.

Now, on the unrelated side, I agree with government doing a piss poor job, that's exactly being pointed out with the corporate welfare these companies are getting and on top of that, having to provide food to the employees of the third richest company in the world. Plus, the continued use of tax loopholes to what can only be considered 'legal' tax evasion. More oversight and regulation should definitely be in order, because Amazon clearly will use any tool at hand to fulfill their shareholder promise to maximize revenue (that's their job), and the very real casualties are the poor chaps in the OP.

As an aside, the cloud services, or any other service Amazon provides, has nothing to do with my quality of life. I happen to be one of those companies that use their web services (which is top notch) to improve people's quality of life, and I get billed every month for them. They didn't invent, code or promote the product that I run on their platform. They're just a convenient tool that charges for their services (as they should).

You posted a narrow viewed negative perspective and I expanded on the positive. You said it's supposed to raise wages. One of the positives I brought up is that people can save money with Amazon. People don't have to pay a fortune for cable for their entertainment they can use Amazon as a cheap alternative. They also save time using Amazon which allows them to perhaps make their own food instead of going out to eat which can save them money and improve health. Or you can use time savings to invest that time into other ways of making money. More investment into automation will continue to lower the price point.

Different cities/states are going to compete for their business regardless so they are going to get massively favorable deals. Doesn't seem worth my time to complain about that. Not sure of all the other methods they use other than that so I really can't comment on that.

Amazon services lowers the barrier to entry for new companies. These new companies eventually have a net positive affect on many lives in America.

I'm glad you dislike Amazon though because I'm not a big fan either tbh. I prefer more competitors and not such a behemoth company. I just commented to balance your negative perspective with a more broad outlook of the positive that comes from the immense investment that Amazon puts into their company.

[Quadzilla99]

The trickle down is the savings in time and money to the end consumer from creating an efficient business. Oh, and it's probably a net plus for the environment as well.
Lol youre such a rube

[ElNono]

You posted a narrow viewed negative perspective and I expanded on the positive. You said it's supposed to raise wages. One of the positives I brought up is that people can save money with Amazon. People don't have to pay a fortune for cable for their entertainment they can use Amazon as a cheap alternative. They also save time using Amazon which allows them to perhaps make their own food instead of going out to eat which can save them money and improve health. Or you can use time savings to invest that time into other ways of making money. More investment into automation will continue to lower the price point.

Different cities/states are going to compete for their business regardless so they are going to get massively favorable deals. Doesn't seem worth my time to complain about that. Not sure of all the other methods they use other than that so I really can't comment on that.

Amazon services lowers the barrier to entry for new companies. These new companies eventually have a net positive affect on many lives in America.

I'm glad you dislike Amazon though because I'm not a big fan either tbh. I prefer more competitors and not such a behemoth company. I just commented to balance your negative perspective with a more broad outlook of the positive that comes from the immense investment that Amazon puts into their company.

Look, don't be offended, but this response has zero to do with trickle down economics, which was what my post was about. Because you seem to be such a fervent admirer of the free market, I'm repeating my advice to read up on it, tbh.

I don't hate Amazon any more that I hate all the companies that take corporate welfare of any kind, skirting taxes, gaming the system, and using their dominant position to extract tax money that should really be going to education, infrastructure, etc instead of their bottom line.

Certainly not exclusive to Amazon, and I understand that they do that because that's their management obligation towards their shareholders, but government regulation in these matters should be mandatory. Not because government is good or bad, but because it's the only empowered entity to end the abuse. Closing the loopholes, abuses, etc are the government job (which is why I pointed out the absurdity of lawmakers tripping over themselves to give these guys more money).

Much like we probably don't want our tax dollars financing drug addicts, I also don't want my tax dollars feeding Amazon employees. It's ridiculous. I don't care how much cheaper it makes the goods I buy or not, it's just ridiculous on the basis that they make a shitton of money.

I'm a business owner too, and I can't skirt taxes. I can't build my expansion on the shoulders of taxpayer money. For all the 'level playing field' you claim Amazon brings to the table, when it comes to them, they love fucking taxpayers over.

Their services are great, and I won't be boycotting them or anything like that, but that doesn't mean I can't point out the obvious in this situation.

[Nathan89]

Focusing on wages seems like a narrow focus. Amazon invests immense amounts of money into services that save people time and money. That's pretty much sums up why I responded to your comment.

[boutons_deux]

"Focusing on wages seems like a narrow focus."

Goddamn you're fucking stupid

Amazon saves customers time and money by paying its warehouse employees poverty wages. Same as Walmart.

[ElNono]

Focusing on wages seems like a narrow focus. Amazon invests immense amounts of money into services that save people time and money. That's pretty much sums up why I responded to your comment.

That's fine, but the OP *is* about wages. Trickle down is the theory I poked fun of, because it's supposed to 'lift' those severely low paid guys by flushing companies with cash through tax cuts, etc.

On top of that, Amazon can still do all that investment to save people time and money (which they don't do for the goodness of their hearts, they do it for the money, obviously) with their earnings, which are plentiful. Why do taxpayers need to subsidize Amazon or any other extremely profitable company? At what cost are we keeping jobs in America, and what kind of jobs?

I mean, at the point you have to subsidize employees, these jobs are no better than the shovel-ready jobs the government hands out. They might actually be worse. Heck, in the government case at least they're building infrastructure for everybody, in the other case, they're just subsidizing a small set of shareholders.

[Quadzilla99]

Corporate welfare=good
Poor people welfare=bad

Dont want Atlas to shrug guys!

[phxspurfan]

Robots do most of the warehouse work, tbh.

I wouldn't be so sure. I get random issues with my amazon shipments all the time, like missing items and expired stuff. Those are mistakes robots wouldn't make. But all the boxes seem pretty perfectly taped, so perhaps they have a taping robot.

[boutons_deux]

"Robots do most of the warehouse work, tbh." :lol

Even with 80,000 robots, Amazon is working hard to find human warehouse labor

industry leaders say there’s competition for human labor.

Amazon will hold job fairs at dozens of locations this month, where it hopes

to recruit 50,000 workers,

most for full-time work inside its warehouses.

https://qz.com/1039169/amazon-is-looking-to-hire-50000-people-in-one-day/

[Nbadan]

Wondering why your tax return is smaller this year?

Amazon will pay $0 in federal income taxes for the second year in a row


Amazon, which doubled its profits and made more than $11 billion in 2018, won't pay any federal income taxes for the second year in a row, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported on Wednesday.

The company will not be required to pay the standard 21 percent income tax rate on its 2018 profits, and is claiming a tax rebate of $129 million, which ITEP describes as a "a tax rate of negative 1 percent."

Amazon drew ire in 2018 for not paying federal taxes on its $5.6 billion in profits the year before, which was made possible due to tax credits and stock-based compensation, reports Politifact. Last year was the first time Amazon paid no federal income tax whatsoever.

From 2011 to 2016, Amazon payed federal income tax at a rate of 11.4 percent — less than half of the national rate of 35 percent. Due to President Trump's corporate-friendly tax cuts, Amazon will pay any deferred or postponed taxes at the lowered rate of 21 percent rather than the previous rate of 35 percent, per Politifact.

Based out of Washington state, which has no income tax, Amazon has also been free from state filings on income.

https://theweek.com/speedreads/823590/amazon-pay-0-federal-income-taxes-second-year-row
11

[DMC]

Fucking Amazon.

You should never use them. Ever. I know I won't. Nope not me.

[Blake]

Fucking Amazon.

You should never use them. Ever. I know I won't. Nope not me.

Nobody is calling for a boycott, dummy.

[Winehole23]

Amazon didn't like the idea of the terms of the deal becoming public, or of opening the shop floor to labor unions.

1096090821483524096

[midnightpulp]

Not trickling down?