Quote:
Originally Posted by HansTWN
The point is this. If a company told you "we are 5% more expensive than our competitors, but all the money goes straight to our employees" how many of us would go shop there? Another question is, what is a reasonable working environment? There can't be any pressure? I see it all the time. People come to me to get them some products from European companies. I send an e-mail and very rarely do I get a reply within one week. A similar e-mail to an Asian company hardly ever takes longer than 24 hours before they send me a reply. You really feel the urgency to help and please customers. A customer needs urgent delivery for a European made machine? Unless the seller happens to have stock, forget about it. Yes, it is just my personal experience and that of many people I know but (with notable exceptions) efficiency, flexibility, and competitiveness are just unheard of in Western Europe. (Many companies just live off their reputations of past excellence). And when a company tries to introduce these the employees start to complain. Ever tried to go into a German retail store 1/2 before closing time? Many are already closing the doors and try to keep new customers out while they do their best to herd out the remaining ones.
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I think I would be willing to pay 5% more. I do not browse at a store and then buy from the website. If I like what I find in a store, I buy it there because I have used the employees time.
I don't buy for one second that the kid helping me at the Banana Repbulic or Babies R Us or Barnes and Noble are getting a living wage and benefits. Most of the people working at those stores are making an OK wage and not getting benefits. They are probably doing what I did, saving up for spending money for school or using it as pocket money.
The part that bothers me is that there are people who are using those positions to try and make ends meet. They work two jobs selling books at Barnes and Nobles and pants at Banana Republic. They are making barely above minimum wage and they don't have benefits. I would guess that most of those folks are not unemployeed in a temporary position. Even in the crap economy people with college degrees tended to be in a good position with people taking jobs that pay less and not as great benefits and having to adjust life styles. Don't get me wrong, I know someone who lost a nearly 6 figure job and ended up working at Starbucks but that was a really weird situation and two years later he is back working at his old salary and benefits.
The problem is not that Amazon and Walmart and Barnes and Noble hire a lot of part time employees, those jobs have always existed, but that the high number of people without high school degrees are working those jobs to try and make a living. Those jobs were never meant to be jobs to make a living, they are suppose to be part time jobs. There is the increase need for the Baby Boomers to find jobs because they did not, or could not, save enough for reitrement and are taking these temp jobs to help make ends meet.
The US has failed to provide alternative educational programs for kids not interested in going to college. The focus on college prep is too great. I believe I read that close to half the population is not going to go to or finish college. We need to have educational options for them starting in high school so that they can learn a marketable trade that will provide a good salary and benefits.
The US has failed to hammer home the need for private savings for returement. The pension system is dead and social security is not going to pay the bills. But people think that social security will cover them in retirement. For many people in the lower middle class and even in the middle class, they spend too much money on status items, vacations, and things that make them look like they are keeping up with the Jones's. They get to retirement and find the minimum amount that they put into their 401K and social security check are no where near enough to maintain their life style.
The US does not train people to save. We are hit with spend , spend, spend messages. Why am I reading stories about families struggling to make ends met who are discussing how much they need their cell phones and the $80 a month they spend on the cell phone bill? Really? Since when has a cell phone become a must have item? Even if it is, why not use a buy a minutes plan and save on money. Only use the phone when necessary and save money. My hubby rarely spends more then $10 a month on his cell phone bill and I will probably move to a similar plan when my current contract ends. And we make a good amount of cash.
So yeah, it would be nice for Amazon to hire all permenant employees, pay them $20 an hour and provide benefits. It would help. But until the population as a whole learns to live within their means and that the government is not going to be there to take care of them when they retire or are sick, we are screwed.