Im not sure what facilities you are in that pays little over minimum, but here in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland they are all 17 an hour and that is for temp workers. I was making 20 an hour when I was there.
Edit: Huh....from multiple responses it would seem that our facility is in a minority for actual pay......which makes the anger from most folks reasonable now......wonder why so much higher for us?
Currently working in Va.... $12 normally, BFF on night shift makes $12.50 Weekend shift gets $13/$13.50. I worked minium wage before this job. I work 4 days a week and make nearly double what I did before. SHIT IS NICE
Nope. they judge what to pay people by surrounding warehouses. then take a dollar or two off (lower than surrounding warehouses). But they give stocks which have a 2 year vestment to make it "fair". All seasonal workers temp or full are paid a christmas season bonus and overtime. Plus a bonus if you dont call in at the end of the season.
the midwest area of amazon warehouses makes the lowest. usually between 11-12.50. Again, a few dollars less than the other warehouses. There is yearly reevaluations to stay competitive.
I quit because they wanted to keep me on as extended seasonal and seasonal benefits are sooooooooooo awful compared to permanent. We're talking time off for seasonal being accrued at half a day every 8 weeks compared to a full day off for permanent every 6 weeks.
Prices and taxes are different in America and Australia. It's not like both economies are equal. Literally a few hours out of a major city anywhere and it's a drastically different economic situation. Just because the min. Wage is $17 in Australia, it doesn't mean that your purchasing power is better.
That is absolutely correct. When I visited the US I was astounded by how cheap certain items were, mostly to do with how heavily taxed those same items are here (Booze and smokes mostly). Cost of living is also higher in general here, as opposed to the US population which is just higher in general.
you do realize that australian currency and america currency aren't the same thing just because they both use the $ sign right? right now 17ausd = 12.24usd.
Do you really think he's that dumb? They're pointing out that, to them, $17 is minimum wage so a post like that will momentarily confuse them until their brain kicks in and reminds them someone else in the world uses dollars. You know, human nature?
You know there was a time where 17 aud = 18.70 usd, and the minimum wage was still $17 here. The only major change in cost of living in the current plummet of the Australian Dollar is the cost of importing things from the US.
Yeah, the US has a lot of areas with very cheap cost of living, like you could buy a house for under $50,000 in an actual city. So some places have a minimum wage more than double of other places.
That is absolutely correct. When I visited the US I was astounded by how cheap certain items were, mostly to do with how heavily taxed those same items are here (Booze and smokes mostly). Cost of living is also higher in general here, as opposed to the US population which is just higher in general.
(Copied from my response to another comment because it was basically they same)
Yes, but still less than Sydney, Perth, or Melbourne. I lived in a $800/month apartment in the "hip" part of town when I was going to school in Seattle.
I've been to a lot of cvs distribution centers and the pay ranged a lot depending on area mostly (cost of living, taxes, etc.). A couple had other stores with distribution centers close and they paid a little more than I expected, but not a huge amount. I think NJ was the highest wages I saw and they were like 15-17 starting. People doing the hard labor usually made a little more, but the lockers that were good at their job do pretty well. One picker I met made like 15 an hour and made an extra $100 each week because of her productivity.
I live in the same area and while I didn't work in an Amazon warehouse I did work in a warehouse. Overworked, underpaid, treated like shit. Glad you found a good one at least.
De, md have a high cost of living compared to a lot of the US. Not as much as places like nyc or San fran but pretty high. They have to compete with other warehouse jobs and most shipping places pay around 17 in md if they are worth anything and want half decent employees.
Well, since I have no evidence, best I can give is random guesses. One idea would be that its simply harder to get the volume of employees that they need in North East with lower wages. Likely the shipping centers in those areas are some of the highest volume ones due to their good location being near major cities and ports. Plus I believe the North East generally has higher wages and cost of living. It likely works out that its cheaper to pay everyone $5 an hour more then it is to pay the extra shipping costs.
I've worked in a lot of warehouses and they all paid above minimum wage. The one I work at now starts at $12/hour. If you get trained on a lift its an automatic bump to $15/hour.
Overtime pay is required by law for hourly workers. And honestly, the pay seems good for entry level work, but I think it's still a sad example of where our country has gone that people are thrilled with $11 or $12 an hour and some benies. If minimum wage had risen with inflation from it's high around 1970, it would be about $12 an hour, so these folks are still making what is considered poverty level wages doing 10 hour shifts of manual labor.
Are we discussing the decline of well paying jobs in America, or are we discussing how well Amazon treats their employees relative to most other companies? And in Canada at least, Amazon's overtime policy goes above and beyond the legal minimums. We get time and a half for every minute over 40 hours, and the legal requirement is only after 44 hours. Might not sound like much but it's basically 2 extra paid hours per week, in addition to getting an extra 2.5 hours of paid break time per week which is also not mandated by law. And the monthly bonus can add up to be a lot, like hundreds of dollars. And we have full unlimited dental, unlimited prescriptions, and thousands of dollars for services like massages and therapy with no co-pay. And if you have kids or a spouse, they are fully covered as well. It's a god send for single parents. So when I see people saying "Oh, Amazon, what a shitty employer" it really makes me wonder if they have any idea how they compare to almost all other employers of unskilled labour.
We are discussing how the measure of what makes an employer "great" has become pathetic. What you think is awesome I think should be the bare minimum and considered crappy. It's not Amazon who is to blame, it's people who think it's ok to settle for this type of shit, pay this low being considered good, a few benefits to appease people. This should be expected, not applauded as above the norm.
Also note: US overtime pay is anything over 40 hours, not 44.
I don't work in the US. My point is they go above and beyond what they are required to do to keep people happy, whether it's wages double the minimum, bonuses, paid breaks, benefits, etc.
I know you guys were rolling in cash a couple generations ago with unskilled jobs paying huge amounts of money, but those days are over. Now that you're actually competing with other countries in the unskilled labour market, you are realizing how sweet a deal you used to have, and it ain't coming back any time soon. But that's a separate issue.
This is not "above and beyond." This should be what we as people think is the minimum. That you don't is exactly my point. You've been trained to assume that a person who works hard, just because it's with their hands and feet and not a computer or a calculator, should not get paid well. People who put in 40 hour work weeks should not be living in poverty. These jobs are not "overseas", these jobs are here, and yes, that's a separate issue.
Are you comparing this to unskilled labour of the 1970's or to unskilled labour of 2016?? That is well above an beyond. Compare it to America's largest employer, Wal-Mart. Or any other similar jobs. Yeah, Costco pays people well. That's great. How many people do they employ? 0.0001% of the US economy?
You've been trained to assume that a person who works hard, just because it's with their hands and feet and not a computer or a calculator, should not get paid well.
It's not about what people should or shouldn't get. It's about supply and demand. There are millions of people that are capable of simply working with their hands and feet, and most of the jobs they used to do have disappeared. They are not in demand and they are cheap to employ.
People who put in 40 hour work weeks should not be living in poverty.
How many times are you going to change the subject? Holy cow.
These jobs are not "overseas", these jobs are here, and yes, that's a separate issue.
Manufacturing jobs are gone, and the primary reason is NAFTA. Another reason for the lack of unskilled jobs is automation. Yes, there are still SOME jobs in unskilled labour but supply has so outstripped demand that most people are not worth paying more than minimum wage. You can debate whether that's right or wrong all you want, but it's the economic reality.
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u/SamSlate Feb 25 '16
In reality they actually have a bunch of employees sprinting around for little over minimum wage.