The McJob...The New Normal.

[Silverado12]

A friend of my wife has a relative that works at the Amazon distribution center in Chester, VA in the warehouse and makes 10 bucks an hour. I helped him out by giving him some motor oil that I didn't have a use for anymore so he could feed his oil guzzling McCar. I just can't believe that the pay is that low for such a hard job. 25 years ago warehouse work paid $12.50. Vent over. Is this the new normal in your area?

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Union or non-union for both examples?

 

[bradepb]

Wages are stagnant, even for many high level jobs.My son with a masters degree in a very good field and who just took on way more responsibility got a 1.5 percent raise for the year.
Lower level jobs are worse, even the UAW auto workers here in Detroit have not had a raise in 4 years and new hires are at about half pay of older workers doing the same job.
Cuts here on teachers, cops as well.

 

[Silverado12]

The 1980s job was a union job, but usually other warehouses that were non-union would keep the pay up pretty close just to keep the union out.

 

[krismoriah72]

Inside job, climate controlled, probably not alot of stress or physical harm. Thats not too bad.

Our forefathers built this country with blood sweat and tears for alot less.

Not knocking your wifes friend but this is the land of opportunity.. he can make three times as much being a roughneck if he wants to do that instead.

 

[doitmyself]

When I graduated high school in the mid '70's, you could go work directly in many places (manufacturing) and make today's equivalent of $25 -$30/hour with full benefits. One year working post high school and I saved enough for ALL of my college.

Yes, things have changed. People will chime in that opportunities still exist if you apply yourself, and that is true. But everyone is not suited to college or even trade school. There aren't enough high paying jobs for the massses.

 

[MalfunctionProne]

Hey......

 

[OneEyeJack]

Our government spends a lot of time and energy debating the minimum-wage but will have nothing to do with issues that would result in high paying jobs in manufacturing, gas and oil.

Your wife's friend is working for $10 an hour because there is competition for this job instead of competition for say a machinist or assembly line worker or other jobs that have disappeared.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
Inside job, climate controlled, probably not alot of stress or physical harm. Thats not too bad.



There was a story a while back about amazon warehouses being over 100 degrees and all they did was make extra water available.

Naturally one doesn't work for "Amazon", there are layers of subcontracting middlemen. So Amazon is guilt free.

 

[MalfunctionProne]

Originally Posted By: Silverado12
A friend of my wife has a relative that works at the Amazon distribution center in Chester, VA in the warehouse and makes 10 bucks an hour. I helped him out by giving him some motor oil that I didn't have a use for anymore so he could feed his oil guzzling McCar. I just can't believe that the pay is that low for such a hard job. 25 years ago warehouse work paid $12.50. Vent over. Is this the new normal in your area?


I make $12.75/hr through a staffing agency, Integrity Staffing Solutions for the Amazon Fulfillment Center I work in. That means they make like $30+ an hour for placing me. They profit off me being there.

I love Amazon.

 

[Danno]

Companies profit from their employee's work, what's your point?

 

[MalfunctionProne]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
Inside job, climate controlled, probably not alot of stress or physical harm. Thats not too bad.



There was a story a while back about amazon warehouses being over 100 degrees and all they did was make extra water available.

Naturally one doesn't work for "Amazon", there are layers of subcontracting middlemen. So Amazon is guilt free.


Sounds like Paradigm Packaging in Saddle Brook, NJ. 100+ degrees.. water. Hands so sweaty I could not properly grip boxes.

 

[MalfunctionProne]

Originally Posted By: Danno
Companies profit from their employee's work, what's your point?


You are very direct and blunt in the things that you say...

Point: Stupid for Amazon. They could (if they like) pay more (?) for my DIRECT labor. . I don't get it. Possible more paperwork and turnaround possibility, sure, but. Lack of profit.

? (*please correct if I am wrong)

 

[cashmoney]

$10/hr jobs exist because there is tremendous excess supply of workers that have no high value skills. Guess what folks?...the world has radically changed in terms of local labor markets. It has gotten smaller economically and so capital and means of production naturally flowed to lower cost labor areas. This is an economic law like gravity and it absolutely cannot be regulated or legislated away. The US can do nothing in terms of laws/regs to make factory jobs come back. So the way for US workers to earn higher labor rates/salary in today's world economy is to EARN it by first developing high value skills, investing in building high value skills and then working hard maintaining and improving them over your career. If a person does not have the smarts or the initiative to do that then $10/hr is about what their labor is worth. You don;t have to get a university degree to do this , you can get a high value skill like welding, auto tech, HVAC, electrician, medical tech, etc. There are still plenty of ways to make a decent salary in the US but it takes a little planning, sacrifice and initiative...sadly those traits seem rare these days.

 

[salv]

Everyone that works hard at a full time job deserves to earn a livable wage with decent benefits. If that means that it devalues stocks for share holders and cuts into corporate profits, then so be it. Nobody that puts in an honest 40 or 50 hour work week should have to work multiple jobs to feed a family.
I make over $40,000/yr as a service writer, and my job is definitely no more important than a warehouse worker's job. [censored], I can't even drive a forklift.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: MalfunctionProne
Point: Stupid for Amazon. They could (if they like) pay more (?) for my DIRECT labor. . I don't get it. Possible more paperwork and turnaround possibility, sure, but. Lack of profit.

? (*please correct if I am wrong)

Having to pay for employee health benefits, government mandated taxes, paid vacation, etc. is very expensive, and it makes terminations more cumbersome. Amazon is not stupid. By dealing with a staffing/temp agency, they offload all that burden to the staffing agency. It's just more convenient that way and probably less costly on average. Trust me, Amazon is not a company that would willingly just leave money on the table. If they were to hire you directly and pay you $15-20/hr, their total cost would have been higher than what they're paying the staffing agency.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: cashmoney
$10/hr jobs exist because there is tremendous excess supply of workers that have no high value skills. Guess what folks?...the world has radically changed in terms of local labor markets. It has gotten smaller economically and so capital and means of production naturally flowed to lower cost labor areas. This is an economic law like gravity and it absolutely cannot be regulated or legislated away. The US can do nothing in terms of laws/regs to make factory jobs come back. So the way for US workers to earn higher labor rates/salary in today's world economy is to EARN it by first developing high value skills, investing in building high value skills and then working hard maintaining and improving them over your career. If a person does not have the smarts or the initiative to do that then $10/hr is about what their labor is worth. You don;t have to get a university degree to do this , you can get a high value skill like welding, auto tech, HVAC, electrician, medical tech, etc. There are still plenty of ways to make a decent salary in the US but it takes a little planning, sacrifice and initiative...sadly those traits seem rare these days.


Agreed. The world where a person could make a good living packing boxes or assembling widgets is gone and won't return. Everyone has the ability to improve their skills, and there are a lot of opportunities beyond flipping burgers or pushing a pallet jack in a warehouse. Even a journeyman apprentice welder around here makes about $40,000/year.

Originally Posted By: salv
Everyone that works hard at a full time job deserves to earn a livable wage with decent benefits.


Comrade, you're certainly entitled to your belief system. But you're not entitled to a living wage-that has to be earned.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: cashmoney
$10/hr jobs exist because there is tremendous excess supply of workers that have no high value skills. Guess what folks?...the world has radically changed in terms of local labor markets. It has gotten smaller economically and so capital and means of production naturally flowed to lower cost labor areas. This is an economic law like gravity and it absolutely cannot be regulated or legislated away. The US can do nothing in terms of laws/regs to make factory jobs come back. So the way for US workers to earn higher labor rates/salary in today's world economy is to EARN it by first developing high value skills, investing in building high value skills and then working hard maintaining and improving them over your career. If a person does not have the smarts or the initiative to do that then $10/hr is about what their labor is worth. You don;t have to get a university degree to do this , you can get a high value skill like welding, auto tech, HVAC, electrician, medical tech, etc. There are still plenty of ways to make a decent salary in the US but it takes a little planning, sacrifice and initiative...sadly those traits seem rare these days.
Well said. ANd in the "inner city" schools the kuel ones laugh at the kids trying to get an education.

 

[Stelth]

I can't speak to average wages, but here in San Diego, a non-union journeyman plumber can make $24-$26 per hour. If you're making $10 an hour, that sounds like a lot, but it really isn't, particularly in Southern California. Or Northern California, or Boston, or NYC, or a lot of other places. Union jobs pay considerably more, but there aren't many here. And if you're a union journeyman, you had better hustle, because there are more sitting on the bench at the hall.

If you can get an apprenticeship in the Electricians Union here, you may do all right. They're much stronger.

If you make $10/hr. in the places that I mentioned above, you might be able to rent a room and drive a beater car. If nothing goes wrong.

 

[Mr Nice]

The job market is very bad no matter what silly unemployment number our government says. We hired a woman this past week at $24 an hour full benefits, I made a thread about this last month. She was glad to be hired after initially turning down the job offer and being out of work for 2 months. This is a non Union job that requires an associates degree.

Read Jobs Cuts and you will see how bad it really is.


www.DailyJobCuts.com