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by codeonfire 4021 days ago
No, prime has music, instant video, free shipping, discounts, etc. It is a loss leader that can costs Amazon way more than $100 per member. Otherwise Amazon would scrap the 10% and give all its employees prime.

On entitlement, It's not entitlement. If Amazon can't compete or doesn't want to compete on perks, that is their preprogative. Entitlement is not in Amazon's vocabulary. They have no concept of entitlement. When Amazon employees are forced to wake up at 3am to fix something it's not because Amazon feels entitled to their sleep time. It's because Amazon has devolved into barbarianism and raw power to force people to do things is all that matters there. There is no concept of entitlement because entitlement would mean some rule of law exists. The only reason a discount probably exists is because there is some small psychological benefit to the company that is greater than the (tiny) cost. So when someone feels they should get something more from an employer in that environment it is simply reciprocal hostility.
1 comments
robotresearcher 4021 days ago
Previous poster meant that the dollars saved via the discount could be used to purchase prime.
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codeonfire 4021 days ago
Yes if you buy $1000 of merchandise, you will end up spending $900 and then you can buy prime with the $100 you saved. However, you have to buy the $1000 of merchandise first. In reality that $100 is eaten by sales tax since if you work at Amazon you are going to be in a state where they have tax nexus.
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taeric 4021 days ago
I'm torn. On the one hand, I applaud you for not treating $1,000 in merchandise as a given. On the other... this just feels like an entitlement argument. It is just $100 we are talking about. For benefits that, if you use them, are almost certainly worth more than that.
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mikeash 4021 days ago
On one hand, $100 is small potatoes and employees shouldn't care that much.

On the other hand, people are often irrational and do care that much. Which makes it kind of weird that Amazon doesn't provide free Prime to their employees, because that $100 value (and what's their actual cost?) probably buys a lot more than $100 of employee satisfaction.

So while I certainly wouldn't say that Amazon is somehow mistreating their workers by not giving them this stuff, I do think it's kind of weird that they don't.

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taeric 4021 days ago
Ridiculously well put and I feel you hit a bullseye. I still don't understand it. But I do think you hit right on the money.
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