As Amazon lobbies for a higher minimum wage, experts say that the company is not making the decision solely out of the goodness of Jeff Bezos’ heart.
Source: Amazon’s $15 minimum wage push is a strategic business decision
Corporations have long used government regulation to harm competitors while benefiting themselves. It is also known as “regulatory capture” – where the businesses being regulated mostly write their own rules, and do so in a way to harm competitors or reduce future competition.
Amazon already averages over $15/hour pay so the legislation does not affect Amazon – but it would harm small businesses and others in low cost of living locations throughout the U.S.
It also enables Jeff Bezos to earn “virtue signaling” points in the public opinion-sphere.
Stuff at Amazon has gone up in price the past year. Used to be that prices were generally good. But I now often find the same item via https://shopping.google.com for 50% less at other retailers, which even with shipping is much lower in price.
We pay $119/year for Amazon’s “Two-day Prime Free Shipping” (which is obviously not free) – and which has turned into “Random-days Prime” shipping! Two-day shipping is the exception now with up to a week being common. It’s weird. Starting to question keeping the Amazon Prime membership.
