Sprawl-Busters

AMAZON BUSTS OPEN THE ‘FIGHT FOR $15’ WAGE MOVEMENT

American workers at Amazon, who have long agitated for living wages, will see their hourly wage rise to $15 and hour on November 1st. This puts Amazon miles ahead of competitors like Target, which announced in late September that it would lift wages to $15/hour—but not until 2020---and Walmart, which pegged its wages at $11/hour, with no promise of $15 in sight.

Amazon’s $15 wage will apply to full and part-time workers, as well as temp workers and seasonal workers. Many warehouse workers who are employed by subcontractors, will get the higher wage in about a month.

"We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, "We're excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us."

Even better: “We will be working to gain Congressional support for an increase in the federal minimum wage. The current rate of $7.25 was set nearly a decade ago,” an Amazon spokesman added. “We intend to advocate for a minimum wage increase that will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country.”

Amazon Raises Minimum Wage to $15 for All U.S. Employees New $15 minimum wage is effective beginning this November 1. New $15 minimum wage includes associates employed by temp agencies. More than 250,000 Amazon employees, as well as more than 100,000 seasonal holiday employees, and their families will benefit from the new, higher pay.

WALMART BAILED IN BRAZIL, BUT IS EXPANDING IN CHILE

WMT is building a $180 million distribution center in San Bernardo, an area in Santiago, Chile, despite objections from community members and local officials over pollution, noise and traffic. The Mayor of San Bernardo still seeks to block the project.

Walmart entered Chile in 2009, and has 380 stores there today, mostly supermarkets, operating under different banners, the largest being the Lider chain. Earlier this month Walmart spent $225 M to buy the food delivery service Cornershop, which serves Mexico & Chile, for $225 million.

Chile government approves construction of Walmart distribution center The Chilean government said on Wednesday it had approved the construction of a d...

HOME DEPOT EASES UP ON ITS ASSAULT ON AMERICAN RADIO WAVES.

The media buy news this past week is that Home Depot fell from #1 in radio ad frequency across America, to #4. Based on the number of ads HD ran last week, it would air 1,374,635 ads per year.

I refuse to shop at Home Depot, so they can cut their ads to zero as far as I'm concerned. Their ads are a form of air pollution:

https://radioink.com/2018/09/24/the-home-depot-takes-a-breather/

The Home Depot Takes A Breather - Radio Ink

IF SEATTLE, WA. IS THE PLACE THE GO TO SEE 'WHAT AMAZON HAS UP ITS SLEEVE,' the answer is: 'The sleeve has nothing much in it.'

Amazon's experiments with stores with no cashiers, or grocery pick up locations, or book returns, are not particularly exciting or dramatic.

Want to See What’s Up Amazon’s Sleeve? Take a Tour of Seattle The e-commerce giant uses its headquarters city as a living laboratory, trying out new retail and logistics models.