Amazon is terrible

But Jeff Bezos is more terrible

It was recently announced that Amazon is cutting the $2-per-hour raise granted to their warehouse employees for coming in during the coronavirus pandemic. The raise began in mid-March. Many employees are angry that the raise is being slashed at this time because even though some states are beginning to open up, cases of the disease in the U.S. are not slowing down. 

On top of this, Amazon discontinued giving unlimited unpaid time off to their employees, another thing that was introduced during the pandemic. All of these cuts come at a time when working people need secure jobs more than ever. All of these cuts show us that Amazon is a corporate giant who does not care for their employees.

It was recently speculated that Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, may in fact become the world’s first trillionaire in 2026. Currently, Bezos’s net worth is estimated to be around $130 billion. To put that into perspective, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, is only worth around $650 million, which is virtually nothing compared to Bezos. With these amounts of money in mind, it seems almost bizarre that Amazon would cut something as miniscule as a temporary $2-per-hour raise. In response to criticism about the cuts, the company stated that they had already spent $800 million on these incentives to keep their employees working during the pandemic. 

Now let’s go back to thinking about Bezos’s wealth: $130 billion — not million, billion. The man has so much money that he could easily take a tiny pay cut to show that he has some small level of compassion and care for the people who work tirelessly for his company. But no. That’s not happening. 

So instead of logging onto Amazon.ca for your next order of crew-cut socks or lentils, take a different approach to buying your goods and avoid supporting a multibillionaire and his company as they disrespect their employees in this hard time. 

Here are some ways to do that:

• Companies that sell through Amazon are usually actual companies that have their own websites to buy from. It may be less convenient, but purchase from their websites instead, which will help these smaller companies get all the money from the sale.
• Instead of buying groceries at Amazon, hit up a local grocery store in the Fraser Valley like Kin’s Farm Market or The Local Harvest. These places have local produce, and usually at a decent price. 
• As hard as it might be, cancel your Amazon Prime subscription. If you can live without ordering from them, you can probably live without their semi-decent selection of movies and TV shows.

Illustration: Kayt Hine//The Cascade 

Carissa Wiens

Other articles

• Every Girl Matters
• Autumn’s craft beer arrivals
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz: a quick and enticing read
• UFV Speaks: the new, new future of the Finnegan’s space