Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

[Handyman]

Amazon is going nowhere they are now investing in Diamond Sports meaning they are now partners with a lot of regional sports networks.

[SJHovey]

What happens if the pension fund goes bust? Like if they invested it all in crypto and it went bust? Crypto is just my example of obvious extreme

They don't have to invest in crypto to go bust. Pension funds have become insolvent before.

I think what frequently happens is this. The pension fund realizes, long before it actually runs out of money, that it is going to run out of money. At that point they usually alert the pension beneficiaries, and quite often what they do is to reduce benefits to decrease the likelihood that they go bust, until they can either get more employers sending employee money to them, or until they can get better returns (maybe invest in the next hot crypto??).

The other thing is that I think in the past the Feds have stepped in and provided some funding to help out insolvent pension funds. They may have even done something like a "pension fund FDIC" or something to provide some certain level of guarantee, although in all likelihood you would never get the full benefit that you expected to get.

[rufus]

A good friend has worked at UPS for like 25 years, I need to talk to him about this, but he's been long complaining that they simply aren't staffing to need at all anymore and expecting sorting/delivery/etc. staff to pick up the slack. Turnover has been even higher than normal (which is typically very high) because of it.

I'm sure amazon taking deliveries in-house has taken a sizable chunk as well.

I know the UPS drivers here, if they get finished their route early, have to work on the sorting line once they get back to base.

Which is why at around 3 every afternoon, you'll see three or four of them parked at the C-store on the outskirts of town, killing time before they head back to the shop.

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

They can’t do that. Anyone who already has a pension keeps it. Anyone who has accrued benefits under their pension plan but is not yet drawing them keeps those benefits too. Employees simply won’t be able to accrue additional benefits, but will instead get 401k contributions.

What happens if the pension fund goes bust? Like if they invested it all in crypto and it went bust? Crypto is just my example of obvious extreme

[SJHovey]

All existing pensions ending??

like my uncle that retired 15 years ago may not have a pension anymore if he had one?

They can’t do that. Anyone who already has a pension keeps it. Anyone who has accrued benefits under their pension plan but is not yet drawing them keeps those benefits too. Employees simply won’t be able to accrue additional benefits, but will instead get 401k contributions.

[Handyman]

What can be their justification for that? And why the hell would anyone stay there? Every person affected should quit and no one knew should ever work there as anything but a stepladder job.

And while a few (like DGF) will cancel Prime most won't. Netflix survives all of its BS and they don't offer 1/10th of the stuff Prime does and that is without free shipping and the like. Most major companies and name brands still put their stuff on Amazon (never buy anything Amazon promotes or puts on a lightning sale) and Amazon has Thursday Night Football. Plus Amazon is a nice easy hub platform to use for all your streaming needs. (not me mind you) Better than Hulu or YoutubeTV...

Reddit complaint threads are like reading Twitter comments under a New York Times or Politico article...its the same 70 people saying "I AM CANCELLING!!" with 10 or so more egging them on by saying "Thankfully I cancelled to avoid reading stuff like this" yet they read it by clicking the link which negates their whole point. Most of those people didn't/wont. Its a flex with no teeth.

[dxmnkd316]

So they’re basically coming in line with the rest of American companies and not having pensions then. It sucks but I’m shocked when I do hear someone has a pension now.

Yeah, ditto. I missed having one by under two years. Glad I missed it. Would have been ****ed hard by this.

i feel bad for everyone who's too young to retire but still managed to get a pension. They're getting screwed.

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Unclear, but I'm pretty sure anyone who retires by 2029 (or whatever the deadline is) is not affected.

So they’re basically coming in line with the rest of American companies and not having pensions then. It sucks but I’m shocked when I do hear someone has a pension now.

[dxmnkd316]

All existing pensions ending??

like my uncle that retired 15 years ago may not have a pension anymore if he had one?

Unclear, but I'm pretty sure anyone who retires by 2029 (or whatever the deadline is) is not affected.

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

All of them.

3M announced an end to all existing pensions in 5 years. Meanwhile, the CEO got $26 million added to his pension this year.

All existing pensions ending??

like my uncle that retired 15 years ago may not have a pension anymore if he had one?

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

I cancelled prime mostly because trying to buy anything became difficult with all the Chinese knockoffs

[dxmnkd316]

A good friend has worked at UPS for like 25 years, I need to talk to him about this, but he's been long complaining that they simply aren't staffing to need at all anymore and expecting sorting/delivery/etc. staff to pick up the slack. Turnover has been even higher than normal (which is typically very high) because of it.

I'm sure amazon taking deliveries in-house has taken a sizable chunk as well.

Meanwhile, Amazon has started putting ads on all PAID prime video content. I am hoping this is close to the straw that breaks the camel's back on streaming. Reddit (yeah, I know) has had hundreds of posts with people cancelling their prime membership. And I don't blame them. All you can find on Amazon is cheap Chinese counterfeits now and the companies just refile trademarks and open as new ones as soon as they start to feel even the slightest amount of heat. None of this is new, just a lot more complaints lately.

Anyways, as these companies all switch to a paid subscription with ads on top of that, more and more will start going back to pirating. And frankly, it's the only way to rebalance things. Cable was getting outrageous so people pirated. Streaming came along as a way to affordably access content and pirating more or less dried up. When's the last time you heard of someone torrenting something?

[dxmnkd316]

How many of these companies (and I am asking this honestly) that are laying people off are paying their executives massive salaries and bonuses?

All of them.

3M announced an end to all existing pensions in 5 years. Meanwhile, the CEO got $26 million added to his pension this year.

[dxmnkd316]

UPS announces 12k layoffs as “package volume slipped last quarter”

Wonder if these are full timers or part timers

end of the cnbc article then drops the tidbit “ceo expects to ask workers to return to office full time in 2024”

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/01/30/...k-tumbles.html

I know the economy is humming along but there have been quite a few publicized layoffs this January. Likely a lot of different reasons for this, but I continue to see more and more white collar people unable to get a job quickly (myself included). A few analysts I follow have begun to talk about the white collar job market softness

"Return to office" mandates are executive for "we need layoffs without severance"

[Swansong]

UPS announces 12k layoffs as “package volume slipped last quarter”

Wonder if these are full timers or part timers

end of the cnbc article then drops the tidbit “ceo expects to ask workers to return to office full time in 2024”

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/01/30/...k-tumbles.html

I know the economy is humming along but there have been quite a few publicized layoffs this January. Likely a lot of different reasons for this, but I continue to see more and more white collar people unable to get a job quickly (myself included). A few analysts I follow have begun to talk about the white collar job market softness

A good friend has worked at UPS for like 25 years, I need to talk to him about this, but he's been long complaining that they simply aren't staffing to need at all anymore and expecting sorting/delivery/etc. staff to pick up the slack. Turnover has been even higher than normal (which is typically very high) because of it.

I'm sure amazon taking deliveries in-house has taken a sizable chunk as well.