The Guardian, 12/17/18

A reflection on my month without Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, plus a how-to guide if you want to quit the biggest companies in tech.

via Fast Company https://www.fastcompany.com

via Axios https://www.axios.com/top/

Last weekend, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia, tweeted a rebuke of the “people taking pictures of books and buying them from #Amazon in the store and even bragging about it”: “This is not OK, people. Find it here. Buy it here. Keep us here. That is all.” The tweet, by the shop’s owner, Kelly Justice, has been liked 40,000 times and was met with support from booksellers around the world. But among customers, the conversation was divided between those who recognised the rudeness of the act and those who felt it was legitimate.

"The Dragos now have 42 vans and 70 employees who each deliver about 250 packages in a typical day. Their profit is about $40,000 each month, about $1,000 per van, Drago says. The biggest challenge is hiring and retaining drivers, who earn about $150 for each eight-hour shift."

"“They’ll just cut a few more corners, like driving faster between stops, because the incentives are in place to do so,” Farhi says. “A self-employed workforce seems to be a bit hungrier.”"

Vox, 12/15/2018