In case you missed it, Amazon announced today that it would establish a $15/hr minimum hourly wage for all 350,000 of its U.S. employees.
The new pay threshold will go into effect Nov. 1 and impact all full-time, temporary and seasonal workers across the company’s U.S. warehouse and customer service teams as well as Whole Foods, the company said in a blog post. It did not disclose what its current minimum pay wage is for U.S. workers, perhaps in part because there is not one set rate. 
You can say that it's the right thing to do, but beyond providing a livable wage for employees, THIS IS THE SMARTEST THING AMAZON COULD HAVE DONE FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE.
Why is that? Because the Amazon effect is on the cusp of being like the Wal-Mart effect of a decade ago. Remember that vibe? Wal-Mart put small, local mom and pop shops out of business. Then they were accused of providing bad jobs and poor working environments.
We all love Amazon Prime. But Amazon is eliminating as many jobs as Wal-Mart. They just aren't as visible as the mom and pops that went out of business a decade or two ago. They're putting big box retailers, malls, strip malls and e-commerce shops out of business. Why? Amazon Prime. We love it. It's changing a lot of things.
Meanwhile, click on the links below to learn about some reports of working conditions at Amazon:
Workers at Delivery Services contracting to Amazon claim deplorable conditions
Amazon Execs Admit "Employee Cages was a bad idea"
With AI coming on the scene and more disruption on the way from Amazon, the decision to pay all workers a minimum of $15 should have been easy.
If you work for Amazon in Kentucky, you're feeling great today. If you are based in California, you're probably asking "where's mine?" If you work for a contractor of Amazon in delivery, it doesn't impact you.
Amazon's going to have the same PR issues as Wal-Mart did within 2 to 5 years.
This move made perfect sense. Way to get ahead of the coming storm, Amazon.