• helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    My company’s owner/CEO can stay, gives us all sizeable profit share bonuses. During covid people didn’t get layed off, even though there was no work. Sure hours were reduced, but work was found around the shop to keep people busy as much as possible.

    In other words, small business owners that care about employee and their clients.

  • EvilZ@thelemmy.club
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    3 days ago

    I would rather focus on billionaire and millionaire than CEO since both are not automatically interchangeable… .

    You can be a CEO In a small business without being a millionaire of the same category as the one of United HealthCare

    • hoanbridgetroll@midwest.social
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      I shall seize one of his yachts (probably metaphorically) and sail under the Jolly Roger when enshittification comes for Steam. Until then, it’s a pretty solid solution for buying PC games.

      Steam Deck is also amazing, in that it’s as simple as a Switch to get playing but open enough through desktop mode to do so much more. As your customer, thanks for not treating me like a paste eating delinquent.

      • whereBeWaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 days ago

        What concerns me about the future of sailing is the sea monster known as denuvo, as there haven’t been a way to reliably hunt it down

        • grillgamesh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          3 days ago

          there are three people on this ocean who can reliably hunt that beast.

          • one is a transphobe
          • the other is a trans
          • and the other only cracks football games.
          • Auli
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            3 days ago

            Not really looking good for the scene if only three people can crack it.

    • Bosht@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Something I’ve been worried about for some time. I mean, I hope his death isn’t soon, but we all know whoever steps in is most likely to royally fuck it up.

      • Yondoza@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        He just needs to make it an employee owned company. I believe it would make it a stable institution.

      • Xenny@lemmy.world
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        I actually have hope for the company after he is gone. All they have to do is keep steam going and they win. They just print money. There is no reason to go evil and sell the company and go public. They just win.

        • reksas@sopuli.xyz
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          4 days ago

          provided the can safeguard themselves from parasites that might try creeping in and try to change things for worse

        • helloworld55@lemm.ee
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          3 days ago

          This could be said for most companies I think. But the principle of enshitification applies regardless

    • Onyxonblack@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      Already moved on from Steam. Had 750 games there. Deleted the client and started GOG collection. No Galaxy client for me. No more cancer social media, achievements, friends… just Offline installers and the satisfaction that I actually own these games now.

        • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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          4 days ago

          Are you trying to imply subscription fees are necessary for something to be called enshitified?

          • lengau@midwest.social
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            Well you haven’t given any practical examples of how you think Steam is enshittified, so you’ve left people to draw their own conclusions and definitions.

            • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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              To me it just sounds like someone who’s trying to justify pirating indie games.

      • burghler@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        Nows a good time to articulate a defense. Because as far as their impact on gaming as a distributor, theyve enabled more than any other company by far

        • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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          You view this as me saying it’s a bad platform. I don’t think it is. I love it and use it often. GoG is probably the only one that’s not enshitified.

          • AngryMob@lemmy.one
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            You’ve still yet to actually say how steam is enshittified despite several comments asking. You reply but dodge the real question.

            • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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              Dodge the question

              Yeah, I’m not interested in getting interrogated over my opinions today. Especially by someone literally named “AngryMob”.

              Edit: after they said “its entertaining how sensitive you got about this.” I now feel justified in my hesitancy.

                • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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                  No, I just don’t see any point in adding nuance to my opinion when everyone is already shitting on me for it. Do you know how shitty it feels opening my inbox, excited to see folks to chat with, and it’s just people getting angry about stuff I said? Why would I want to add context? Just so everyone can shit on me more? No, I’m good.

              • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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                Then don’t announce your random opinion into the void then?

                If you’re going to stand on the street corner and shout about how the world is coming to an end, don’t be upset when people ask you to provide some evidence.

                • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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                  I’m not trying to suggest people shouldn’t be allowed to respond negatively to an opinion. But I’m also allowed to not want to engage. Any “evidence” I provide is just going to get shot down. Everyone’s mind is already made up on the topic. Steam can do no wrong, apparently. Despite the fact that I even said it’s the best and that I like it, everyone just wants to attack for me for having the gall to suggest it’s less than perfect.

                  It’s not like I hate it. The criticisms are minor. I just don’t want to get online and feel like I’m being interrogated. So no, I’m not going to “provide evidence.” There are hills I’m willing to actually willing to argue about, but this isn’t one. Life’s too fucking short to explain my minor criticisms with the best digital PC game store when we all know everyone is just going to respond with things Valve does that are good and act like that magically erases the bad. Everyone’s already been doing in this thread.

                  I experienced the same shit back with BG3 when the hype train was at critical levels. I’d talk about my frustrations that everyone said it was a “polished” game by talking about the bugs/UX difficulties I was experiencing. I’d get mocked to no end. Even then I’d always say the game is great and I’m loving it along every criticism. But people don’t care. It’s just tribalism. They see someone criticizing a thing they like and can’t handle it.

                  So no, I’m not going to explain why I view Steam as an enshitified platform. Because it’s pointless and I know everyone is already going to disagree and pile on even further. And it’s a minor criticism.

                  I swear, it’s like people are thinking I’m saying EGS is the bastion of Linux gaming or something because I said I have minor issues with Steam. It’s just exhausting.

          • M137@lemmy.world
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            GoG is more enshittified than Steam (which really isn’t enshittified). They spam emails now with random deals, like several emails a day with “(code for deal here) expires in 24 HOURS” and it’s always some random shitty game. Steam just send emails for when a wishlisted game goes on sale or releases, exactly what I want. But GoG has gone full unwanted spam with theirs, random games I’ve never seen before and no info about what game in the subject line so you have to open the mail to see. It’s so shitty.

            • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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              I was referring more to the DRM, but yeah, that’s a fair point. I don’t use GoG much so it’s possible that’s why I haven’t seen this.

      • RogueBanana@lemmy.zip
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        Any examples? AFAIK they improved a lot, especially in Linux space which I am very grateful for. I wouldn’t be using Linux if it wasn’t for steam. Although there are still a lot of things to complain about but if it wasn’t better before then it isn’t enshiftification by definition.

        • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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          I think you’d be hard pressed to find a marketplace that isn’t enshitified in some way. Most are going to shove ads in your face which is shitty, but most people aren’t going to recognize it as a bad thing because they’re there to shop.

          • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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            Right so no actual examples then?

            And you can’t say advertising because of course there’s going to be adverts up for games sold on the platform. I think most people would argue that if you go into a store, and then see a sign in that store, for something that is sold in the store, that’s not advertising, that’s just signage.

            The goal of advertising is to try to convince you that you want a product or a service. But if you are already in the store you’ve already made the decision that you want that product or service, so by definition you can’t be advertised to at that point.

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        I can see how you can say that about the Steam’s UI in some spots, but not Steam as a whole. They have a great business model, as far as video games are concerned.

        They have some of the highest paid employees, and they keep prices low.

      • Realitaetsverlust@lemmy.zip
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        He doesn’t tho. He just offers such a good service to people that they don’t want to use anything else. That’s not a monopoly.

      • shneancy@lemmy.world
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        and he maintains a near monopoly because Steam is just a great platform for gamers, as Gabe has said:

        Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem.

        and he’s right! i almost never pirate video games because of their price, i can wait for a sale, there’s a billion other games i can play in the meantime

        when shit like Epic takes years to implement a shopping basket, and still have yet to recolour their payment page so it stops flashbanging gamers across the world, Steam doesn’t even need to try very hard to be the best. The biggest changes on Steam in the recent years are what - updating the UI aged ago? adding a points system so people can get silly profile decorations as an additional reward for buying a video game? Steam has created a platform so good all they need to do is sit back relax, and think of what other sprinkles colour to add to the cake pie?

        Steam has competitors, but the difference is Steam is for gamers, and most of their competitors is for money

        god help us all if that ever were to change, the second Steam enshittifies the internet will implode

        • SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world
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          Steam recently the added the ability to easily record gameplay footage. They are also updating the family sharing system (that feature alone would probably never come to other platforms). They also continue to improve gaming on Linux. I don’t remember how long it has been, but they massively updated the library with a lot of really useful features such as being able to select a friend and it’ll show what games you have in common so picking a game to play with a friend is a lot easier.

          Further back we see the remote play together feature added to Steam; I was hesitant to use it for a long time but as long as you and the host have a decent internet connection it works pretty flawlessly.

          Their custom control settings and community sharing of the different controller schemes is incredibly helpful with some games.

          Their review system is pretty good and always helpful to me when exploring for new games I haven’t previously heard of. They have also seem to try to keep the reviews more legit and less spammy/meme-y and more relevant to the actual game itself.

          They also implement rules to keep game pages on the store less spammy, they had a big overhaul on the rules around thumbnails for games to keep text off of them because developers started overloading them with advertisements for other games.

          They have also recently announced allowing for refunds on season passes when the developers take too long or never deliver on their promises they sold you on. This of course should have always been the case, but at let they’re coming around. I also don’t know if any of the other platforms make it as easy to get a refund as Steam does, but that’s been around for a while now.

          I believe there has also been a lot of work developing server side cheat detection so maybe one day we won’t have to rely on client side anti-cheats so much. I also believe they recently made a change to their rules where if a game has a kernel/root level anti cheat that they have to flag that on the store page for the game.

          Steam (Valve) actually seem to care about games and the industry in general and want to see the environment around gaming improve.

          From my current view point Steam is an actual platform everyone else are just store fronts that provide no additional value to the consumer. So yeah, pricing is rarely the issue when it comes to piracy and Steam really shows how true that statement can be.

          Also, most people don’t realize that Steam doesn’t force games to use DRM, that’s purely up to the developers.

          Edit: fixed some typos.

  • ChexMax@lemmy.world
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    CEO of Ben &Jerry’s. They are not just posting the black square on their insta and then moving on, like half their posts are about fighting inequity, encouraging people to vote for actual human rights, openly pro abortion, pro immigrant rights, pro black rights, pro women’s right, about fighting climate change etc. they are walking the walk, conservative dollars be damned

    • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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      Also AFAIK they are one of the few companies that have been removed from the BDS list after improving behavior and leaving illegal Palestinian settlements. Recently they sued their parent company for silencing their statements on Palestinian rights.

      I don’t love ever setting any people or corporations on a pedestal. Nevertheless this is reassuring behavior to see amidst all the Starbucks, AirBnB and Re/Maxes of the world.

    • Firestorm Druid@lemmy.zip
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      It’s a shame they don’t fully move to vegan ice cream

      Edit: When the very base ingredient of their ice cream is based on exploitation and torture, how much are their initiatives really worth? It’s virtue signalling at its best

      Plus I’m yet so see someone giving a valid reason as to why they shouldn’t. Just tell me you don’t care and I’ll move along

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        Why should they? I have no problem with people being vegan and I have no problem with vegan food being provided as an option but I don’t think vegans have the right to dictate to everyone else how they live their lives.

        • BmeBenji@lemm.ee
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          A. Ben & Jerry’s moving to exclusively vegan ice cream is in no way forcing people to live their lives a certain way. Recipes are not protected by copyright law so anyone can make and sell ice cream however they want.

          B. The dairy industry wreaks havoc on the planet. It would benefit everyone if the dairy industry disappeared or at least shrank

          • SpaceCowboy
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            It would be forcing people who prefer Ben & Jerry’s to either have vegan ice cream (which may not be their preference) or switch to another brand (which also may not be their preference). What you’re saying is that you want people to have fewer options.

            • BmeBenji@lemm.ee
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              Would it be accurate to rephrase your argument like this?

              “Ben & Jerry’s changing all their recipes to use only vegan ingredients would be anti-freedom”

              • SpaceCowboy
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                If you want to make an argument against that, you can do that in your head. You seem to be good at making up things you want other people to say, so you don’t need me for your imaginary argument.

                • BmeBenji@lemm.ee
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                  You could just say “no.” I was curious how far your logic would go because you said, and I quote, “it would be forcing people who prefer Ben & Jerry’s to either have vegan ice cream or switch to another brand”

                  Like, dude, come on. You have to hear how ridiculous that sounds. Nobody is forcing anybody to eat ice cream. And also, though this is just coming from my experience, I’ve never met anyone who exclusively likes Ben & Jerry’s. Bad ice cream is almost always better than no ice cream so I would challenge you to find someone who would be upset about needing to eat ice cream that was created by any brand other than Ben & Jerry’s.

        • Firestorm Druid@lemmy.zip
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          Humans are literally forcing animals to live and die by their life styles. The only ones forcing anybody here are humans.

          There is no sound reason as to why B&J doesn’t fully move away from non-vegan ice cream. They’ve proven that they can produce vegan flavours, that they cost them the same (probably less even), that they taste well enough for them to remain among the flavours they offer. It’s just stigma and prejudice that leads to people shutting off completely when veganism is even mentioned.

          Realistically, like be frank with yourself for a second and don’t resort to a kneejerk reaction: would you mind if your ice cream was vegan? It’s a luxury item, it’s a sweet, so it’s not essential. Most sweets you eat are vegan already. What’s one more? Plus, you end up helping a bunch of animals.

          • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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            Okay but that’s something you care about.

            What we’re talking about is finding the lowest common denominator of what can be considered acceptable by the general populace, It is not about becoming the best version of ourselves.

            Let’s not muddy the waters by making this about something other than basic human decency.

  • Ænima@lemm.ee
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    This CEO, Gabe Newell, and (if he was still alive) the founder of Little Caesars, who, if I recall correctly, secretly paid for Rosa Parks apartment until her death.

    • greenhorn@lemm.ee
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      The founder of Little Caesars was a typical magnate developer who bought up much of downtown Detroit and let it rot until he received tax incentives to build, and kicked out many low income residents from apartments he let sit until they got city money. His family continues this tradition. The Rosa Parks thing is the only good thing I’ve ever heard of that man and his family do.

    • Windex007@lemmy.world
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      Close. The founder told the CEO if he raised the price on the hotdog “I will fucking kill you”.

      So, who really gets the credit here is up to you.

      The person who threatened to kill the CEO if the CEO fucked his customers, or the CEO who didn’t fuck his customers out of self-preservation?

      • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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        They also bought 2 hotdog factories to minimize the loss.

        Costco does pay decent as well.

        Could they do better? Yes, but they are pretty decent for employees and consumers.

        • Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
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          Oh come on, don’t be naïve. They bought two factories so they could switch from “hot dogs” to “mechanically-recovered animal-based byproducts” let’s be realistic

          • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world
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            Aw man I thought they were still free range prairie dog peckers. Oh wait, they’ve always been cheap sausages.

            • Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
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              You wouldn’t legally be allowed to call them sausage in the EU 😂

              • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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                What do you think a sausage is? They have always been animals scraps ground up and put into animal intestines. That’s why people have been saying “you don’t want to see the sausage being made” for 200 years.

              • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world
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                Frankfurters and Vienna sausages are the types of sausages used in hot dogs, both legal sausages in the EU.

                • Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
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                  My point is “with a legally mandated meat content in the EU” but the folks in this thread ate so much fucking slop they have no clue what they’re shovelling in their fat faces 😂

              • Bizzle@lemmy.world
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                I’ve never heard anyone refer to a hotdog as a sausage in the states either and I even grew up poor

                • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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                  It’s more like everyone knows it’s a sausage. What else could it be? We don’t call them frankfurters either.

          • Jesus_666@lemmy.world
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            Do you really expect hot dog sausages to be made from premium meat? They use the scraps that can’t otherwise be used, same as chicken nuggets. This is a good thing. Those sausages and nuggets are perfectly fine to eat and we get to reduce waste.

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            We’re you under the impression any hot dogs were ever anything other than mechanically-recovered animal-based byproducts?

          • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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            They bought the same hotdog factories that they were already buying hotdogs from. It was literally a one-to-one transition.

      • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
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        4 days ago

        Apparently they make more money from memberships than from sales margins, which are capped.

        • howrar
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          Last I heard, their profits were nearly entirely from memberships. This was probably five years ago though. I don’t know if their numbers have changed since.

          • nepenthes@lemmy.world
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            I left reddit after the API fiasco and didn’t return, but I remembered seeing this on Data is Beautiful before that, so I just looked it up for you. (My search query in DDG was “data is beautiful reddit Costco profit margins” and a few popped up; this was the most recent.)

            Transcription: infographic states

            Net sales +$77.4B
            Merch costs -$69.2B

            Membership fees +$1.5B

            SG&A -$6.9B (Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses)
            Taxes -$0.8B

            Net profit $2.2B (2% margin)

            Source listed as: Costco Q4 FY 23 earnings

            Edit: format failing :(

    • satanmat@lemmy.world
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      Also. I believe, he also said , if the workers think they need a union, we’ve failed as managers.

      So. Yeah

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        I mean, it’s an understandable viewpoint.

        It’s when union busting tactics are being brought in that things are problematic.

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          That’s because you view it entirely positively, instead of from the angle that he doesn’t want them to even know of the possibility.

      • vortic@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        I wish more companies had this mindset. If you treat your employees well and listen to their needs, they won’t need to unionize. When they do unionize, it means they don’t feel that they have been treated well and listened to.

        It seems that the end result of this philosophy would be to treat your employees well!

        • kiterios@lemmy.world
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          If you have an employer that does the right thing, you should have a union that doesn’t need to do much. But you should still unionise, because it’s niave to think the company will always continue to behave that way. If anything, they naturally drift away from that state and it’s only a matter of time until it changes. The union is about having a level playing field with the company when you need it.

        • bufalo1973@lemmy.ml
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          Unionize it’s not only about raising your working conditions. It’s about helping other to raise theirs. If you have better conditions you can tell other business owners that what the Union is asking, you already have it. One less point where they can grab themselves.

        • lime!@feddit.nu
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          its an interesting difference in perspective for sure. here you join as a matter of course because you can push back against changes that are bad.

      • Laurel Raven@lemmy.zip
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        To be fair, he’s not really wrong, meaning that they’ve failed to take good enough care of their people, and my understanding is he didn’t stand in the way of one forming…

    • toiletobserver@lemmy.world
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      “I came to [Sinegal] once and I said, ‘Jim, we can’t sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends,’” Jelinek recalled in a 2018 interview with 425 Business. “And he said, ‘If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.’”

      https://thehill.com/homenews/4696314-costcos-new-cfo-makes-announcement-about-1-50-hot-dog-combo/#%3A~%3Atext=We+are+losing+our+rear+ends%2C'”+Jelinek%2Ceffing+hot+dog%2C+I+will+kill+you.

  • GambaKufu@lemmy.world
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    Couple of British examples of what should be the standard for modern business:

    Julian Richer, founder of Richer Sounds (hifi store in the UK), seems like one of the better capitalists around. He signed over majority control of the company to an employee trust when he turned 60, donates 15% of their profit to charity, runs a nonprofit dedicated to exposing corporate tax avoidance, campaigns against zero hours contracts, and devotes company resources to promoting unsigned bands: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Richer

    James Timpson recently stepped down as CEO of Timpson, another UK retailer that specialises in things like key cutting, shoe repairs, passport photos etc. He made it company policy to hire people who had been to prison and help them get back on their feet, and his campaign for prison reform saw him step down from the company to become Minister for Prisons in the current government. The company has a “Director of Happiness” who is paid to keep the front line staff happy, resulting in policies like getting the day off work on your kid’s first day of school, compassionate leave for the death of a pet, etc. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timpson_(retailer)

    • towerful@programming.dev
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      Timpsons apparently has really interesting business models.
      A friend of mine has worked on a few of their conferences, and apparently it’s both fascinating and they come across as a genuinely wholesome business.

      It’s a franchise, but the franchisee (ie the shop) has complete control over what they sell and what services they provide (I dunno if there are any guard rails). So if they want to offer dry cleaning, they can. If they want to offer phone repairs, they can. If they want to only partially offer something, then they can rely on the Timpsons service network to provide the actual service (so dry cleaning without owning dry cleaning equipment).

      https://www.timpson.co.uk/about-timpson

      The management teams delegate authority but retain responsibility and we have only 2 rules:

      • Look the part
      • Put the money in the till

      And apparently they look after their staff really well. Actually good/useful perks & benefits. In addition to the compassionate leave you’ve mentioned, I’m sure my friend said something about timpsons owning some property that they allow their staff to book for free (like free accomodation for holidays). Or maybe they do block bookings of stuff, or something. I wasn’t hugely paying attention tbh.

      • jonne@infosec.pub
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        He didn’t kill anyone by denying them insurance or anything like that tho. Just took a commission on every game sold on Steam, a platform nobody’s forced to use.

        • HyperCube@fedia.io
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          And by running a casino that rakes in millions of dollars off kids. I can appreciate the positives he’s done with Steam, but I’m not about to ignore the negatives.

          • MonkeyBusiness@sh.itjust.works
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            Yeah, he’s getting kids to play at a virtual casino that has absolutely no chance of returning and financial winnings, but he’s not taking millions of dollars off of kids. Considering those kids have the ability to own a gaming computer, I’m assuming the vast majority of that money comes from their parents. I don’t condone the kids gambling, but he’s not taking hard-earned money from kids that are in need and leaving them broke.

            • Tech With Jake@lemm.ee
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              Loot boxes are effectively gambling as there is no guarantee on what you’ll get. People in general can get addicted to the rush of getting that rare item the first time (which is usually what happens with a first open to get you hooked) and then either buy more loot boxes or the keys to open them.

              • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                Tbf knowing valve and looking at how their loot boxes work I don’t think they were malicious in their creation

                Reminder that valves loot boxes interact with the community market, you can open a lot of boxes without spending a dime

                • Tech With Jake@lemm.ee
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                  Oh, I’m not shitting on Valve or anything. Just explaining how they could be called a casino.

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                  Yeah this is something that everyone always seems to forget about this. If you get a lootbox in, say, Overwatch or Fortnite then you will pay out a fiver to open it or else it will never be opened. End of story, Blizz/Epic want their key money. *

                  You can open an infinite amount of Counter-Strike crates for free forever, by interacting with community marketplace. Unopened crates can be sold to other players. Steam Cards can be sold to other players. Good skins that you pull from your crates can be sold to other players sometimes at absurd prices that can finance another 200 crates. All without ever spending a dime of real money. Sure, Steam Cards and unopened crates may only sell for 5c apiece, but you get a steady stream of them for free just for playing the game, and that stream doesn’t dry up. It is perfectly feasible, if a little slow, to flip those into crate keys to loot your boxes.

                  And THAT’S the difference that makes me take notice. Sure, they still want you to shell out five bucks for crate keys, but an alternative path has been provided. And Steam makes money on marketplace transactions too, so they aren’t about to get rid of that option.

                  * I figure it should be noted here, that these are outdated. I went to double check myself as I remember this from Overwatch 1 and it would seem that neither OW2 nor Fortnite still use loot crates of that style. So to be honest I actually can’t think of any games that are still up and running that still use keys & crates in this way. The gamer outrage might have actually gotten us somewhere for once.

          • MonkeyBusiness@sh.itjust.works
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            Reminder, 1 billion dollars is:

            • 1,000 millions
            • 1 million thousands
            • At the highest minimum wage in the world (Denmark @ USD$44,252/year), it would take just under 22,598 years to earn (11.2 Jesuses-ago)
            • If a Dane earning min wage were to work 24 hrs/day non-stop, it would take them just under 4,977 years to earn (2.46 Jesuses-ago).

            Billionaires have all that money even after their expenses. It’s their “savings account”, but their savings account makes much more interest than ours because they are actually invested in the market. If they need money beyond their regular pay, they use their investments as collateral for loans with interest rates lower than investment returns. They’re making money even if they are spending it.

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            They do in any advanced economy…

            But steam don’t tax plebs like housing, health, and education does

            • OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe@lemmy.world
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              A billion dollars is never “a bit greedy”. It is always a failure of the system to regulated exorbitant wealth through effective taxation and fair market economic policy.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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          Isn’t the Steam business model to charge less than everyone else though?

          That seems like the exact opposite of greedy.

          • gens@programming.dev
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            30%, same as apple, gog and… Well epic takes less then 15, microsoft takes even less, itch also takes less (unclear to me if 10% or set your own).

            Anyway steam is only good for game makers because it is steam. Financially that is, because it is the biggest.

            Edit: Itch default is 10%, but you can set it to 0% or even up to 100% if you want.

            • NostraDavid@programming.dev
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              Well epic takes less then 15

              But forces you to stick with the Epic platform for a year; bad for gamers, IMO.

              Which is why I don’t use Epic. GoG and Steam all the way, baybee!

        • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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          When did I compare those two things as being equally as bad? What the hell is with this black and white stance in my replies, absolutely wild to see people defending a man owning 1 billion dollars in yachts.

      • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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        Im a huge steam fan.

        I am not a fan of someone who can own multiple yachts.

        Sorry GabeN.

    • inkrifle@lemmy.world
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      Seconding this, Paul Newman was probably the best person to ever come out of the state of Ohio.

      He co-founded Newman’s Own, a food company which donates all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of May 2021, these donations totaled over US$570 million. Newman continued to found charitable organizations such as the SeriousFun Children’s Network in 1988 and the Safe Water Network in 2006.

      (Pasted from his Wikipedia page)

    • phx
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      And, sadly, no longer available in Canada for some reason :-(

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      Same with their frozen pizzas? I had never bought one before, then saw they were on sale the other day and figured I’d try them. Think it was 4.99 a piece. (Bogo 9.99) The pepperoni and ricotta one wasnt bad. The sourdough wasn’t very decipherable, but better than many cheaper pizzas. The 5 cheese I can’t speak for… As I overcooked it. The timer went off and I checked it, said to myself the cheese could melt a bit more and closed the oven. Saw the bottle of strawberry wine I was making didn’t look like it was bleeding air properly next to the sink and decided I should slowly turn the cap to drain the pressure and let the fermentation continue. (Have gallons of strawberries I froze left over still from spring that I grew). Turned the lid a bit and it of course exploded so much worse than I expected. Ceiling, floor, cabinets and everything within 10 feet got hit. I went to the bathroom and took my shirt off washed myself, started cleaning up the mess and cleaning the ceiling, cabinets and finally the floor when I remembered, oh shit the pizza… Yeah. The cheese was melted by then… just a bit darker than intended

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        Privately owned at least means they aren’t slaves to their quarterly reports. Every time a company goes public, they’re subject to the delusion of infinite growth in a finite system.

        • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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          Really depends on the ownership structure. Backbiting private boards composed of kids and grandkids of founders that are just trying to claw as much out of their inheritance as possible are just as toxic. Coops are about the only thing I can respect.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        In fairness SpaceX isn’t run by Musk, which is why it’s actually doing constructive things and not getting into culture war arguments every 15 minutes.

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    Been decades since I saw one of those cost a dollar