I'm also quite surprised by your wage comment: a common aphorism is that Amazon cheaps out on everything except real estate and compensation.
Which ones do and don't? Because all of the ones I've heard of have pretty loose ones compared to my organization.
And yes, Amazon doesn't cheap out on real estate because we own so much of it. It's honestly remarkable how it's done. But I was under the impression everyone knows they pay less.
I only have about ~40 stocks up from about 35 before the refresh cycle (unvested) and that's unlikely to go up if I get promoted (if you have too many they don't give you more). Googler and FB refresher values are significantly higher.