Oh yeah, that was terrible. But Amazon 5 years ago was better than Amazon now.
I've pretty much just stopped using Amazon, it's just too much of a mess. In fact online shopping in general has become so f***ing tedious with the endless amount of scams you need to be watch out for, that as someone who already drives around a lot, it's now just faster and easier for me to buy most stuff from a physical store.
The amount of time and energy that is required to make sure you're getting a real product of reasonable quality from a reputable online shop at a reasonable price is just more than I have, at least for most things. Especially in the last year I've repeatedly gone online for something I thought "would be nice", and ended up not buying anything.
(Of course I live in Helsinki which has a decent amount of specialist shops, and delivery times for online products tend to be on the long side because Finland is kind of a remote island geographically.)
The median Costco employee made $50,202 in wages and benefits last year — a higher sum than for workers at Walmart, who earned $27,136, and Target, who earned $25,993.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iggy_oi
What is your reasoning for considering what Walmart does as different from what Amazon does?
Walmart (historically) used a strategy of going into smaller towns/rural areas and setting up shop. They would undercut the local sellers and once all the local shops left and they employed everyone of that skillset/demography effectively had both an employment and supplier of good monopoly.
Often they would then close those stores for being unprofitable, knowing there is another Walmart in the next town often 30 -60 minutes away that people are now forced to drive too, while also firing/laying off all the employees from the closing store. I think this is scummy and wont support them with my $$.
Amazon does not have a demographic monopoly on providing goods and services. In fact they counter this practice. People don't have to go driving around to get goods - they come to them.
My two issues with Amazon is the amount of packing they use/efficiency of packaging (Although cardboard is effectively in endless supply) and their product IP practices with things like Amazon Basics. The later is an IP laws issue though more so then an Amazon issue. They aren't the only company abusing these laws
Amazon isn't putting the Mom and Pop storefront shops out of business. It's just allowing them to go online which the consumer is demanding in todays world. Its the same reason Walmart and Costco now deliver to your door.
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Amazon isn't putting the Mom and Pop storefront shops out of business. It's just allowing them to go online which the consumer is demanding in todays world. Its the same reason Walmart and Costco now deliver to your door.
I don't know about this. I have spoken with a few small business owners that also put their items on Amazon and the fees that they charge are crazy. They only reason they do it is because Amazon is so big and their websites are small they have no choice.
This is one of the reasons that many things are more expensive on Amazon compared to the other sites or stores.
I don't know about this. I have spoken with a few small business owners that also put their items on Amazon and the fees that they charge are crazy. They only reason they do it is because Amazon is so big and their websites are small they have no choice.
This is one of the reasons that many things are more expensive on Amazon compared to the other sites or stores.
That isn’t Mom and Dad shops being put out of business by Amazon in any way
That’s Amazon charging to use their service for merchants
The Mom and Pop store doesn’t have to use Amazon - that’s the point. They chose to because of the value Amazon offers - access to everyone
Walmart (historically) used a strategy of going into smaller towns/rural areas and setting up shop. They would undercut the local sellers and once all the local shops left and they employed everyone of that skillset/demography effectively had both an employment and supplier of good monopoly.
Often they would then close those stores for being unprofitable, knowing there is another Walmart in the next town often 30 -60 minutes away that people are now forced to drive too, while also firing/laying off all the employees from the closing store. I think this is scummy and wont support them with my $$.
Amazon does not have a demographic monopoly on providing goods and services. In fact they counter this practice. People don't have to go driving around to get goods - they come to them.
My two issues with Amazon is the amount of packing they use/efficiency of packaging (Although cardboard is effectively in endless supply) and their product IP practices with things like Amazon Basics. The later is an IP laws issue though more so then an Amazon issue. They aren't the only company abusing these laws
Amazon isn't putting the Mom and Pop storefront shops out of business. It's just allowing them to go online which the consumer is demanding in todays world. Its the same reason Walmart and Costco now deliver to your door.
Amazon is predatory. There are articles on this and it put a friend of mine out of business. First, they have onerous terms that prevent you from selling cheaper elsewhere. They have a monopoly on shipping - no one can compete. The worst part is they monitor what is selling well and at some point go to the manufacturers directly to undercut their own vendors.
That isn’t Mom and Dad shops being put out of business by Amazon in any way
That’s Amazon charging to use their service for merchants
The Mom and Pop store doesn’t have to use Amazon - that’s the point. They chose to because of the value Amazon offers - access to everyone
Amazon has no effective competition.
The consumer demands single point shopping.
So the mom and pop doesn’t have a choice in the online seller they choose. They can choose to be wiped out or take the deal put in front of them. This is Lando in cloud city.
That doesn’t make Amazon bad, but let’s not pretend that there is the real ability to make choices here for the sellers.
Competition laws haven’t figured out how to deal with online services always coalescing down to a single provider that provides the best product followed by en####ification and wall building.
That isn’t Mom and Dad shops being put out of business by Amazon in any way
That’s Amazon charging to use their service for merchants
The Mom and Pop store doesn’t have to use Amazon - that’s the point. They chose to because of the value Amazon offers - access to everyone
Uhh... no. Change Amazon to Uber and Skip the dishes and it's obvious it's predatory to non-franchise participants.
Reselling ubiquitous brand named items on Amazon is relatively easy and profitable, but selling "local and handmade items" on Amazon... I can't figure out where I last saw those tabs/sections on the Amazon website.
I think you’re drinking the kool-aid a little on this one. The reason Costco has higher rates of pay isn’t out of benevolence on the company’s part, it’s because they have a highly unionized workforce whereas their competitors don’t. That also only really applies to their operations in the US, in Canada it’s a very different story. Costco’s reputation in the states has also been going downhill for a little while now but the business insider probably doesn’t want to report on that.
Quote:
Walmart (historically) used a strategy of going into smaller towns/rural areas and setting up shop. They would undercut the local sellers and once all the local shops left and they employed everyone of that skillset/demography effectively had both an employment and supplier of good monopoly.
Often they would then close those stores for being unprofitable, knowing there is another Walmart in the next town often 30 -60 minutes away that people are now forced to drive too, while also firing/laying off all the employees from the closing store. I think this is scummy and wont support them with my $$.
Amazon does not have a demographic monopoly on providing goods and services. In fact they counter this practice. People don't have to go driving around to get goods - they come to them.
My two issues with Amazon is the amount of packing they use/efficiency of packaging (Although cardboard is effectively in endless supply) and their product IP practices with things like Amazon Basics. The later is an IP laws issue though more so then an Amazon issue. They aren't the only company abusing these laws
Amazon isn't putting the Mom and Pop storefront shops out of business. It's just allowing them to go online which the consumer is demanding in todays world. Its the same reason Walmart and Costco now deliver to your door.
Amazon is doing the same things as Walmart. They don’t have storefronts so the public generally doesn’t see it but they move warehousing operations constantly which puts large numbers of employees out of work. They have well above industry average injury rates, and well below industry average wages with little to no job security. I’m not saying they’re worse than Walmart, but I’m not seeing a whole lot of evidence to support that they’re much better.
People are really romanticizing the pre-internet retail experience. Particularly when it came to electronics accessories.
Definitely, and I'm guilty. While we had to suffer through Soundsaround and Visions, there were also the good guys like MemoryExpress. I remember A&B being not too bad as well.
I just don't want the "good guys" to be collateral damage in this whole thing.
Canada post strike certainly not helping small businesses. Kill them this holiday season.
Meanwhile I can get things the next day with a delivery time window and even see where the delivery truck is and that it's just 2 stops away.
Not this small business. I’m busy doing deliveries although not as much as I expected. Purolator is getting the bulk of it and they’re way behind.
I prefer to buy local when I can but I wanted to buy a bigger SSD for my Steam Deck and only MexEx has any, and their selection is weak. I don’t think there’s a huge demand just in Calgary but Amazon serves the world so there’s no such thing for them.
Climate Town just dropped this video yesterday, how topical!
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Key points:
-returns rarely make it back to shelves
-cost of free returns are passed on to the consumer by way of being built into retail price, so everything costs more than it should
-whole process is extremely wasteful and inefficient, with staggering amounts of returned products not just ending up in landfill but also being transported around to multiple locations first
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Meh, brick and mortar can be just as bad with unsold products - particularly clothes. Every location will ship/throw away hundreds of items every season.
OTOH Amazon warehouses seem to have a much longer shelf life...I suspect a lower proportion of product ends up in the landfill
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Interesting comments in here, but all I have to say is I bought 12/13 Christmas presents this year in about an hour while sitting on my ass enjoying a couple of beers, the only one I had to go out for was because it was an item I couldn't get before Christmas.
Amazon is truly the Devil but I can't help myself and love it.
Climate Town just dropped this video yesterday, how topical!
#
Key points:
-returns rarely make it back to shelves
-cost of free returns are passed on to the consumer by way of being built into retail price, so everything costs more than it should
-whole process is extremely wasteful and inefficient, with staggering amounts of returned products not just ending up in landfill but also being transported around to multiple locations first
Sure, but drop shipper Jason14 says it's all good, so it's all good.
Sure, but drop shipper Jason14 says it's all good, so it's all good.
Oh zing
Yes not wanting to drive across the city to buy a widget makes me a drop shipper
And I actually address the packing waste in my post . It is an issue.
Cost of returns are built into the price and returns are “wasted - ever go to Costco and see the insane line of people returning things? Where do you think those returns go ? Back on the shelves hahah ? You don’t think there is an opportunity cost to driving back to Costco and standing in line to return something . You ARE paying for returns at box stores - it is with your time
All these issues exist in box stores . I just don’t have to spend 1 minute of my time if I don’t want to driving to them anymore if I don’t want to.
It amazes me how much spare time people must have that they think driving around and shopping is a good use of their time - especially for any generic item. Maybe it shouldn’t since this is a message board that some people seem to make posting on their career so the opportunity cost of their time is effectively zero
