In a big way I hate it, but Amazon is truly great

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by fotze2

I wanna hear about the counterfeit frypan.

"What the f-... I ordered a frying pan! This is a counterfeit frying pan!"

"What? It looks like a frying pan to me."

"THIS IS A SKILLET!"

[chemgear]

Just ordered a 24 can flat of Chef Boyardee on a whim and it'll be delivered to my door. The future is now, #### you Canada Post!

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Just ordered a 24 can flat of Chef Boyardee on a whim and it'll be delivered to my door. The future is now, #### you Canada Post!

Should've added this to your order:

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by photon

I left a bad review on Google for the Staples near my place once over that and the store actually reached out to me in response. I didn't reply since it'd probably be something like "oh here's your item free shipping please remove the review".

But yeah that's happened to me enough that I either just get it from Amazon, or if I am going to a store I call ahead and get them to put it aside for me if at all possible.. or like Best Buy you can order it for pickup and if THEY can't find it then they cancel the order so I don't have to drive there.

Best Buy are truly a piece of work, I was searching for a 4 TB internal hard drive for my sons PlayStation and low and behold Best Buy sale ads popped up with the one I was looking for and it was $100.00 off only to find out not only is the item out of stock in Calgary it's not available in the whole country, yet the pop up ads kept coming a week later on chrome.

It was the only Christmas item I couldn't get on Amazon but thankfully the good people at memory express matched Best Buys BS ad

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Remember, don't unionize or you'll get fired.

Amazon to close Quebec facilities

Amazon announced on Wednesday it will shutter its facilities in Quebec in the coming weeks and cut more than 1,700 jobs.

A company spokesperson said Amazon will outsource deliveries to smaller contractors. The spokesperson insisted that the decision was tied to cost savings — not the recent unionization of about 200 employees at a Laval, Que., warehouse.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...ebec-1.7438078

[Shazam]

Let's face it - there's no way they could provide the prices you love by paying people more.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Remember, don't unionize or you'll get fired.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...ebec-1.7438078

Scare tactics. Gonna be interesting to see what that union does as far as charter challenges and other litigation. I’m not too familiar with all of the details of Quebec’s labour code but there’s probably going to be an argument to have the 3rd party that takes over the operations of that building to be covered under the existing certification. We probably won’t know for a few years though. Canadians should be outraged by this blatant violation of our charter rights but most people don’t care about that kind of stuff until it affects them personally.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Let's face it - there's no way they could provide the prices you love by paying people more.

Ha.

They’ve been increasing their prices for years without even paying people more but I guess an extra 2% to see their employees get a slight bump in pay would be crippling in the eyes of some.

[blankall]

To be fair Amazon started the "Delivery Service Provider" model in 2018 and has been expanding it since and more aggressively in the last couple of years. This isn't something specific to Quebec.

Amazon also basically had a license to print money (or more accurately were huge benefactors of the government's license to print money) during the pandemic. They've since been laying off 10s of thousands of employees now that the pandemic cash cow is dead. This series of totally unprecedented events isn't going to fit in with the union model of guaranteed long-term employment.

[burn_this_city]

Another data point for the continuous erosion of the business climate in this country. GDP per capita has fallen in QC for 6 straight quarters.

[Shazam]

La belle province basically exists off of transfer payments.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by blankall

To be fair Amazon started the "Delivery Service Provider" model in 2018 and has been expanding it since and more aggressively in the last couple of years. This isn't something specific to Quebec.

This is true. Amazon generally has multiple 3rd parties providing drivers to delivery hubs. Basically it makes unionizing much more difficult because if only one of the 3rd parties does it they can just terminate that contract to dissuade the others from trying. You essentially need to organize all of them at once to have enough leverage to force them to actually recognize their certification. I was actually surprised to see Quebec was operating under a different model but the timing of the change is obviously suspect and I believe has a clear intent beyond operational needs.

Amazon also basically had a license to print money (or more accurately were huge benefactors of the government's license to print money) during the pandemic. They've since been laying off 10s of thousands of employees now that the pandemic cash cow is dead. This series of totally unprecedented events isn't going to fit in with the union model of guaranteed long-term employment.

Not sure how any of that works against unionization. If anything it’s a very strong argument for why the employees should unionize. As an employee if there’s gonna be layoffs you want to have rules in place to provide you with as much job protection as possible.

[Nufy]

My son ordered some filament for his 3D printer a few days ago on Amazon.

Was delivered.......... A wireless Pet waterer

[burn_this_city]

Maybe Mercado Libre can come in and take over now that QC is firmly on a path to becoming a low income nation.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

This is true. Amazon generally has multiple 3rd parties providing drivers to delivery hubs. Basically it makes unionizing much more difficult because if only one of the 3rd parties does it they can just terminate that contract to dissuade the others from trying. You essentially need to organize all of them at once to have enough leverage to force them to actually recognize their certification. I was actually surprised to see Quebec was operating under a different model but the timing of the change is obviously suspect and I believe has a clear intent beyond operational needs.



Not sure how any of that works against unionization. If anything it’s a very strong argument for why the employees should unionize. As an employee if there’s gonna be layoffs you want to have rules in place to provide you with as much job protection as possible.

Amazon is still a tech company. They run on a boom and bust model. That's particularly true on a local level. The whole concept is that Amazon doesn't have permanent brick and mortar locations.

On top of that they haven't finalized their own business model. Even they don't know if they are going to be charge of any deliveries in a few years. Trying to crystalize a temporary Amazon expansion into guaranteed employment isn't realistic.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Nufy

My son ordered some filament for his 3D printer a few days ago on Amazon.

Was delivered.......... A wireless Pet waterer

I ordered a used book, and got a copy in Italian.

[Locke]

It is a fine River.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by blankall

Amazon is still a tech company. They run on a boom and bust model. That's particularly true on a local level. The whole concept is that Amazon doesn't have permanent brick and mortar locations.

On top of that they haven't finalized their own business model. Even they don't know if they are going to be charge of any deliveries in a few years. Trying to crystalize a temporary Amazon expansion into guaranteed employment isn't realistic.

I hear what you’re saying but unionizing has never been about guaranteeing employment, it’s about maximizing what you’re earning while you can earn it and protecting your employment while that job exists.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Another data point for the continuous erosion of the business climate in this country. GDP per capita has fallen in QC for 6 straight quarters.

Yeah, QC sucks, but even overall it's disheartening when you compare it to the US. 2024 GDP per capita in Canada was around $54K USD...hanging down there with the lowest US state, Mississippi ($53K), the poster child for poverty in that country.

This chart is a bit older (2023) but this map shows a decent general comparison between provinces and states. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only ones that could hang in the top third. Even Ontario barely beats a few bottom feeders.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1831705145857409472

The prosperity gap just seems to be getting worse:

Spoiler!

At least we're not Europe? Mississippi has a higher GDP per capita than 4 out of the Top 5 European economies (UK, France, Italy, Spain)...and almost equal with Germany.

https://www.euronews.com/business/20...%20Mississippi.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Yeah, QC sucks, but even overall it's disheartening when you compare it to the US. 2024 GDP per capita in Canada was around $54K USD...hanging down there with the lowest US state, Mississippi ($53K), the poster child for poverty in that country.

This chart is a bit older (2023) but this map shows a decent general comparison between provinces and states. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only ones that could hang in the top third. Even Ontario barely beats a few bottom feeders.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1831705145857409472

The prosperity gap just seems to be getting worse:


At least we're not Europe? Mississippi has a higher GDP per capita than 4 out of the Top 5 European economies (UK, France, Italy, Spain)...and almost equal with Germany.

https://www.euronews.com/business/20...%20Mississippi.

Had me curious so I had to look at what the industries are in Mississippi that help them out, as I couldn't think of what they even do there.


Top 5:
1. Hospitals $11.4b
2. New Car Dealers $8.8b
3. Commercial Banking$7.8b
4. Health & Medical Insurance $6.5b
5. Petroleum Refining $6.2b

https://www.ibisworld.com/united-sta...s/mississippi/


Is most of that even generating any real value? How can so many afford new cars?