Amazon...pretty soon they'll own everything....

[Blansky]

I love Amazon. Sort of. I buy lots of stuff, watch Amazon Prime, read only Kindle Books. In fact whenever I go to buy something from an online site, I always look to see if Amazon has it so I don't have to pay for shipping........BUT....

At what point does something so convenient become so.....dangerous. So powerful that it becomes something to be feared.

Jeff Bezos made $7 billion every month last year, which translates to $1.75 billion per week or $250 million per day.

A few articles about Amazon.

https://gizmodo.com/every-company-th...ars-1849142527

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/10/t...rgo-ships.html

https://theloadstar.com/now-amazon-b...-near-shoring/

[HHIslander]

He really didn't make that kind of money. He owns stock that appreciated in value by that match, it's not income. If you use that metric, then he has lost a great deal of money this year as the stock has dropped about 25% from the high as of today.

That's like saying someone made 200k last year because their house went up from 800k to 1m in value.

Not supporting the guy or what he does, but the media has it wrong on his income.

[Star Ferry]

I order a ton of stuff there. My biggest issue is that for large/heavy or low-dollar items I am sure that I’m overpaying. A plastic hamper that might be $5 at Target costs way more on Amazon than in a store because they need to ship you a big box. Basic things like sandpaper or metal screws/nails/tacks that would cost almost nothing out of the bin at a hardware store? It’ll be $10 on prime

[OYptL]

There are others to be feared in the United States of America. Trust me.

[swils8610]

Can’t say I disagree…however myself and most people I know use Amazon for most their shopping. Bezo’s created Amazon…he has every right to reap the rewards.


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[binArt]

I remember when people had similar complaints about Walmart.

[77T]

Originally Posted by binArt

I remember when people had similar complaints about Walmart.

That’s a fair point.




Amazon is #2 in Retail, but AWS is dominant in Cloud, and Blue Origin could contend for space lift if they succeed on 2nd round with NASA.


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[Blansky]

Originally Posted by binArt

I remember when people had similar complaints about Walmart.

Agreed. Walmart destroyed a lot of small towns but they were just essentially a store.

Amazon is FAR more diversified.

[daveathall]

Amazon have got it sorted. I order something at 8 or 9pm and it turns up the next day. I use it all the time.

[Speedbird-1]

600,000 UK homes drop Amazon Prime.

[brandrea]

Wait till they start offering puppies

[904VT]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Agreed. Walmart destroyed a lot of small towns but they were just essentially a store.

Amazon is FAR more diversified.

Amazon provides a pretty good network of services. Walmart you are right. I think they purposely tried to put competitors out of business, especially in the mom and pop small biz sector. At least Amazon allows small businesses to sell on their marketplace. How Walmart didn’t come under forced anticompetitive breakup I have have no idea. My best guess is they purposely targeted small businesses that wouldn’t have the lobby pull of big corporate competitors and Congress let them do whatever they wanted. Though in all fairness and full disclosure Amazon’s approach to providing cloud/website servers is probably not all that different than what Walmart did. Both completely unethical at minimum. Walmart may have single-handedly destroyed America’s small business network and manufacturing industry. Their stores are full of cheap junk too.

[HHIslander]

Originally Posted by 904VT

Amazon provides a pretty good network of services. Walmart you are right. I think they purposely tried to put competitors out of business, especially in the mom and pop small biz sector. At least Amazon allows small businesses to sell on their marketplace. How Walmart didn’t come under forced anticompetitive breakup I have have no idea. My best guess is they purposely targeted small businesses that wouldn’t have the lobby pull of big corporate competitors and Congress let them do whatever they wanted. Though in all fairness and full disclosure Amazon’s approach to providing cloud/website servers is probably not all that different than what Walmart did. Both completely unethical at minimum. Walmart may have single-handedly destroyed America’s small business network and manufacturing industry. Their stores are full of cheap junk too.

I have to agree. I personally love Amazon. I wouldn't step foot in a Walmart unless my life depended on it and even then I'd pause.

If you are ever wondering how the govt calculates whether or not to pursue antitrust, here's a good read. It's not exactly the formula they use I would think, but it gives you an idea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herfin...irschman_index

[binArt]

Originally Posted by HHIslander

I have to agree. I personally love Amazon. I wouldn't step foot in a Walmart unless my life depended on it and even then I'd pause.

If you are ever wondering how the govt calculates whether or not to pursue antitrust, here's a good read. It's not exactly the formula they use I would think, but it gives you an idea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herfin...irschman_index

Costco is our go to, but Walmart gets our business too. Depending on where you live, Walmart may be the only good option.

Amazon pricing was competitive for a long time. But since COVID, they are significantly higher than anything I can drive to locally. We now use Amazon for their reviews, then buy locally (flipping the model so to speak).

[OYptL]

Originally Posted by binArt

Costco is our go to, but Walmart gets our business too. Depending on where you live, Walmart may be the only good option.

Amazon pricing was competitive for a long time. But since COVID, they are significantly higher than anything I can drive to locally. We now use Amazon for their reviews, then buy locally (flipping the model so to speak).

This is soo true on the where you live thing. Rural America has nothing but Walmart and either Dollar Store or Family Dollar. It is what we have. Yes, I’m in that category.

[RyanJ]

I use Amazon and other online services for almost everything.

I went into the grocery store today for the first time in months and months and the experience was horrific.. 2 cashiers with a person were open with lines backing into the aisles but all self checkout lines were open. I enjoy self checkout but not when I am behind a huge line of people that do not know how to use it. Took 35 minutes to buy aluminum foil.

Nope, not again. Back to instacart and my 30-60 minute deliveries right to my door step.

I really do want to buy locally especially at the mom and pop shops but it has gotten so hard to do so. Time wise it is so much easier to just curbside pickup or simply order things from Amazon. Costco?? Forget about that. That place is busy every second of the day. I will get my TP and paper towels from their website...

[Cru Jones]

More and more often I’ve been noticing pricing on Amazon is worse than other sites. But, I’m so used to shopping on Amazon I sometimes forget to check.

[HL65]

I could think of another institution that comes to my mind….

Love Amazon as they have made shopping so convenient and easy. While I am not a fan of Bezos, good for him.

[Aquaholic_user]

I wouldn't step foot in a dollar store, I use Amazon. I like how I can return things for free and bring the items to a kohls to ship back. Ebay is my go to, most the time I return an item the seller refunds me and says keep it.

Sent from my balloon knot

[dannymiller]

Honestly Amazon can do no wrong ever imo...I usually shop from them and they always come through.

[HHIslander]

Originally Posted by RyanJ

I use Amazon and other online services for almost everything.

I went into the grocery store today for the first time in months and months and the experience was horrific.. 2 cashiers with a person were open with lines backing into the aisles but all self checkout lines were open. I enjoy self checkout but not when I am behind a huge line of people that do not know how to use it. Took 35 minutes to buy aluminum foil.

Nope, not again. Back to instacart and my 30-60 minute deliveries right to my door step.

I really do want to buy locally especially at the mom and pop shops but it has gotten so hard to do so. Time wise it is so much easier to just curbside pickup or simply order things from Amazon. Costco?? Forget about that. That place is busy every second of the day. I will get my TP and paper towels from their website...

In the post Covid world, service everywhere for just about everything is in the crapper. This is one big reason why I love Amazon. We are lucky enough to have a Publix nearby that is immune somehow to the staffing issues. But anything I can't get at Publix I go to Amazon for. Publix isn't exactly the cheapest either but it's worth it. We have no Costco, unfortunately.

As others have noted, I've also found Amazon prices aren't as cheap as they used to be. But the convenience can't be beat. The only downside is I had to buy a cardboard box shredder to tackle the stacks of boxes.

In the US, we don't seem to like whoever is on top. From Amazon to the Patriots to the Yankees to Microsoft to Google, etc. It's kind of a part of our culture to route for the underdogs.

[Blansky]

Thanks for the replies which sort of surprised me that most people commented on convenience and the "good for him" of buying his stuff online. Hey, I get it. Great ideas should be rewarded.

But almost nobody mentioned the fact that one company buying up dozens of other companies and working to control so many facets of commerce, computing, shipping, grocery stores, etc etc is not something to worry about, to say nothing of his political clout with his massive amount of money.

[binArt]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Thanks for the replies which sort of surprised me that most people commented on convenience and the "good for him" of buying his stuff online. Hey, I get it. Great ideas should be rewarded.

But almost nobody mentioned the fact that one company buying up dozens of other companies and working to control so many facets of commerce, computing, shipping, grocery stores, etc etc is not something to worry about, to say nothing of his political clout with his massive amount of money.

Like Bill Gates and Microsoft? There have been many others, I'm sure. We've become accustomed to the monopolization of daily needs.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by binArt

Like Bill Gates and Microsoft? There have been many others, I'm sure. We've become accustomed to the monopolization of daily needs.

True. But most stay in their lane.

It would be interesting to know what Amazon/Bezos ultimate long range goal is.

Putting all the pieces of the puzzle of his various companies, and what is the end goal?

It's not just money, because at some point it goes far beyond money.

[HHIslander]

Originally Posted by Blansky

But almost nobody mentioned the fact that one company buying up dozens of other companies and working to control so many facets of commerce, computing, shipping, grocery stores, etc etc is not something to worry about, to say nothing of his political clout with his massive amount of money.

Not really much point in worrying about it and I'm not sure it's a problem. It's capitalism, nothing anyone other than the US govt can do anything about. I could argue that the million people who work for amazon at a starting salary of more than twice the minimum wage combined with the convenience of amazon's services in improving the quality of life might possibly be significant contributions to our society that are often overlooked. Many small businesses also thrive by using amazon as a distribution channel.

I guess it depends on one's perspective. They aren't perfect but I'm ok with that.

[binArt]

Originally Posted by Blansky

True. But most stay in their lane.

It would be interesting to know what Amazon/Bezos ultimate long range goal is.

Putting all the pieces of the puzzle of his various companies, and what is the end goal?

It's not just money, because at some point it goes far beyond money.

.

[Star Ferry]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Thanks for the replies which sort of surprised me that most people commented on convenience and the "good for him" of buying his stuff online. Hey, I get it. Great ideas should be rewarded.

But almost nobody mentioned the fact that one company buying up dozens of other companies and working to control so many facets of commerce, computing, shipping, grocery stores, etc etc is not something to worry about, to say nothing of his political clout with his massive amount of money.

There is a lack of transparency that comes with dynamic online pricing. Amazon claims they don’t do it, but they’ve been accused many times of charging two different customers different prices for the same item.

As a person with no car, no access to discount big-box stores, and (at least relative to the average American) a lot of money to blow, they can easily rip me off. So I try to price check against Target, Walmart, etc. websites to get a sense for what certain things “are supposed to” cost.

[binArt]

Originally Posted by Star Ferry

There is a lack of transparency that comes with dynamic online pricing. Amazon claims they don’t do it, but they’ve been accused many times of charging two different customers different prices for the same item.

As a person with no car, no access to discount big-box stores, and (at least relative to the average American) a lot of money to blow, they can easily rip me off. So I try to price check against Target, Walmart, etc. websites to get a sense for what certain things “are supposed to” cost.

Amazon prices I see on some common Walmart items are hundreds of percent higher than Walmart. Yet, a restricted pesticide is cheaper than the exterminator can buy it. The pricing model lacks consistency.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Star Ferry

There is a lack of transparency that comes with dynamic online pricing. Amazon claims they don’t do it, but they’ve been accused many times of charging two different customers different prices for the same item.

I've seen that lots of times. I guess with thousands/millions of products that the listing could be tricky and since they come from various suppliers.

You can easily go into your "buy again" list and see a product you previously bought and add it to your cart or you can just type in the item into their search function and very often find a different price.

I've typed in the same item at hours apart and found different prices for it.

[904VT]

Originally Posted by Blansky

True. But most stay in their lane.

It would be interesting to know what Amazon/Bezos ultimate long range goal is.

Putting all the pieces of the puzzle of his various companies, and what is the end goal?

It's not just money, because at some point it goes far beyond money.

Bill Gates stays in his lane? Lol, the somewhat of a computer guy that plays doctor when he has an investment supporting? He was the laughable expert on every news station his foundation had a quid pro quo arrangement with. Interesting that he has fallen from grace too, I’m assuming he made someone more powerful not too happy. Most billionaires I think do not stay in their lanes and actually try to influence others for gain of more money and power. For better or worse Bezos is making Walmart 2.0 and wants to dominate US supply chains.