I don't know what kind of bizaro world I've stumbled into where Republicans are defending a generous pension quasi government entity and democrats are defending the most cut throat capitalistic company in the US currently. Do we all just reflexively side either pro or anti Trump then proceed to rationalize that decision with whatever mental contortions are necessary to avoid any serious challenge to or growth in the way we view the world?
Do we all just reflexively side either pro or anti Trump then proceed to rationalize...
Trump's problem with Amazon is really about his dislike of Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post (Jeff owns both) and the things the newspaper writes about Trump. Trump calling things "fake news" doesn't make them actually so...
Not trolling (really), but... to address your comments. The problem with Trump is that about 99% of everything he says is either flat-out wrong or easily-provably false. The safe, rational bet is to stand on the opposite side of whatever he's talking about.
The tweet in the TFS looks to be full of errors and/or half-truths, except for the part about harming retailers -- but is that really Amazon's fault or the people and retailers that sell through them. As to the other statements, Amazon *pays* the USPS to delivery things, albeit at a discount -- just like FedEx and UPS do for some last-mile deliveries. As for how much taxes Amazon and their retailers pay, that's on the State and Federal Congresses and the laws they pass. However, I have trouble believing that Trump and the Republicans want a rich person and company to pay *more* taxes, especially after the tax hand-job they gave their buddies and themselves in the recent tax bill.
Continuing that point, Sears was a great retailer for a *long* time, but they failed to innovate and keep up with the changing landscape. I'm not sure their purchases of Kmart and Lands' End and sale of the Craftsman brand did them any favors in the long run. More recently Sears is basically owned and operated by a bunch of hedge fund people who seem intent on chopping it up, selling things off and picking the carcass clean.
Failing to pay them properly means they don't feel invested in the future of the company. So they do the absolute minimum for minimum wage.
...open an Amazon storefront for them, and talk up your friendly in-person showroom, with stellar after-sales support. Oh you need better staff retention and expertise? And you don't want them to look like they're getting by on 6 hours' sleep after their third part-time job of the day? Pay more. Pay benefits.
It's lack of skill in business management that puts "many thousands of retailers out of business!" First rule of business: distinguish your service or your product.
Because one thing's for sure: you ain't gonna out-compete a multi-billion dollar retail business in your mom & pop 2000 sqft on the stripmall.
This is hilariously bad advice. The overhead for smaller businesses is much higher than for Amazon, not to mention the cost of a storefront.
"Pay more! Offer extra free support! Have a big showroom!" - These three (hugely expensive) ideas are all relatively free on Amazon's side - no sales associates, online reviews from consumers, and a webpage and screenshots. You're proposing a huge increase on cost when retailers ALREADY can't compete with Amazon's prices.
Yeah, wrt practices that put "many thousands of retailers out of business!"Anti-Amazonians' shining example of an Amazon victim is Toys R Us, but their problems began before Amazon was a big deal, way back in the eBay era.
Actually what killed them was being bled dry in a leveaged buyout by Bain Capitol (Mitt Romney's hedgefund vulture capitol firm). They were squeezed of all their assets so ferociously that they wouldn't have been able to survive even in a world without an eBay or an Amazon.
That race-to-the-bottom starts with the staff. Failing to pay them properly means they don't feel invested in the future of the company. So they do the absolute minimum for minimum wage.
You know, I really hate when people pull out this bullshit argument. You pay people more than minimum wage so they'll be part of your consumer base. You pay people more than minimum wage so you attract people who refuse to work on minimum wage because it's an unlivable wage. Maybe that lures in better employees on the ave
While Amazon certainly hurt Toys R Us, their biggest issue was self inflicted - the tremendous burden of the debt from the leveraged buyout, whose interest payments ate up the profits that could have been used to update physical stores and create a competitive online store.
One of the major reasons Toys R Us failed was because they were bought by a venture capital organization (Bain?) that loaded the TRU company with so much debt (basically forcing them to pay for their own sale) that they couldn't respond to market changes- most of their profits were going to debt service.
America is going to be great again once we start subsidizing coal and small high priced general stores where they sell stuff they buy on Amazon at a 100% markup. Tremendous.
The problem with Trump is that about 99% of everything he says is either flat-out wrong or easily-provably false. The safe, rational bet is to stand on the opposite side of whatever he's talking about.
Closer to 84% per Politifact rating "Half True" or lower: http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/. Still horrible for a world leader, but worth nothing he does get things right on occasion.
the loss of business is also kind of wrong, more harm has been done to small business by retailers like walmart, kmart, sears, etc pushing out products that compete by creating their own factories overseas (especially in the garment industry) and then as we see with toysrus, sears, etc a lot of these companies are poorly managing their finances by overextending credit, parsing out debt, etc and leaving a hole in the marketplace that online retailers are plugging but still not fully. It is all a really compl
The irony here is that the Cheeto *himself* has bragged about not paying his own taxes, and he's personally put lots of small businesses out of business.
It's not an optical illusion, it just looks like one.
-- Phil White
Use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy? (Score:5, Funny)
Isn't that, literally, why they exist?
Re: (Score:5, Funny)
I think that he thinks that the USPS delivers Amazon's stuff for free using Unicorns.
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Re:Use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Do we all just reflexively side either pro or anti Trump then proceed to rationalize ...
Trump's problem with Amazon is really about his dislike of Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post (Jeff owns both) and the things the newspaper writes about Trump. Trump calling things "fake news" doesn't make them actually so...
Not trolling (really), but... to address your comments. The problem with Trump is that about 99% of everything he says is either flat-out wrong or easily-provably false. The safe, rational bet is to stand on the opposite side of whatever he's talking about.
The tweet in the TFS looks to be full of errors and/or half-truths, except for the part about harming retailers -- but is that really Amazon's fault or the people and retailers that sell through them. As to the other statements, Amazon *pays* the USPS to delivery things, albeit at a discount -- just like FedEx and UPS do for some last-mile deliveries. As for how much taxes Amazon and their retailers pay, that's on the State and Federal Congresses and the laws they pass. However, I have trouble believing that Trump and the Republicans want a rich person and company to pay *more* taxes, especially after the tax hand-job they gave their buddies and themselves in the recent tax bill.
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Trump's problem with Amazon is really about his dislike of Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post (Jeff owns both)
Sweet zombie jesus, somebody report this. Some guy named Jeff owns Jeff Bezos!
Re: (Score:-1)
Yes, severe confusion is a symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon is just Sears-on-your-iPad.
Continuing that point, Sears was a great retailer for a *long* time, but they failed to innovate and keep up with the changing landscape. I'm not sure their purchases of Kmart and Lands' End and sale of the Craftsman brand did them any favors in the long run. More recently Sears is basically owned and operated by a bunch of hedge fund people who seem intent on chopping it up, selling things off and picking the carcass clean.
Sears has a bigger problem than plunging sales [businessinsider.com]
Sears workers describe decay in failing stores [businessinsider.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Failing to pay them properly means they don't feel invested in the future of the company. So they do the absolute minimum for minimum wage.
...open an Amazon storefront for them, and talk up your friendly in-person showroom, with stellar after-sales support. Oh you need better staff retention and expertise? And you don't want them to look like they're getting by on 6 hours' sleep after their third part-time job of the day? Pay more. Pay benefits.
It's lack of skill in business management that puts "many thousands of retailers out of business!" First rule of business: distinguish your service or your product.
Because one thing's for sure: you ain't gonna out-compete a multi-billion dollar retail business in your mom & pop 2000 sqft on the stripmall.
This is hilariously bad advice. The overhead for smaller businesses is much higher than for Amazon, not to mention the cost of a storefront.
"Pay more! Offer extra free support! Have a big showroom!" - These three (hugely expensive) ideas are all relatively free on Amazon's side - no sales associates, online reviews from consumers, and a webpage and screenshots. You're proposing a huge increase on cost when retailers ALREADY can't compete with Amazon's prices.
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The overhead for smaller businesses is much higher than for Amazon, not to mention the cost of a storefront.
And here's an example. I recently purchased the science-fiction novel, "The Three-Body Problem".
Guess who I bought it from.
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Yeah, wrt practices that put "many thousands of retailers out of business!"Anti-Amazonians' shining example of an Amazon victim is Toys R Us, but their problems began before Amazon was a big deal, way back in the eBay era.
Actually what killed them was being bled dry in a leveaged buyout by Bain Capitol (Mitt Romney's hedgefund vulture capitol firm). They were squeezed of all their assets so ferociously that they wouldn't have been able to survive even in a world without an eBay or an Amazon.
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You know, I really hate when people pull out this bullshit argument. You pay people more than minimum wage so they'll be part of your consumer base. You pay people more than minimum wage so you attract people who refuse to work on minimum wage because it's an unlivable wage. Maybe that lures in better employees on the ave
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Did Sears have practices that put "many thousands of retailers out of business!" ?
Yes. Starting in the 1890s, the Sears catalog and mail order system drove thousands of small dry goods shops out of business.
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While Amazon certainly hurt Toys R Us, their biggest issue was self inflicted - the tremendous burden of the debt from the leveraged buyout, whose interest payments ate up the profits that could have been used to update physical stores and create a competitive online store.
Re: (Score:0)
One of the major reasons Toys R Us failed was because they were bought by a venture capital organization (Bain?) that loaded the TRU company with so much debt (basically forcing them to pay for their own sale) that they couldn't respond to market changes- most of their profits were going to debt service.
Re: (Score:0)
America is going to be great again once we start subsidizing coal and small high priced general stores where they sell stuff they buy on Amazon at a 100% markup. Tremendous.
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The problem with Trump is that about 99% of everything he says is either flat-out wrong or easily-provably false. The safe, rational bet is to stand on the opposite side of whatever he's talking about.
Closer to 84% per Politifact rating "Half True" or lower: http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/. Still horrible for a world leader, but worth nothing he does get things right on occasion.
Re: Use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy? (Score:-1)
Haha, you cited Politifact! #CredulousDunce
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the loss of business is also kind of wrong, more harm has been done to small business by retailers like walmart, kmart, sears, etc pushing out products that compete by creating their own factories overseas (especially in the garment industry) and then as we see with toysrus, sears, etc a lot of these companies are poorly managing their finances by overextending credit, parsing out debt, etc and leaving a hole in the marketplace that online retailers are plugging but still not fully. It is all a really compl
Re: (Score:1)
The irony here is that the Cheeto *himself* has bragged about not paying his own taxes, and he's personally put lots of small businesses out of business.