Its impossible to compete with them.
In the next 10 years there's probably going to be a solid argument for breaking them up.
I think they're at the point already tbh.
Its impossible to compete with them.
In the next 10 years there's probably going to be a solid argument for breaking them up.
HALF of US households have Prime? That's hard to believe.
Amazon and zeal-Mart are just manifestations of the same phenomenon.What do people against Amazon want here? Those mom and pop stores in every town will never come back. If Amazon didn't exist another giant corporation would take its place, most likely Walmart.
I remember the South Park episodes about Walmart and Blockbuster around the same timeframe you're talking about lol.This paints a very grim picture but I also remember 15+ years ago a ton of people ringing similar alarm bells about Walmart and how they were going to put every other super market out of business and such and destroy the very fiber of the communities they popped up in and now? Walmart doesn't really scare people anymore.
In xx amount of years some other online commerce store will likely raise up to challenge Amazon.
I don't know what it's like in the US but in the UK they are not competitive at all when it comes to new releases or pre-orders.
Because businesses that ran in one state were never obliged to collect sales tax for another state. That was in place way before Amazon came on the scene.This has been obvious for a long time.
I never understood how congress states allowed them to not collect sales tax for so many years. I've assumed they bought off state senators or something. It killed Borders books first. Then it's just gone on.
This has always happened throughout history. The same companies crying now had no issue doing it to local retailers in the past by using their vast resources with wholesalers.Amazon was able to sell products cheaply long enough to kill a lot of competition.
Maybe you have that issue come up a lot but I don't and obviously neither do a lot of people since they like using the service.I don't see how we are better off, honestly.
Buying products you haven't previously bought can be error prone. And when things go wrong you have to ship it back. You no longer get the touch products before buying them. You have to rely on reviews that sound like advertisements for the product.
Honestly, we end up buying things and returning them over and over. My mother bought me workout clothes. It's the right size only when I put it on it's too large. Had to send it back and order another one. It's a hassle.
All Humans are doing now is finding ways to be lazy and less productive while making as much money as they can with the least amount of effort. It's completely contradictory to evolution and progress.
Maybe you have that issue come up a lot but I don't and obviously neither do a lot of people since they like using the service.
Major space exploration will not happen until ALL countries (people) come together to make it happen.We need to make space-born stuff more valuable so the economic shift is toward space exploration.
This is a very negative way at looking at things.All Humans are doing now is finding ways to be lazy and less productive while making as much money as they can with the least amount of effort. It's completely contradictory to evolution and progress.
Because businesses that ran in one state were never obliged to collect sales tax for another state. That was in place way before Amazon came on the scene.
This has always happened throughout history. The same companies crying now had no issue doing it to local retailers in the past by using their vast resources with wholesalers.
Maybe you have that issue come up a lot but I don't and obviously neither do a lot of people since they like using the service.
I think they're at the point already tbh.
Obviously local governments were slow to adapt to changing economies.
The issue used to come up a lot when I bought through Amazon but now I hardly ever buy there. I'll use a specific example.
I need a garage door remote opener. I can order it through Amazon and wait two days, or I can go to walmart today and buy it. The price difference is a couple of cents.
It will often be cheaper to buy it at the store and while I'm there, I can buy some groceries.
I've been using amazon less and less without realizing it. The only thing we consistently buy there is diapers.
Anything that accelerates the inevitable death of capitalism, America and the idea that human labor has any value is good in my eyes.
Well that's great for you but I don't know what that has to do with anything. You think there is any difference in supporting Walmart as opposed to Amazon? Walmart is beefing up their online strategy tenfold and using their massive distribution channels to make that happen . They know what is inevitable.
Yeah you are right. Added to OP.This really should be in the OP.
What do people against Amazon want here? Those mom and pop stores in every town will never come back. If Amazon didn't exist another giant corporation would take its place, most likely Walmart.
Yeah you are right. Added to OP.
The report addresses this.
Policymakers should restore the broader range of goals that guided antitrust enforcement for much of the 20th century, and use these policies to divide Amazon into separate firms, prevent it from using its financial resources to capsize smaller competitors, and ensure fair and open competition on its platform. (Pages 68-69)
Officials should update both state and federal labor laws to protect workers rights in the digital economy, including establishing stronger protections for temporary workers and blocking companies from classifying workers as independent ontractors as a way of evading wage and hour standards. (Pages 69-70)
Local and state governments should stop providing Amazon with subsidies and tax breaks, and revise their planning and economic development policies to reflect the fiscal and community benefits of local, independent businesses. (Pages 70-71)
Well that's great for you but I don't know what that has to do with anything. You think there is any difference in supporting Walmart as opposed to Amazon? Walmart is beefing up their online strategy tenfold and using their massive distribution channels to make that happen . They know what is inevitable.
I don't care about who sells me things. I care about the costs and convenience to me.
I am making the argument that I find the benefits of Amazon as a store to be less compelling now as opposed to years ago when they didn't charge sales tax.
I find going to walmart or target sometimes more convenient because they are both cheaper and have groceries I need to buy anyway.
I have 0 loyalty to retail stores, online or brick and mortar. I do thank Amazon for making Target and Walmart compete.
I think a duopoly is still better than a monopoly, and by extension it's important to have multiple online retailers.
I don't care about who sells me things. I care about the costs and convenience to me.
I am making the argument that I find the benefits of Amazon as a store to be less compelling now as opposed to years ago when they didn't charge sales tax.
I find going to walmart or target sometimes more convenient because they are both cheaper and have groceries I need to buy anyway.
I have 0 loyalty to retail stores, online or brick and mortar. I do thank Amazon for making Target and Walmart compete.
I love these solutions
Sustainable local economies should be paramount going forward
I buy all of my new games and big tech from BestBuy with GCU and I buy almost everything else from Amazon.
Baby food
Miscellaneous tech
Movies and TV discs
Clothes
Books
Game accessories
Hardware
Lawn care stuff
Etc
Why should I go out to half a dozen stores to buy all that when I can have it delivered to my door in two days. If Amazon had grocery delivery where I live I'd use that and if they could deliver gasoline I'd stop going to gas stations.
The nearest Costco is over an hour away from where I live.Costco beats amazon when it comes to prices and of course on gas. That's one company that seems immune to Amazon. They continue to beat expectations every qtr
I don't have time to read the whole report, but I don't think that trust-busting Amazon will help local businesses all that much. Why wouldn't people just shop somewhere else online?
Costco beats amazon when it comes to prices and of course on gas. That's one company that seems immune to Amazon. They continue to beat expectations every qtr
The nearest Costco is over an hour away from where I live.
Requiring things to be local is inefficient and the opposite of sustainable. Most industries have very powerful economies of scale.
The prices are just too good and the shipping is just too convenient. Ain't no reason to go to a regular store anymore
I'm seriously worried about the impact Amazon is having on our economy. We need to make our economies local, self-sufficient, and sustainable -- everything that Amazon is not.
We need to start phasing out the idea of economies all together.I'm seriously worried about the impact Amazon is having on our economy. We need to make our economies local, self-sufficient, and sustainable -- everything that Amazon is not.
I don't have time to read the whole report, but I don't think that trust-busting Amazon will help local businesses all that much. Why wouldn't people just shop somewhere else online?
The government should eventually nationalize Amazon.Amazon has shown that they will operate at a loss to stifle competition (sometimes so that they can buy the competition). Keep in mind that they do this while taking government subsidies.
We do not want to make everything produced locally! It's a massively inefficient waste of people's time and resources to have an exponentially larger amount of people doing redundant tasks for no reason other than to keep people busy.I'm seriously worried about the impact Amazon is having on our economy. We need to make our economies local, self-sufficient, and sustainable -- everything that Amazon is not.
Honestly, outside of craft farming (wineries, honey, that kind of thing) the rural areas need to be abandoned to automated food production and wildlife restoration. We need to build massive, cheap, quality housing in cities and encourage mass migration away from the countryside.We do not want to make everything produced locally! It's a massively inefficient waste of people's time and resources to have an exponentially larger amount of people doing redundant tasks for no reason other than to keep people busy.
Economies are based on trade. A sustainable economy is one where people have massive amounts of trading partners. It's why cities are doing so well while small rural areas are decaying.
It's gonna be a Chinese company that makes high quality counterfeit products for a fraction of the cost and delivers them right to your door via a drone army, evading import fees and local shipping fees.
Is this competition local or is it other online services? There are definitely cases where Amazon has operated at a loss to enter a business area like it probably will to compete with Blue Apron. It's not like companies having divisions operating at a loss something unique to Amazon either. It's something small businesses can't afford, sure, but it's not unique to online retail.Amazon has shown that they will operate at a loss to stifle competition (sometimes so that they can buy the competition). Keep in mind that they do this while taking government subsidies.
Literally any business gets some form of subsidy via public services just like any person does. It's a phrase you can throw out that sounds bad but doesn't mean anything unless you bring specific receipts.Is this competition local or is it other online services? There are definitely cases where Amazon has operated at a loss to enter a business area like it probably will to compete with Blue Apron.
What kind of subsidies are you referring to? Are you saying it's an issue that Amazon gets government subsidies? I can possibly see why that might be true but as someone who isn't too knowledgeable about this, I'm not sure what makes the subsidies Amazon gets worse than the ones a company like Walmart would get.
I do think that government should deal with how outdated their policies are for dealing with companies that don't have to worry about locality, but I think that businesses that don't have to worry about their niche existing in their area is a good thing. This is not as much about Amazon as much as it is about online vs local retail in general.
I live in Missouri and I pay sales tax when I buy from Amazon...But in 16 states, including ones with sizeable populations, like Missouri, Amazon continues to operate sales tax free. The research firm Civic Economics estimates that Amazons uncollected state and local sales taxes totaled more than $704 million in 2015. (313) That year, Amazon reported profits of just $596 million.
The prices are just too good and the shipping is just too convenient. Ain't no reason to go to a regular store anymore
The American economy is all about consumption.This is just highlighting more and more the need for an anti-consumption movement in our society. We need to learn to be happy with what we have and not continue buying into the marketing that promotes behavior of needless purchasing.
Honestly, outside of craft farming (wineries, honey, that kind of thing) the rural areas need to be abandoned to automated food production and wildlife restoration. We need to build massive, cheap, quality housing in cities and encourage mass migration away from the countryside.