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It's fun to bash on great accumulations of power, that's my instinct too. But despite all the controversial things Amazon has done, they still seem to live up

It's fun to bash on great accumulations of power, that's my instinct too. But despite all the controversial things Amazon has done, they still seem to live up to their #1 leadership principle [0]: Customer Obsession - Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. Since the first result of the WF acquisition is lower prices for customers, it looks like that tradition continues. If Amazon makes good on their third principle, "Invent and Simplify", they'll fund lower prices with higher efficiency and greatly expand the number of people who can afford WF quality. [0] https://www.amazon.jobs/principles https://www.amazon.jobs/principles

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
bickfordb 9y ago
I don't believe Amazon has a public customer service phone number where you can speak with a human.
- tomdell 9y ago
  They do, actually.
  - boulos 9y ago
    Yep: 1-866-216-1072 is the general line. You can find this by signing in, clicking on customer service and going through the menu options where they try to route you to a specialized call.
- dmd 9y ago
  https://www.google.com/search?q=amazon+customer+service+phone+number https://www.google.com/search?q=amazon+customer+service+phon... wow, that was hard.
- qq66 9y ago
  Not only do they have such a number, but at least the last time I called that number, there wasn't even a voice menu where I had to "press 0" to talk to an operator. I dialed the number and a human picked up the phone.
- syphon7 9y ago
  They do, and they'll even redirect you to aws if you call the wrong one.
- AznHisoka 9y ago
  No but they have a ridiculously friendly refund policy. You can lie and say you saw someone stole your package from the front porch and they will give you a refund the next day.
  - mcny 9y ago
    People reading this: don't do it because from I've read you can get permanently banned from shopping at amazon.com for doing this "too much". Absolutely not worth the risk!
    - mathgeek 9y ago
      I'd say don't do this because it's theft. Whether or not you get punished for stealing multiple times shouldn't even come into the equation.
    - AznHisoka 9y ago
      Yep I would never do it but just wanted to give an example on how Amazon values customers, even to a fault and hurting sellers.
ekianjo 9y ago
> Customer Obsession - Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. Oh yes? I never asked to be reminded 10 times a day to become a "Prime Member", every single time I purchase something via Amazon using evil dark patterns (make the "skip" option appear as a text link and not a button). This and the whole concept of selling certains items to Prime members ONLY, and the fact that their prices are far from being as good as they were just 2-3 years ago, I can tell you the obsession now is clearly with profit margins than anything else.
- danudey 9y ago
  As a paying Prime customer, I've never asked for Amazon to restrict Prime Video to only tablets, phones, and specifically Sony Bravia Android TVs. They eventually added AppleTV support, I guess? But I have a friend who doesn't have an AppleTV and so she can't watch Prime Video on her TV. If Amazon is trying to use Prime Video as a bonus selling point, I don't see any point in restricting their own 'TV' shows to 'anything except a TV'. Pretty sure my friend didn't ask for that.
  - slowmovintarget 9y ago
    I have a number of HD displays in my house. Some hooked to computers, some to cable boxes and Fire sticks... What are these TVs you speak of? Sarcasm aside, my Samsung TV has an Amazon app which streams Prime Video just fine... If her box really can't get Amazon video natively, a fairly cheap Fire stick will do the job nicely.
    - justbaker 9y ago
      I can even use my raspberry pi to stream it in a pinch.
  - daveFNbuck 9y ago
    I can watch it on my laptop, my roku, my fire tv, and my chromecast. Three of those play on my tv. What device are you unable to play it on?
dforrestwilson 9y ago
I have to question the morality of a corporate ethos like this. It sounds like the flip-side of "in the interest of shareholder value", which can result in collateral damage to the environment, communities, politics, etc. Amazon has arm-twisted competitors like Zappos into sub-optimal acquisitions by selling goods at a loss, and it's a fair question to ask if less or no competition really benefits consumers in the long-run. I'm starting to wonder if all large successful corporations are just a type of legal sociopath, driven to crazy extremes via corporate zealotry.
- ChristianBundy 9y ago
  > I'm starting to wonder if all large successful corporations are just a type of legal sociopath, driven to crazy extremes via corporate zealotry. Yes, in the same way that feudal lords and slave-owners are legal sociopaths. Capitalism is inherently exploitative.
  - devmunchies 9y ago
    Capitalism is a pretty organic and free system. I think its just people who are exploitative. It the economy were even more free, it would be even worse.
    - cgmg 9y ago
      Given that freer markets are associated with massive reductions in poverty and increased standards of living around the world, what makes you think a freer economy would be "even worse"?
      - devmunchies 9y ago
        Even worse as in "more exploitative". I was arguing that people, not the economic structure, are exploitative. So an economy where people are more free, there will be more exploitation (which isn't a fault of capitalism but of people). I'm very pro-free-market.
kop316 9y ago
I agree they do that in many ways, but the pervasive issue of counterfeits on Amazon greatly erodes my trust of buying from Amazon, and has made me buy a lot of things off Amazon, even if it's a higher cost.
tambienben 9y ago
I wish Amazon would obsess over my shipping experience a little more. Where I live, they're beat by just about everyone. With the problem of counterfeit merchandise that they have, there's virtually no reason for me to continue being a customer there, other than the convenience factor--and for that, eBay provides the same service.
coreyallen 9y ago
It's a shame that leadership principals doesn't include a little bit of Obsession for many of their workers.
- mcny 9y ago
  My only question about the anytime number and worker treatment: with all the smart people working on the fire phone, how come nobody felt comfortable calling that number to say the phone was going on the wrong direction?
  - praneshp 9y ago
    Someone (who worked on the phone) commented here the other day (sorry, I cannot remember which article it was on) that the phone was praised for it's technology, and bunch of those went into other products (I think the camera was called out specifically). They also said the phone's OS drives all their devices now. I can believe that a lot of these engineers worked on a smaller thing, and some of them did call out that the phone wasn't going well. Just because they called it out doesn't mean they can override PMs gunning for a big promotion :) (or Bezos set on having his pet idea in the market).
aphextron 9y ago
>If Amazon makes good on their third principle, "Invent and Simplify", they'll fund lower prices with higher efficiency and greatly expand the number of people who can afford WF quality. This is nonsense. Whole Foods made a killing by convincing consumers that what they are buying is somehow magically "better" than regular grocery store items with clever marketing and presentation creating a false dichotomy between "natural" food and the rest. I've yet to see a single shred of evidence to back this up. I'd expect Amazon to do nothing less.
newscracker 9y ago
> Customer Obsession - Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. This seems like one of those "warm and fuzzy" things to frame and put on a wall somewhere, but I don't believe (based on my experience) that Amazon is far superior in this respect compared to others (though there are many companies with absolutely pathetic customer service). As an external observer, I see Amazon's primary and foremost principle as one to grow market share at almost any cost (to anyone) and crush competition through that route.
- jst1970 9y ago
  It does seem like "one of those 'warm and fuzzy' things to frame and put on a wall somewhere", but that is precisely the point. Whereas most companies do easy things such as that, Amazon is quite different in that it really does guide their strategy and approach. That doesn't mean they don't want to grow and be successful, rather they recognize you can't sustain one without the other.
SkyMarshal 9y ago
Another famous Bezos tidbit which seems relevant to this WH decision: “There are two kinds of companies: those that try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.”

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

bickfordb 9y ago

I don't believe Amazon has a public customer service phone number where you can speak with a human.

tomdell 9y ago
They do, actually.
- boulos 9y ago
  Yep: 1-866-216-1072 is the general line. You can find this by signing in, clicking on customer service and going through the menu options where they try to route you to a specialized call.
dmd 9y ago
https://www.google.com/search?q=amazon+customer+service+phone+number https://www.google.com/search?q=amazon+customer+service+phon... wow, that was hard.
qq66 9y ago
Not only do they have such a number, but at least the last time I called that number, there wasn't even a voice menu where I had to "press 0" to talk to an operator. I dialed the number and a human picked up the phone.
syphon7 9y ago
They do, and they'll even redirect you to aws if you call the wrong one.
AznHisoka 9y ago
No but they have a ridiculously friendly refund policy. You can lie and say you saw someone stole your package from the front porch and they will give you a refund the next day.
- mcny 9y ago
  People reading this: don't do it because from I've read you can get permanently banned from shopping at amazon.com for doing this "too much". Absolutely not worth the risk!
  - mathgeek 9y ago
    I'd say don't do this because it's theft. Whether or not you get punished for stealing multiple times shouldn't even come into the equation.
  - AznHisoka 9y ago
    Yep I would never do it but just wanted to give an example on how Amazon values customers, even to a fault and hurting sellers.

ekianjo 9y ago

> Customer Obsession - Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. Oh yes? I never asked to be reminded 10 times a day to become a "Prime Member", every single time I purchase something via Amazon using evil dark patterns (make the "skip" option appear as a text link and not a button). This and the whole concept of selling certains items to Prime members ONLY, and the fact that their prices are far from being as good as they were just 2-3 years ago, I can tell you the obsession now is clearly with profit margins than anything else.

danudey 9y ago
As a paying Prime customer, I've never asked for Amazon to restrict Prime Video to only tablets, phones, and specifically Sony Bravia Android TVs. They eventually added AppleTV support, I guess? But I have a friend who doesn't have an AppleTV and so she can't watch Prime Video on her TV. If Amazon is trying to use Prime Video as a bonus selling point, I don't see any point in restricting their own 'TV' shows to 'anything except a TV'. Pretty sure my friend didn't ask for that.
- slowmovintarget 9y ago
  I have a number of HD displays in my house. Some hooked to computers, some to cable boxes and Fire sticks... What are these TVs you speak of? Sarcasm aside, my Samsung TV has an Amazon app which streams Prime Video just fine... If her box really can't get Amazon video natively, a fairly cheap Fire stick will do the job nicely.
  - justbaker 9y ago
    I can even use my raspberry pi to stream it in a pinch.
- daveFNbuck 9y ago
  I can watch it on my laptop, my roku, my fire tv, and my chromecast. Three of those play on my tv. What device are you unable to play it on?

dforrestwilson 9y ago

I have to question the morality of a corporate ethos like this. It sounds like the flip-side of "in the interest of shareholder value", which can result in collateral damage to the environment, communities, politics, etc. Amazon has arm-twisted competitors like Zappos into sub-optimal acquisitions by selling goods at a loss, and it's a fair question to ask if less or no competition really benefits consumers in the long-run. I'm starting to wonder if all large successful corporations are just a type of legal sociopath, driven to crazy extremes via corporate zealotry.

ChristianBundy 9y ago
> I'm starting to wonder if all large successful corporations are just a type of legal sociopath, driven to crazy extremes via corporate zealotry. Yes, in the same way that feudal lords and slave-owners are legal sociopaths. Capitalism is inherently exploitative.
- devmunchies 9y ago
  Capitalism is a pretty organic and free system. I think its just people who are exploitative. It the economy were even more free, it would be even worse.
  - cgmg 9y ago
    Given that freer markets are associated with massive reductions in poverty and increased standards of living around the world, what makes you think a freer economy would be "even worse"?
    - devmunchies 9y ago
      Even worse as in "more exploitative". I was arguing that people, not the economic structure, are exploitative. So an economy where people are more free, there will be more exploitation (which isn't a fault of capitalism but of people). I'm very pro-free-market.

kop316 9y ago

I agree they do that in many ways, but the pervasive issue of counterfeits on Amazon greatly erodes my trust of buying from Amazon, and has made me buy a lot of things off Amazon, even if it's a higher cost.

tambienben 9y ago

I wish Amazon would obsess over my shipping experience a little more. Where I live, they're beat by just about everyone. With the problem of counterfeit merchandise that they have, there's virtually no reason for me to continue being a customer there, other than the convenience factor--and for that, eBay provides the same service.

coreyallen 9y ago

It's a shame that leadership principals doesn't include a little bit of Obsession for many of their workers.

mcny 9y ago
My only question about the anytime number and worker treatment: with all the smart people working on the fire phone, how come nobody felt comfortable calling that number to say the phone was going on the wrong direction?
- praneshp 9y ago
  Someone (who worked on the phone) commented here the other day (sorry, I cannot remember which article it was on) that the phone was praised for it's technology, and bunch of those went into other products (I think the camera was called out specifically). They also said the phone's OS drives all their devices now. I can believe that a lot of these engineers worked on a smaller thing, and some of them did call out that the phone wasn't going well. Just because they called it out doesn't mean they can override PMs gunning for a big promotion :) (or Bezos set on having his pet idea in the market).

aphextron 9y ago

>If Amazon makes good on their third principle, "Invent and Simplify", they'll fund lower prices with higher efficiency and greatly expand the number of people who can afford WF quality. This is nonsense. Whole Foods made a killing by convincing consumers that what they are buying is somehow magically "better" than regular grocery store items with clever marketing and presentation creating a false dichotomy between "natural" food and the rest. I've yet to see a single shred of evidence to back this up. I'd expect Amazon to do nothing less.

newscracker 9y ago

> Customer Obsession - Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. This seems like one of those "warm and fuzzy" things to frame and put on a wall somewhere, but I don't believe (based on my experience) that Amazon is far superior in this respect compared to others (though there are many companies with absolutely pathetic customer service). As an external observer, I see Amazon's primary and foremost principle as one to grow market share at almost any cost (to anyone) and crush competition through that route.

jst1970 9y ago
It does seem like "one of those 'warm and fuzzy' things to frame and put on a wall somewhere", but that is precisely the point. Whereas most companies do easy things such as that, Amazon is quite different in that it really does guide their strategy and approach. That doesn't mean they don't want to grow and be successful, rather they recognize you can't sustain one without the other.

SkyMarshal 9y ago

Another famous Bezos tidbit which seems relevant to this WH decision: “There are two kinds of companies: those that try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.”