4 ms·

Amazon Cuts Prices at Whole Foods by Up to 43% on First Day

28 points by uptown 9y ago

archagon 9y ago
I wonder if the beer aisle is getting some of those discounts? Whole Foods has one of the best craft beer selections among the big-name stores, including BevMo and the like. (Actually spotted Cantillon on the shelf one time!) Really hope this won't change with the acquisition.
merricksb 9y ago
Discussed 4 days ago: (341 points, 219 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15094529 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15094529
- emodendroket 9y ago
  It was discussed in theory; now we have actual numbers.
rayiner 9y ago
Not looking forward to this at all. I trust Whole Foods--it's highly transparent. If I want to know what kind of oil they use in their prepared foods, they have a blog post on it. I don't trust Amazon, not even a little bit. I used to, back when you ran a search and it would list stuff sold by Amazon. These days, who knows what you're getting. I can deal with that for USB cables, but not food. There is also the issue that Amazon is big on wage theft: https://www.google.com/amp/s/thinkprogress.org/the-supreme-court-just-rejected-a-wage-theft-suit-against-amazon-what-does-it-mean-for-other-workers-24849991afeb/amp/; https://www.google.com/amp/s/thinkprogress.org/the-supreme-c... https://consumerist.com/2015/10/28/amazon-prime-now-drivers-accuse-company-of-wage-theft; https://consumerist.com/2015/10/28/amazon-prime-now-drivers-... http://gawker.com/true-stories-of-life-as-an-amazon-worker-1002568208 http://gawker.com/true-stories-of-life-as-an-amazon-worker-1...
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > I trust Whole Foods After the systematic fraudulent overcharging and false “all natural” labelling of their in-store products, why?
  - rayiner 9y ago
    I don't imagine overcharging in some New York stores of mislabeling some things containing an artificial leveling agent was a conscious corporate policy. It's certainly not central to the business model. Trying to optimize the human labor chain, trying to obscure the source of products, etc. are conscious decisions Amazon makes at the highest levels. And it's central to the business model.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      > I don't imagine overcharging in some New York stores ...and California, just of the states where officials investigated and caught them.
      - rayiner 9y ago
        Okay. Do you think overcharging is a conscious business decision on the part of WH?
        dragonwriter 9y ago
        > Do you think overcharging is a conscious business decision on the part of WH? Honestly, I don't think it matters when the question is trust in Whole Foods. Whether the widespread systematic overcharging is due to executive malicious intent, executive neglect, or executive lack of control despite best best intent, or some shade in between or combining elements of these, it's a negative signal for trustworthiness of the organization as an organization, though some explanations are not negative for trustworthiness of executives as individuals.

28 points by uptown 9y ago

I wonder if the beer aisle is getting some of those discounts? Whole Foods has one of the best craft beer selections among the big-name stores, including BevMo and the like. (Actually spotted Cantillon on the shelf one time!) Really hope this won't change with the acquisition.

merricksb 9y ago

Discussed 4 days ago: (341 points, 219 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15094529 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15094529

emodendroket 9y ago
It was discussed in theory; now we have actual numbers.

rayiner 9y ago

Not looking forward to this at all. I trust Whole Foods--it's highly transparent. If I want to know what kind of oil they use in their prepared foods, they have a blog post on it. I don't trust Amazon, not even a little bit. I used to, back when you ran a search and it would list stuff sold by Amazon. These days, who knows what you're getting. I can deal with that for USB cables, but not food. There is also the issue that Amazon is big on wage theft: https://www.google.com/amp/s/thinkprogress.org/the-supreme-court-just-rejected-a-wage-theft-suit-against-amazon-what-does-it-mean-for-other-workers-24849991afeb/amp/; https://www.google.com/amp/s/thinkprogress.org/the-supreme-c... https://consumerist.com/2015/10/28/amazon-prime-now-drivers-accuse-company-of-wage-theft; https://consumerist.com/2015/10/28/amazon-prime-now-drivers-... http://gawker.com/true-stories-of-life-as-an-amazon-worker-1002568208 http://gawker.com/true-stories-of-life-as-an-amazon-worker-1...

dragonwriter 9y ago
> I trust Whole Foods After the systematic fraudulent overcharging and false “all natural” labelling of their in-store products, why?
- rayiner 9y ago
  I don't imagine overcharging in some New York stores of mislabeling some things containing an artificial leveling agent was a conscious corporate policy. It's certainly not central to the business model. Trying to optimize the human labor chain, trying to obscure the source of products, etc. are conscious decisions Amazon makes at the highest levels. And it's central to the business model.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > I don't imagine overcharging in some New York stores ...and California, just of the states where officials investigated and caught them.
    - rayiner 9y ago
      Okay. Do you think overcharging is a conscious business decision on the part of WH?
      - dragonwriter 9y ago
        > Do you think overcharging is a conscious business decision on the part of WH? Honestly, I don't think it matters when the question is trust in Whole Foods. Whether the widespread systematic overcharging is due to executive malicious intent, executive neglect, or executive lack of control despite best best intent, or some shade in between or combining elements of these, it's a negative signal for trustworthiness of the organization as an organization, though some explanations are not negative for trustworthiness of executives as individuals.