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You ever seen that Swole Bezos picture? He's that doughy, slightly nerdy guy who transformed himself into a hard assed cutthroat. This is Amazon. Bezos obvious

You ever seen that Swole Bezos picture? He's that doughy, slightly nerdy guy who transformed himself into a hard assed cutthroat. This is Amazon. Bezos obviously has an incredible nose for business, but he's mainly shown that he's not incompetent and just by being that he's run circles around others. I've had too many bad experiences with Amazon that it tells me that his genius businessman mythology doesn't extend to the details. Went searching for a new smartphone recently. Was seconds away from spending $300 for what seemed like a new device only to see review after review from people who had been shipped poorly refurbished phones (shipped by Amazon) that would break a few months later. There's too much stuff like that. That's their own damn site, an Apple product, and it shows that people are getting regularly ripped off and they are powerless to stop it (or won't). I see that and I see them getting into groceries and healthcare and it scares me. How can they possibly keep quality up? There's too much mythology there, too much obvious greed, and not enough care that they appear to be building the world's greatest monopoly and we're patting them on the back.

gautamdivgi 9y ago
Your argument rings hollow. You are free to shop anywhere else, right? Also, amazon has provided you the capability to make an informed decision based on the reviews. I shop at amazon a lot - but not blindly. I also use other stores when the deals are right or I can just drive over and get what I want.
- paulryanrogers 9y ago
  It's admirable that Amazon allows negative reviews on its site. But that's the catch, they could change their mind. Or they could be less aggressive about stopping fake positive reviews. There isn't a good, independent source of reviews on specific listing. EDIT: Typo fixed. And full disclosure, I host reviews of my products on my own site.
  - gautamdivgi 9y ago
    Yes it could, but then my guess is that it would reduce traffic to their site quite a bit. That review system is generally the reason that online shopping works. The point is that Walmart has been more anti-competitive than amazon. I believe they have policies which discourage their vendors / resellers from hosting on AWS - http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/06/21/wal-mart-to-vendors-get-off-amazons-cloud.html http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/06/21/wal-mart-to-v... Edit: I’m not an amazon fan. I’ve had issues with their delivery and I would definitely prefer ups or fedex to them in that area. I also prefer Apple products to kindle fire series, and so on. I’m not against intelligent regulation either. I’m really against a rush to regulate or calls to regulate in the absence evidence.
kevan 9y ago
Bezos worked on Wall Street for 8 years before starting Amazon. Judging from the early employee stories, if any change happened it was Bezos mellowing after the first 5-10 years of Amazon.
adventured 9y ago
> You ever seen that Swole Bezos picture? He's that doughy, slightly nerdy guy who transformed himself into a hard assed cutthroat Except Bezos provided an extremely logical explanation for that. He transformed himself physically because he wants to live as long as possible and be physically fit enough to travel into space when it becomes possible. Bezos is 54, which means his window is closing physically, he's attempting to delay that as long as possible. Cutthroat, with what? The way he's taking on Walmart? The way he's taking on Apple? The way he's taking on Google? The way Amazon routinely gets voted as one of the best customer service companies?
- aaron-lebo 9y ago
  Never said it was wrong, just emblematic. Their customer service ratings might be high, but those ratings are inflated by the same people who, if they managed to notice that their new phone was actually refurbished will get a quick turn around on it, nevermind that they shouldn't have to deal with that at all. The customer service is also inflated because they'll screw over sellers to do that. Maybe I'm too vindictive over my really negative experience, but there's plenty of stories of them screwing over sellers. It's also a notoriously bad place to work (friends and HN stories attest to that). That stuff combined suggests a company that will do what it wants to win, cracked eggs be damned. It's admirable in a way, but it doesn't seem there's much in that company except a desire to dominate.

gautamdivgi 9y ago

Your argument rings hollow. You are free to shop anywhere else, right? Also, amazon has provided you the capability to make an informed decision based on the reviews. I shop at amazon a lot - but not blindly. I also use other stores when the deals are right or I can just drive over and get what I want.

paulryanrogers 9y ago
It's admirable that Amazon allows negative reviews on its site. But that's the catch, they could change their mind. Or they could be less aggressive about stopping fake positive reviews. There isn't a good, independent source of reviews on specific listing. EDIT: Typo fixed. And full disclosure, I host reviews of my products on my own site.
- gautamdivgi 9y ago
  Yes it could, but then my guess is that it would reduce traffic to their site quite a bit. That review system is generally the reason that online shopping works. The point is that Walmart has been more anti-competitive than amazon. I believe they have policies which discourage their vendors / resellers from hosting on AWS - http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/06/21/wal-mart-to-vendors-get-off-amazons-cloud.html http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/06/21/wal-mart-to-v... Edit: I’m not an amazon fan. I’ve had issues with their delivery and I would definitely prefer ups or fedex to them in that area. I also prefer Apple products to kindle fire series, and so on. I’m not against intelligent regulation either. I’m really against a rush to regulate or calls to regulate in the absence evidence.

kevan 9y ago

Bezos worked on Wall Street for 8 years before starting Amazon. Judging from the early employee stories, if any change happened it was Bezos mellowing after the first 5-10 years of Amazon.

adventured 9y ago

> You ever seen that Swole Bezos picture? He's that doughy, slightly nerdy guy who transformed himself into a hard assed cutthroat Except Bezos provided an extremely logical explanation for that. He transformed himself physically because he wants to live as long as possible and be physically fit enough to travel into space when it becomes possible. Bezos is 54, which means his window is closing physically, he's attempting to delay that as long as possible. Cutthroat, with what? The way he's taking on Walmart? The way he's taking on Apple? The way he's taking on Google? The way Amazon routinely gets voted as one of the best customer service companies?

aaron-lebo 9y ago
Never said it was wrong, just emblematic. Their customer service ratings might be high, but those ratings are inflated by the same people who, if they managed to notice that their new phone was actually refurbished will get a quick turn around on it, nevermind that they shouldn't have to deal with that at all. The customer service is also inflated because they'll screw over sellers to do that. Maybe I'm too vindictive over my really negative experience, but there's plenty of stories of them screwing over sellers. It's also a notoriously bad place to work (friends and HN stories attest to that). That stuff combined suggests a company that will do what it wants to win, cracked eggs be damned. It's admirable in a way, but it doesn't seem there's much in that company except a desire to dominate.