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Sears used to be quite literally the everything store. They even sold houses. I thought amazon wasn’t quite there yet, and then I found this: https://www.amazo

by Joeri 7y ago

Sears used to be quite literally the everything store. They even sold houses. I thought amazon wasn’t quite there yet, and then I found this: https://www.amazon.com/ECOHOUSEMART-Laminated-friendly-Building-Engineered/dp/B07PNWFJ49/ https://www.amazon.com/ECOHOUSEMART-Laminated-friendly-Build...

cr0sh 7y ago
Amazon still isn't quite there - that "house kit" is offered by a third party, and I am not sure anyone rational would just drop that kind of money on a credit card for a third party on Amazon... Now, if it said "fulfilled by Amazon" - or it went to a different section of the site ("Amazon Dwellings" - I dunno) that was clearly an Amazon branded product, manufacturing and fulfillment system for houses, that'd be a different thing. I'm not sure how Sears did it way, way back when. But it was probably closer to something like a dealership, where you went inside a store and sat down and worked out the paperwork, etc - then paid the down payment or in full or whatever, then had to go "back home" to arrange shipment from the (likely train) dock or such out to your land... What I could see Amazon getting into would be shipping container houses/pods/etc - or something like small houses (in conjunction with Ikea maybe?). I know Amazon has at least one offering of a container house, but again, it's third party. What I'm envisioning would be something you just go thru a designer app to come up with the interior layout for the "pods" in the standard container sizes, then tell them where you want it to be delivered, and it arrives on your property ready to be offloaded, with a large Amazon logo on the side (looking like a standard shipping container until it is "unwrapped" or "assembled" more or less. With everything included to make it stupid simple. Heck, if the land sale could be included in it, so that all bylaws and such were taken care of (water, electrical, sewage, etc), plus all the contracts and such for cement foundations or whatnot - it would be one heck of a housing solution.
- zrobotics 7y ago
  My maternal great-grandfather bought a house from sears- apparently the process was actually pretty cool. He sent in the cashiers check (or equivalent, I do know he bought it outright) along with instructions on which train station to ship it to. Apparently it was exactly what it said on the tin- my grandmother's older brother said that they included all the fasteners. They saved the plans/instructions, and they were remarkably detailed. I'll have to see if I can track down who has them and put some scans up, it'd make an interesting blog post. About the only modification they made was adding electric- this was on a farm in the upper Midwest in the 20s,rural electrification wasn't a thing yet. Apparently they ran the lights off a generator that charged a bank of Edison Ni-Fe batteries. I do know that they didn't go into a store--the nearest Sears was 400 miles away. He did telegraph to request more details, but AFAIK the process to order the house wasn't much different than ordering anything else. I don't know what details went into authorizing payment, but I don't think there was phone service in that town at the time. Although 150k for that Amazon house seems like a ripoff, most large lumber yards will spec out a 'kit' for far less than that. I do know that that is still a thing, my brother was a manager at a Menards (Home Depot, but cheaper) and they had a selection of houses that were pre-specced and they would sell them as a kit. Although they aren't delivered as an entire kit, you go back to the store in stages to get the components.
- jplayer01 7y ago
  > Now, if it said "fulfilled by Amazon" - or it went to a different section of the site ("Amazon Dwellings" - I dunno) that was clearly an Amazon branded product, manufacturing and fulfillment system for houses, that'd be a different thing. Except you run the chance of getting a counterfeit product if it's fulfilled by Amazon - and even if it's sold by Amazon, because of the whole co-mingling thing. Can you imagine getting a counterfeit house?
kbenson 7y ago
Oh, man, imagine the shipping on that. If only is was prime. Actually, it would amuse me to no end to know someone abused the Amazon Prime warehoused by showing up with a few house's worth of these in many trucks, and Amazon ended up storing them all for free and them shipping them out for free. Who needs a warehouse when Amazon has plenty of perfectly fine ones just waiting for you? :)
- zrobotics 7y ago
  Doesn't Amazon charge for warehouse space? I would imagine that the warehousing fees for that would be insane. Although I did buy a granite 12"x18" surface plate that was FBA- I'm sure they lost on shipping that 2 day, it weights ~90lbs. I noticed that shortly after I bought that the item was no longer fulfilled by Amazon.
  - kbenson 7y ago
    > Doesn't Amazon charge for warehouse space? I would imagine that the warehousing fees for that would be insane. I guess they do.[1] Oh well. 1: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200612770?language=en-US&ref=mpbc_200627230_cont_200612770 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200612770?...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

by Joeri 7y ago

cr0sh 7y ago

Amazon still isn't quite there - that "house kit" is offered by a third party, and I am not sure anyone rational would just drop that kind of money on a credit card for a third party on Amazon... Now, if it said "fulfilled by Amazon" - or it went to a different section of the site ("Amazon Dwellings" - I dunno) that was clearly an Amazon branded product, manufacturing and fulfillment system for houses, that'd be a different thing. I'm not sure how Sears did it way, way back when. But it was probably closer to something like a dealership, where you went inside a store and sat down and worked out the paperwork, etc - then paid the down payment or in full or whatever, then had to go "back home" to arrange shipment from the (likely train) dock or such out to your land... What I could see Amazon getting into would be shipping container houses/pods/etc - or something like small houses (in conjunction with Ikea maybe?). I know Amazon has at least one offering of a container house, but again, it's third party. What I'm envisioning would be something you just go thru a designer app to come up with the interior layout for the "pods" in the standard container sizes, then tell them where you want it to be delivered, and it arrives on your property ready to be offloaded, with a large Amazon logo on the side (looking like a standard shipping container until it is "unwrapped" or "assembled" more or less. With everything included to make it stupid simple. Heck, if the land sale could be included in it, so that all bylaws and such were taken care of (water, electrical, sewage, etc), plus all the contracts and such for cement foundations or whatnot - it would be one heck of a housing solution.

zrobotics 7y ago
My maternal great-grandfather bought a house from sears- apparently the process was actually pretty cool. He sent in the cashiers check (or equivalent, I do know he bought it outright) along with instructions on which train station to ship it to. Apparently it was exactly what it said on the tin- my grandmother's older brother said that they included all the fasteners. They saved the plans/instructions, and they were remarkably detailed. I'll have to see if I can track down who has them and put some scans up, it'd make an interesting blog post. About the only modification they made was adding electric- this was on a farm in the upper Midwest in the 20s,rural electrification wasn't a thing yet. Apparently they ran the lights off a generator that charged a bank of Edison Ni-Fe batteries. I do know that they didn't go into a store--the nearest Sears was 400 miles away. He did telegraph to request more details, but AFAIK the process to order the house wasn't much different than ordering anything else. I don't know what details went into authorizing payment, but I don't think there was phone service in that town at the time. Although 150k for that Amazon house seems like a ripoff, most large lumber yards will spec out a 'kit' for far less than that. I do know that that is still a thing, my brother was a manager at a Menards (Home Depot, but cheaper) and they had a selection of houses that were pre-specced and they would sell them as a kit. Although they aren't delivered as an entire kit, you go back to the store in stages to get the components.
jplayer01 7y ago
> Now, if it said "fulfilled by Amazon" - or it went to a different section of the site ("Amazon Dwellings" - I dunno) that was clearly an Amazon branded product, manufacturing and fulfillment system for houses, that'd be a different thing. Except you run the chance of getting a counterfeit product if it's fulfilled by Amazon - and even if it's sold by Amazon, because of the whole co-mingling thing. Can you imagine getting a counterfeit house?

kbenson 7y ago

Oh, man, imagine the shipping on that. If only is was prime. Actually, it would amuse me to no end to know someone abused the Amazon Prime warehoused by showing up with a few house's worth of these in many trucks, and Amazon ended up storing them all for free and them shipping them out for free. Who needs a warehouse when Amazon has plenty of perfectly fine ones just waiting for you? :)

zrobotics 7y ago
Doesn't Amazon charge for warehouse space? I would imagine that the warehousing fees for that would be insane. Although I did buy a granite 12"x18" surface plate that was FBA- I'm sure they lost on shipping that 2 day, it weights ~90lbs. I noticed that shortly after I bought that the item was no longer fulfilled by Amazon.
- kbenson 7y ago
  > Doesn't Amazon charge for warehouse space? I would imagine that the warehousing fees for that would be insane. I guess they do.[1] Oh well. 1: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200612770?language=en-US&ref=mpbc_200627230_cont_200612770 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200612770?...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]