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Plot twist: the root cause is greed

by danparsonson 5y ago

mentos 5y ago
The root cause is oxygen. Anyone expecting any other behavior from utility maximizing entities is naive?
- danparsonson 5y ago
  I would counter that by saying anyone ascribing that mindset automatically to all humans is cynical ;-)
  - hrdwdmrbl 5y ago
    Disagree. It’s possible to start with that assumption and then design systems with that in mind.
    - danparsonson 5y ago
      Agreed, but I guess we're talking about slightly different things (and perhaps I missed the point of the 'oxygen' remark) - I was saying, Amazon's system is designed that way because Amazon are greedy (that's the root cause), and that it's cynical to say that it's just because they're human (and therefore implicitly greedy). Vaguely worded statements on my part though, I should've been clearer.
swalsh 5y ago
Allowing trusted sellers to be hijacked is not greedy behavior. Keeping 3rd sellers happy will result in less returns, happier resellers, and greater platform usage. The root cause here is organizational failure from disempowered employees. At one point Amazon had great customer service with empowered represenatives. That's not Amazon today.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Aeolun 5y ago
  > Allowing trusted sellers to be hijacked is not greedy behavior Depends entirely on how much the sellers are selling. It’s entirely possible they like the idea of making a ton of sales for a bit. It’s not their reputation that gets destroyed.
- anigbrowl 5y ago
  It is if you make more money from the hijackers, and/or from marginalizing your 'difficult' employees.
- danparsonson 5y ago
  > Allowing trusted sellers to be hijacked is not greedy behavior It can be if that's the side effect of a system designed to make selling as frictionless (and therefore lucrative) as possible. Thence, greed could be the root cause, if not the proximate cause.
reaperducer 5y ago
I posit that it's not greed. It's laziness. Why do a great job, when "good enough" is good enough for 90% of the people? That's how business works today.
- danparsonson 5y ago
  You could be right, Occam's razor and all that, but I think 'good enough' is a carefully chosen strategy tuned to maximise a bottom line rather than an accident.

Plot twist: the root cause is greed

mentos 5y ago

The root cause is oxygen. Anyone expecting any other behavior from utility maximizing entities is naive?

danparsonson 5y ago
I would counter that by saying anyone ascribing that mindset automatically to all humans is cynical ;-)
- hrdwdmrbl 5y ago
  Disagree. It’s possible to start with that assumption and then design systems with that in mind.
  - danparsonson 5y ago
    Agreed, but I guess we're talking about slightly different things (and perhaps I missed the point of the 'oxygen' remark) - I was saying, Amazon's system is designed that way because Amazon are greedy (that's the root cause), and that it's cynical to say that it's just because they're human (and therefore implicitly greedy). Vaguely worded statements on my part though, I should've been clearer.

swalsh 5y ago

Allowing trusted sellers to be hijacked is not greedy behavior. Keeping 3rd sellers happy will result in less returns, happier resellers, and greater platform usage. The root cause here is organizational failure from disempowered employees. At one point Amazon had great customer service with empowered represenatives. That's not Amazon today.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Aeolun 5y ago
> Allowing trusted sellers to be hijacked is not greedy behavior Depends entirely on how much the sellers are selling. It’s entirely possible they like the idea of making a ton of sales for a bit. It’s not their reputation that gets destroyed.
anigbrowl 5y ago
It is if you make more money from the hijackers, and/or from marginalizing your 'difficult' employees.
danparsonson 5y ago
> Allowing trusted sellers to be hijacked is not greedy behavior It can be if that's the side effect of a system designed to make selling as frictionless (and therefore lucrative) as possible. Thence, greed could be the root cause, if not the proximate cause.

reaperducer 5y ago

I posit that it's not greed. It's laziness. Why do a great job, when "good enough" is good enough for 90% of the people? That's how business works today.

danparsonson 5y ago
You could be right, Occam's razor and all that, but I think 'good enough' is a carefully chosen strategy tuned to maximise a bottom line rather than an accident.