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> WalMart is very centrally planned. More than the USSR was at peak. By the 1980s, WalMart required UPC bar codes on everything, and a different bar code on car

> WalMart is very centrally planned. More than the USSR was at peak. By the 1980s, WalMart required UPC bar codes on everything, and a different bar code on cartons and cases. Headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas did purchasing and distribution control for the entire WalMart economy. They had central planning at a level Gosplan could only dream of. > Amazon, of course, has taken that even further. Whenever people describe WalMart or Amazon as centrally planned economies, I can't help but scoff. The idea that "retail = economy" is wildly off base. WalMart and Amazon are generally not producing anything. They are strictly distribution! What's more, it's all set in a market economy with dynamically determined market prices. This is so far from the idea of centrally planned economies as to be a ridiculous conception, yet it's so regularly used.

suifbwish 5y ago
Not to completely disagree but saying distribution is less important than production is a bit like taking apart a machine that has the minimum possible number of parts for operation and deciding some gears are more critical than others, yet if you were to remove any of them the entire machine fails. Production of goods and services is usually not as difficult as the art of efficiently distributing them. In a capitalist society, needs and wants become essentially the same thing and demands are often more virtual rather than actual as the ultimate demand for everything not being directly consumed is usually to gain more tickets/tokens/coins to potentially be eligible for more future needs/wants. The main beauty of a capitalist system is that it self propagates as there is an inherent or unspoken need for everyone to continue doing something for the system in order to not lose what has been acquired. Other systems do seem to theoretically have the potential for much greater efficiencies but defining one and actioning it are incredibly difficult, often because they are rarely actually planned and those doing the planning do not always have human rights as priority when doing so.
- creddit 5y ago
  > but saying distribution is less important than production This isn't something that I said. I said that distribution does not an economy make. I'm demonstrating the extremely limited value of calling Amazon or WalMart an economy by showing that they are not very close to what an economy is. An additional contrast that could be made is that Amazon and WalMart are generally doing extremely minimal investment as well.
  - suifbwish 5y ago
    Ok I missed where someone had called them economies. Agreed they are not. It’s interesting, the main reason why they exist is our society did not author a better system or one at all really. It’s always been assumed that capital gain is sufficient to ensure distribution.
Animats 5y ago
WalMart tells manufacturers what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, in very explicit terms. Ask anyone who sells to WalMart. "Who tells whom what to do?" - V.I. Lenin
- creddit 5y ago
  My family runs a business that sells to WalMart and I worked in merchandising in mega-scale retail briefly and this is 98% bull shit that is either done because you've bought whole hog insane narratives or are trying to fit your own. The idea that WalMart tells P&G how to make Tide is laughable.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
    That would be relevant if WalMart sold only Tide from P&G. I guess they sell more of their own brands, produced by whomever, according to their terms. Similar to what COSTCO has as 'Kirkland', and ALDI/Trader Joe's as theirs, and so on.
drewcoo 5y ago
> Whenever people describe WalMart or Amazon as centrally planned economies It's a lucky thing that nobody said that then, or that straw man wouldn't have anything to do. Full work for all straw men!
- creddit 5y ago
  The author of the comment didn’t quibble about this in their reply nor is my characterization an inordinate one. The author is making a clear comparison between the “central planning” of mega-scale retailers and Gosplan. It’s implied that the comparison is reasonable in that Amazon and WalMart are somehow equivalent to or close to the economy of the USSR or else the comparison itself was self-defeating and therefore wouldn’t have been made. It’s not a straw man at all.

suifbwish 5y ago

Not to completely disagree but saying distribution is less important than production is a bit like taking apart a machine that has the minimum possible number of parts for operation and deciding some gears are more critical than others, yet if you were to remove any of them the entire machine fails. Production of goods and services is usually not as difficult as the art of efficiently distributing them. In a capitalist society, needs and wants become essentially the same thing and demands are often more virtual rather than actual as the ultimate demand for everything not being directly consumed is usually to gain more tickets/tokens/coins to potentially be eligible for more future needs/wants. The main beauty of a capitalist system is that it self propagates as there is an inherent or unspoken need for everyone to continue doing something for the system in order to not lose what has been acquired. Other systems do seem to theoretically have the potential for much greater efficiencies but defining one and actioning it are incredibly difficult, often because they are rarely actually planned and those doing the planning do not always have human rights as priority when doing so.

creddit 5y ago
> but saying distribution is less important than production This isn't something that I said. I said that distribution does not an economy make. I'm demonstrating the extremely limited value of calling Amazon or WalMart an economy by showing that they are not very close to what an economy is. An additional contrast that could be made is that Amazon and WalMart are generally doing extremely minimal investment as well.
- suifbwish 5y ago
  Ok I missed where someone had called them economies. Agreed they are not. It’s interesting, the main reason why they exist is our society did not author a better system or one at all really. It’s always been assumed that capital gain is sufficient to ensure distribution.

Animats 5y ago

WalMart tells manufacturers what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, in very explicit terms. Ask anyone who sells to WalMart. "Who tells whom what to do?" - V.I. Lenin

creddit 5y ago
My family runs a business that sells to WalMart and I worked in merchandising in mega-scale retail briefly and this is 98% bull shit that is either done because you've bought whole hog insane narratives or are trying to fit your own. The idea that WalMart tells P&G how to make Tide is laughable.
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
  That would be relevant if WalMart sold only Tide from P&G. I guess they sell more of their own brands, produced by whomever, according to their terms. Similar to what COSTCO has as 'Kirkland', and ALDI/Trader Joe's as theirs, and so on.

drewcoo 5y ago

> Whenever people describe WalMart or Amazon as centrally planned economies It's a lucky thing that nobody said that then, or that straw man wouldn't have anything to do. Full work for all straw men!

creddit 5y ago
The author of the comment didn’t quibble about this in their reply nor is my characterization an inordinate one. The author is making a clear comparison between the “central planning” of mega-scale retailers and Gosplan. It’s implied that the comparison is reasonable in that Amazon and WalMart are somehow equivalent to or close to the economy of the USSR or else the comparison itself was self-defeating and therefore wouldn’t have been made. It’s not a straw man at all.