4 ms·
France will never stop, until it regulates the hell out of the internet. Always the same story: screw one group of people (French customers here), to protect a
by aborsy 5y ago
France will never stop, until it regulates the hell out of the internet.
Always the same story: screw one group of people (French customers here), to protect another group (local incompetent shops).
The outcome of such market distortions has been a nation losing its relative standing in the world since 1980s (following three golden decades).
It’s amazing how expensive these local shops are, how bad the products are, how bad (and rude) the customer service is, how much scam there is etc. Every time I shop in Paris, I wish there were alternatives.
- rtpg 5y agoWhat innovations are we losing from unique pricing? I think it's abundantly clear that Amazon is using its size to make shipping be basically free. It's just about scale, it's not about offering particularly better service. It's the price of books. Of shipping! If the internet will be destroyed by asking people to pay for shipping, it's honestly not that great. I always feel a bit weird about these kind of piecemeal efforts, rather than a larger coherent movement with more well-defined goals around having values beyond shareholder value and.... cheapness. But Amazon charging 1 cent for shipping of books is blatlantly disregarding the spirit, intent, and I believe letter of the law on fixed pricing for books in France.
- Bayart 5y agoAmazon making out like bandits in France because they don't have to pay any taxes thanks to our European « friends » isn't market distortion ? Dumping isn't market distortion ? Most French people, including myself, would agree that : - Books aren't a mere commodity. - Bookstores have cultural and social value, beyond their commercial nature. - Amazon is using every possible trick in the bag to distort the market to its advantage, regardless of the damage it's causing. It's almost a caricature of a scummy company. As a long time and recurring French book buyer, the supposed group being screwed over : Amazon can fuck off and shouldn't be able to be cheaper than state-subsidized postage rates regular book sellers use. If regulating those clowns causes gnashing of teeth abroad, what of it ?
- mxmel 5y agoIf most French people agreed, then the government wouldn’t need to go after Amazon then would it? Consumers always vote with their purchases.