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We will never know the number of small businesses that had to shut down because unlike Amazon, they couldn't nor wouldn't indebt themselves to grow indefinitely

We will never know the number of small businesses that had to shut down because unlike Amazon, they couldn't nor wouldn't indebt themselves to grow indefinitely (aka survive) The amount of talent and efficiency in the economy that Amazon has crushed..

shadowgovt 4y ago
This implies competitors couldn't just go work for Amazon. I'd say "crushed" is more than a bit of an exaggeration.
iamsomewalrus 4y ago
i think this is too pessimistic. via FBA they've also enabled thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of small businesses and a cottage industry of others that have formed around them.
onphonenow 4y ago
The "efficiency" that amazon has "crushed". Is this serious? They offered at home COVID PCR tests. The normal timeline was you'd take it and drop it off at 5PM at your UPS store. By 10AM-11AM (Pacific) the next day they had results. Along the way you had full tracking. In transit, at lab etc. Registering the thing was a photo of the barcode. We had major medical providers getting paid major money that would take a WEEK (!!) to get results back. I saw on my insurance they were charging something like $289 per test because the person that picked them up was a "medical professional". So despite millions / billions, I was getting better service from my $39 amazon test. This test included 2 day delivery (free) to me, it included priority overnight delivery back to amazon + lab work + web tools etc. They must have (smartly) located the lab near UPS worldship. Same with shipping and logistics. The USPS, with a guaranteed nationwide monopoly on certain services struggles to get me stuff on time. Fedex is even worse for some reason. Amazon is an absolute machine where I am. We have same day, next day and two day delivery that is HIGHLY reliable and efficient. We can drop stuff off back at Kohls etc without even packing it. We can pickup from Amazon lockers, or have them deliver inside our house if we want. When folks talk about how inefficient amazon is I want to know what they are comparing them to. Fedex? Some walmart warehouse?
- lupire 4y ago
  Until berry recently, USPS/FedEx/UPS was how Amazon delivered.
  - JCharante 4y ago
    and then Amazon had to innovate and integrate last-mile in order to save costs and offer better service to their customers.
- mijowi 4y ago
  I think it’s not efficiency of getting a product to a customer that Amazon has squashed, rather the efficiency of innovation that comes with competition.
  - spaced-out 4y ago
    Amazon still has competition, both from brick and mortar stores that will let you actually touch the product and go home with it the same day, and from other online stores that can also ship stuff to you within a few days. What does Amazon sell that you cannot get something similar to from some other store? They just provide a better experience.
    - plankers 4y ago
      they also provide an experience with far larger externalities (e.g. a massive fleet of vans wandering around and polluting all day) that the customer isn't paying for. i wonder why they're so popular
      - criley2 4y ago
        Is the fleet of polluting vans worse than every single delivery target hopping in their polluting cars and driving to the store (the model that amazon displaced?) I don't think so. I think delivery has been demonstrated to be significantly "greener" than everyone individually driving to each store one by one.
onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
It's not clear to me that Amazon is yet bad for consumers - but it seems inevitable that they will ridiculously abuse their dominance in the future.
- themacguffinman 4y ago
  If they do, then they should be stopped & punished. What is this, the Department of PreCrime?
bergenty 4y ago
Why are small businesses so good? Yes they offer a living for people but objectively there is scant choice, you’re paying for overhead and support is inconvenient or awkward.
- JasserInicide 4y ago
  Because I want to buy from and support someone locally and not browse through thousands of Chinese knockoffs.
  - bergenty 4y ago
    Then selectively pick the American made products like a lot of us do.
- lethologica 4y ago
  Because they typically actually know their products and care about customer service. Give me a face to face interaction with a person that understand what I’m after over Amazon any day of the week.
primax 4y ago
Honestly if you're talking about efficiency then it is Amazon that crushes at efficiency, which is why they can outcompete so hard.

shadowgovt 4y ago

This implies competitors couldn't just go work for Amazon. I'd say "crushed" is more than a bit of an exaggeration.

iamsomewalrus 4y ago

i think this is too pessimistic. via FBA they've also enabled thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of small businesses and a cottage industry of others that have formed around them.

onphonenow 4y ago

The "efficiency" that amazon has "crushed". Is this serious? They offered at home COVID PCR tests. The normal timeline was you'd take it and drop it off at 5PM at your UPS store. By 10AM-11AM (Pacific) the next day they had results. Along the way you had full tracking. In transit, at lab etc. Registering the thing was a photo of the barcode. We had major medical providers getting paid major money that would take a WEEK (!!) to get results back. I saw on my insurance they were charging something like $289 per test because the person that picked them up was a "medical professional". So despite millions / billions, I was getting better service from my $39 amazon test. This test included 2 day delivery (free) to me, it included priority overnight delivery back to amazon + lab work + web tools etc. They must have (smartly) located the lab near UPS worldship. Same with shipping and logistics. The USPS, with a guaranteed nationwide monopoly on certain services struggles to get me stuff on time. Fedex is even worse for some reason. Amazon is an absolute machine where I am. We have same day, next day and two day delivery that is HIGHLY reliable and efficient. We can drop stuff off back at Kohls etc without even packing it. We can pickup from Amazon lockers, or have them deliver inside our house if we want. When folks talk about how inefficient amazon is I want to know what they are comparing them to. Fedex? Some walmart warehouse?

lupire 4y ago
Until berry recently, USPS/FedEx/UPS was how Amazon delivered.
- JCharante 4y ago
  and then Amazon had to innovate and integrate last-mile in order to save costs and offer better service to their customers.
mijowi 4y ago
I think it’s not efficiency of getting a product to a customer that Amazon has squashed, rather the efficiency of innovation that comes with competition.
- spaced-out 4y ago
  Amazon still has competition, both from brick and mortar stores that will let you actually touch the product and go home with it the same day, and from other online stores that can also ship stuff to you within a few days. What does Amazon sell that you cannot get something similar to from some other store? They just provide a better experience.
  - plankers 4y ago
    they also provide an experience with far larger externalities (e.g. a massive fleet of vans wandering around and polluting all day) that the customer isn't paying for. i wonder why they're so popular
    - criley2 4y ago
      Is the fleet of polluting vans worse than every single delivery target hopping in their polluting cars and driving to the store (the model that amazon displaced?) I don't think so. I think delivery has been demonstrated to be significantly "greener" than everyone individually driving to each store one by one.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago

It's not clear to me that Amazon is yet bad for consumers - but it seems inevitable that they will ridiculously abuse their dominance in the future.

themacguffinman 4y ago
If they do, then they should be stopped & punished. What is this, the Department of PreCrime?

bergenty 4y ago

Why are small businesses so good? Yes they offer a living for people but objectively there is scant choice, you’re paying for overhead and support is inconvenient or awkward.

JasserInicide 4y ago
Because I want to buy from and support someone locally and not browse through thousands of Chinese knockoffs.
- bergenty 4y ago
  Then selectively pick the American made products like a lot of us do.
lethologica 4y ago
Because they typically actually know their products and care about customer service. Give me a face to face interaction with a person that understand what I’m after over Amazon any day of the week.

primax 4y ago

Honestly if you're talking about efficiency then it is Amazon that crushes at efficiency, which is why they can outcompete so hard.