7 ms·

The mall only has 3 stores

83 points by Amagest 4y ago

TylerE 4y ago
Seems like this is glossing over some things...like how expensive air travel was prior to dereg. In the '70s it wasn't unusual to see fares (numerically) equal to a modern budget airline...but a dollar was worth a lot more back then. The average new car purchase in 1975 was $4,900.
- BeetleB 4y ago
  > The average new car purchase in 1975 was $4,900. That's $28K today. Even in 2019, before the pandemic, the average price of a new car was $39K.[1] Definitely one industry that hasn't gotten cheaper. [1] https://mediaroom.kbb.com/2020-01-03-Average-New-Vehicle-Prices-Up-Nearly-2-Year-Over-Year-in-December-2019-According-to-Kelley-Blue-Book https://mediaroom.kbb.com/2020-01-03-Average-New-Vehicle-Pri...
  - ipython 4y ago
    Compare the standard equipment between the 70s car and today - especially when it comes to comfort and safety - and you’ll see you’re buying a lot more for your $$ today than 50 years ago
    - BeetleB 4y ago
      Not disagreeing - just saying it doesn't help OP's comment.
    - bobthepanda 4y ago
      The warranties alone would make a modern car a better deal.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    How many giant SUVs and pickup trucks were part of the 1975 price? How many miles was a 1975 car expected to last without major repair? Today, it is a minimum 200k miles.
CyberDildonics 4y ago
This has nothing to do with malls, stores or technology, it's just commenting on consolidation in various industries.
- sli 4y ago
  The title of the article could hardly be any more clearly a reference to exactly that.
  - CyberDildonics 4y ago
    It would be more clear if the title was about what the article was about.
    - m0llusk 4y ago
      It's a metaphor. Buying things is like going to the mall. Finding only three stores at the mall is like finding a majority of consumer items offered by a few sprawling conglomerates.
      - CyberDildonics 4y ago
        It's in a title so it's a metaphor with no context, which leaves it as nonsense or clickbait, whichever you want to call it. Titles are the time to be literal, how does anyone know what the content is actually going to be about?
dragontamer 4y ago
I honestly don't know the last time I had Pizza Hut, Dominos, or Papa Johns. There are about 3 or 4 local Pizza shops close by me, and I just call them and stop by to pickup pizza when I want it. The last chain I've visited is... Little Caesars, but I don't even bother ordering from them because most of the time they have one "Hot and Ready" for me. So there's no need for me to order ahead. Like, I got this one Indian / Italian fusion restaurant that gives me Chicken Tika Masala Pizza. And the other way, there's _ANOTHER_ Indian/Italian fusion Pizza restaurant that cooks every Pizza on Nan-bread. Why would I go to a boring ol' chain when there's crazy stuff like that nearby? > “Pizza Pizza” … where are’t thou? Little Caesars really is that little compared to its giant rivals Do... they even understand Little Caesar's business model and/or offering? There's literally no need to ever order ahead. Of course there's no "online sales" of Little Caesar. ------- Oh right: and my work, when we do Pizza days, uses Costco Pizza. Based on my experience at Costco, I'd say that they're pretty busy. Starting off the article so incredibly incorrect about the Pizza market / industry makes me less-likely to believe the rest of the article.
- mcculley 4y ago
  I’m not sure the claims are incorrect. I live in a great downtown with lots of unique local pizza places. But just 30 minutes in any direction are suburbs that have only chains. My situation is rare in terms of total pizza dollars spent.
  - karaterobot 4y ago
    > But just 30 minutes in any direction are suburbs that have only chains. That would be weird if true. I've lived in many suburbs, and there were always quite a few smaller pizza restaurants. I live in a suburb now, and let me check Doordash... 39 places where I can get a pizza, not counting Dominos, Little Caesars, MOD pizza, Papa John's, or Pizza Hut (which are also options).
  - uxp100 4y ago
    Interesting. The suburbs by me are thick with independent pizza restaurants. And small towns seem way more likely to have a mediocre independent pizza place than a chain. Unlike Subway or McDonald’s which do show up in pretty rural locations, I’ve never seen a Pizza Hut in a town of 500 people. But the data is apparently about Online pizza sales, so the independents, who you just call on the phone, wouldn’t be included no matter what.
dreadlordbone 4y ago
The article argues against deregulation and then cites a Delta Airlines ad that argues that the form of airline deregulation in the 70s is actually increased deregulation. I don't really understand the point trying to be made.
- TylerE 4y ago
  It's typical substack fluff trying to look important by including lots of pretty graphics.
- scarface74 4y ago
  And I haven’t heard anyone seriously argue that flying is worse or less accessible now than it was before deregulation. AT&T is definitely not a monopoly. There are three major carriers with their own networks and they divested their entertainment assets earlier this year - because they failed in the market.
  - reillyse 4y ago
    Flying is way way way worse. The business class offering is now equal to the old economy offering (alcohol, food and space to relax) and the economy offering is now some weird hunger games event where you are pushed to compete for who gets on first, who gets to put a carry on bag in the overhead with everything nickel and dimed to the nth. I literally hate traveling domestic US airlines.
    - bluGill 4y ago
      Huh? Prices are much less than the 1970s, despite all the inflation since. Sure you get less luxury for the dollar, but you can still fly first class if you have money.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      And how many people could actually afford to fly business? Economy class and price differentiating didn’t really start until after deregulation. For the occasional traveler, it’s much more attainable. For the frequent traveler like me (see my other comment), I have the choice to get credit cards with airline I frequent that gives me airport lounge access, priority boarding, free checked bags, upgrades etc. I get priority boarding class 4 out of 8 and free luggage with a $99 annual fee card with American. While I do pay a $500 Annual Fee for a high end Amex Delta for lounge access, priority boarding, one free up to first class companion ticket, free bag check, etc. But with lounge access to Delta lounges, Priority Pass lounges and Amex Centurion lounges with free alcohol, good with not drinking a few hours on the plane.
lotsofpulp 4y ago
> AT&T isn’t just a telecommunications company … after a recent $85 billion dollar merger with Time Warner (which even the Trump administration sued to stop) it now owns TV studios like Warner Bros and New Line Cinema., online streaming services like HBO, channels like CNN and Discovery, and satellite providers like DirecTV. This is not true. ATT and Warner Bros Discovery are two separate publicly listed companies. And ATT took a huge loss on the original Warner Bros deal. ATT does own 70% of DirecTV, but also took a huge loss on that deal. So many bad moves in the last 15 years that they are significantly behind T-Mobile, Verizon, and Comcast in market cap.
ethagknight 4y ago
>>Americans think they have a lot of choice - but most of the brands they buy are wholly or partially owned by only a handful of companies. I mean, what? Sure, if I'm limited to only choosing from corporations. I can list off several local and regional pizza chains in my city, without even including broader restaurants that also serve pizza. Flights? I feel like American, United, delta, southwest, frontier, Alaska, JetBlue, Allegiant plus numerous smaller specialty airlines... that's a reasonable amount of choice for a business as complex as passenger air travel. Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Autozone, Dollar General, Publix, Trader Joe's, Aldi.. just because Walmart competes across multiple business lines doesn't mean they are the only option. Att is definitely a whale, but there are still options. most cities will have a cable provider, a few fiber entrants. 5g fixed internet service, served to you by Verizon's network of... privately owned towers. No choice except for T-Mobile, Verizon, sat options(?), MVNOs which are a weird bird in this case. I'm so confused what this article is trying to communicate. Walmart is the only Walmart except for Target and also maybe Amazon? What's the story?
- AtlasBarfed 4y ago
  It's about all markets being cartels (at best) viewed from market share perspectives. These aren't arbitrarily constructed market views. They are "industry standard" defined segments analyzed by MBAs, marketing, operations, etc. Do you disagree that media is controlled by three to four megacorps? That mobile telecom is controlled by three? That internet search is a monopoly? That there are only two mobile OSs that matter? That processed food are dominated by two or three companies, soda by two companies, healthcare by two (if you're lucky in your region), etc etc etc. CPUs, Video cards, DRAM. Beer and liquors. Even commodities like agriculture are surprisingly controlled, because ADM and Cargill position themselves at key rent extraction points in the food supply chain.
  - ethagknight 4y ago
    My point is, the author grossly exaggerates the problem. There are large players dominating every industry (for now, those change out over time), and then there's myriad smaller players in most industries. I don't find anything unusual about a concentrated group of power players with the best offering at the moment gaining majority of market share, and a diversified group of secondary players that aren't as competitive. I don't know anything about video cards, but here's the Wikipedia List of video card manufacturers. I assume some of these are not "real" but there's a lot of brands I recognize in that list. Asrock,Asus,AMD,Biostar,Chaintech,Club 3D,Diamond Multimedia,ECS,ELSA Technology, EVGA Corporation, Foxconn, Gainward, Gigabyte Technology, HIS, Hercules Computer Technology, Inc, Leadtek, Matrox, Nvidia, MSI, Palit, PNY, Point of View, PowerColor, S3 Graphics, SapphireTechnology, SPARKLE,XFX,Zotac You may not want the inferior video cards manufactured by some of these players, but that's a different argument.
powera 4y ago
This is full of fake-news and long-debunked stories. The "five companies that control media" lists always have ten-plus companies on it. The "pizza is controlled by three companies" data appears to be the author's own invention.
scarface74 4y ago
> Support innovative, scrappy competitors. If it works for your budget, why not fly JetBlue instead of United? Between doing the digital nomad thing flying across the US and flying for business 6-8 times a year, over the next year, I’ll probably be taking 30+ flights next year. Even before we started nomadding, I did over a dozen flights this past year. JetBlue and the other smaller airlines nickel and dime you for everything - seat assignment, carryon luggage, etc. When I fly Delta (with the Amex Delta Reserve Card), I have access to an extensive airport lounge network with free food and alcoholic drinks), free checked bags, priority boarding, and I can choose my seat without paying extra. It’s just a better experience. I personally don’t have the high end card with American or United with lounge access. But even with those I don’t get nickel and dimed and I get priority boarding and free luggage check. Hotels are the same - Hyatts, Hiltons and Marriotts give you a lot better experience than your mom and pop hotels. Even at lower end Hiltons like Homewood Suites and Home2Suites. And then that’s not even to mention the benefits of loyalty programs. > Or buy the Fairphone instead of a stock Android device And then you also get a slower device with a much worse user experience. People don’t choose the evil monopolist because they are forced to. People chose to go to Google because it was a much better choice. People watch Disney Marvel over an Indy film with amateur actors cosplaying because it’s better. Who would choose Little Caesar’s over even Papa Johns?
- veridies 4y ago
  I agree with most of what you said, but as someone who recently switched from a Pixel 6 to a Fairphone 3, I just wanted to speak up for it. At this point, a phone is pretty much a phone, and I have no meaningful difference in UX experience. I mostly bought this one because I was quoted $300 for a screen replacement, and figured I'd rather have something that I can cheaply fix myself next time I drop it.
- shortstuffsushi 4y ago
  A couple of thoughts - The Delta Amex appears to have an annual fee of $550. Not sure what the cost over the various nickels and dimes are, but for most of us who don't fly often, I suspect they're cheaper. Frequently flyers like yourself may find more value in their programs. I suspect the same goes for hotels, although I'm curious what sort of things you're counting towards your "better experience" with the larger chains that the "mom and pops" aren't offering, in my (limited) experience, the smaller places are often better, because they can't afford to lose the business and "go the extra mile." I'm not super familiar with the Fairphones, but it seems you'd be more likely to have a better experience on (eg) FDroid, which is without the Google bloat. I will admit, I have not tried it, though. To the second half of that though, re:Disney/Marvel - they definitely have a bigger budget toward huge actions shots, but storywise, they are often pretty thin, imo. For pizza - it seems this will vary hugely per person. For instance, my favorite pizza, across all I've ever tried, is still a frozen Jack's pizza. Not quite the cheapest available, but very close. I guess my point is, the more expensive options can definitely have an appeal for various, valid reasons, but that doesn't invalidate the cheaper options as maybe "better" options for some people.
deleted 4y ago
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nitwit005 4y ago
The pizza example only includes the websites of the big pizza delivery firms, and the delivery apps: > This analysis is based on over 500,000 transactions from Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, UberEats, DoorDash, Postmates, and Grubhub (including Yelp, Seamless, Eat24, and Tapingo). https://trends.edison.tech/research/pizza-delivery-sales.html https://trends.edison.tech/research/pizza-delivery-sales.htm... If you only include the large firms in your data, it's not surprising you'll only see large firms in the result.
- rhaway84773 4y ago
  Do most people buy pizzas online from smaller stores on their own websites or one of the major delivery apps? I suspect it would be the latter.
  - bluedino 4y ago
    I use the websites for Jets, Cottage Inn, Hungry Howies, and whatever our smaller shops are.
  - jcranmer 4y ago
    I'll admit that I may not be typical, but I've always attempted to use the website of a small retailer over some aggregator service if possible.
- scarface74 4y ago
  My son worked for a local pizza shop in high school and I once did free tech support for the owner (family friend). There are plenty of SaaS platforms geared toward independent shops that make them feature competitive with the big boys
  - nunez 4y ago
    ironically, the only platform i can think of in this space is Slice
- CivBase 4y ago
jw14 4y ago
What is this doing on the front page?
- moneywoes 4y ago
  Seems like manipulation
gweinberg 4y ago
A more accurate title would be, "Sure the mall seems to have like 100 stores, because it does. But all of them except 8 are owned by the same big 3 parent companies. And by 3 I mean 12"
- ethagknight 4y ago
  Yes, plus even a mall usually has a few main anchors and then a bunch of little stores. So maybe "the mall only has 3 anchors"? You mean to tell me Foot locker and Lady Foot Locker are owned by the same people???
- bluedino 4y ago
  Remember the jewelry stores that used to be in the mall (all of ours closed)? Jared, JB Robinson, Kay, LeRoy's, Osterman And more. All owned by the same company. Ours were in the center of the mall so you had one on each wing.
Kronopath 4y ago
That pizza graph is extremely misleading. It shows only online pizza sales, not in-person or phone sales. Of course that would be totally dominated by big brands, your local pizza shop can’t afford to develop a website or app for their business alone. But they still take calls, pick-ups, and dine-ins.
- KptMarchewa 4y ago
  Seems like a comment from 2019. To sell online, pizza place needs just to create account on uber eats or door dash.
  - Raidion 4y ago
    But a spot that does primarily in person sales before 2020 won't make a huge pivot to online sales just because they open a website. I'm a software dev, I own a Fitbit and Alexa's, I still just call the local pizza place. It's just as fast as most apps and means better margins for a local businesses.
  - halpmeh 4y ago
    Selling on door dash or uber eats destroys the pizza business model. Pizza is one of the only foods that is profitable to deliver. A pizza is extremely cheap to produce with markup that can be in excess of 1000%. This allows the pizza maker to pay a driver to deliver the pizza. The driver doesn't make anywhere near the cut Uber takes from each order.
    - jldugger 4y ago
      > pizza is extremely cheap to produce with markup that can be in excess of 1000%. This is true, and more: pizza is well suited to delivery versus other foods. For example, french fries age quickly, becoming unappealing in 10 minutes[1]. Chicken katsu ("chicken cutlets") travels so poorly my local shop sells them to go uncut. Between the The end result is that Dominos Pizza Inc outperformed GOOG in the past 5y[2] Unfortunately, Pizza's viability and profitability in delivery service also undercuts your argument. That mom & pop Curry Pizza place someone mentioned _is_ on ubereats. I spent 15 minutes looking for a pizza place near me that wasnt on uber and failed. Even places that normally don't deliver are on it: Pasqually's is a ghost kitchen selling pizza and wings that is just Chuck E Cheese rebranded[3]. The margins are so high the logic is pretty simple: selling a pizza for only 500% profit is better than no profit at all. [1]: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/772775254/episode-946-fries-of-the-future https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/772775254/episode-946-fries-o... [2]: https://g.co/finance/DPZ:NYSE?window=5Y&comparison=NASDAQ%3AGOOG https://g.co/finance/DPZ:NYSE?window=5Y&comparison=NASDAQ%3A... [3]: https://onezero.medium.com/the-artisanal-pizza-you-ordered-might-secretly-be-chuck-e-cheese-afd3744acd3c https://onezero.medium.com/the-artisanal-pizza-you-ordered-m...
dukeofdoom 4y ago
Reminds me of the mall I went to near Dubai, where every store sold gold. Like 20 stores just selling gold. The mall probably had more gold than a small country.
- umeshunni 4y ago
  You mean the Gold Souk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Gold_Souk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Gold_Souk
  - dukeofdoom 4y ago
    no it was a mall in Sharjah
- bluedino 4y ago
  Like bars of gold?
  - dukeofdoom 4y ago
    Gold jewelry
steve76 4y ago
esparrohack 4y ago
Wow. So half of you are Dominos? I hate Dominos. And Pizza Hut too I’m on Team Papa John but we’re dead last rn
nunez 4y ago
can't speak to pizza; can speak to airlines airline consolidation is largely driven by razor thin profit margins (low ticket prices, stratospherically high capital costs). one bad summer can knock an airline out of profitability forever. consolidation is a big reason why i can fly to NYC from Houston for less than $300 round-trip but is also a big reason why flying with anyone but United is almost guaranteed to be a high-misery trip (because hubbing is extremely efficient compared to point-to-point or waypoints).
- drewcoo 4y ago
  Clearly, airlines need better lobbyists if one bad summer means the end. https://viewfromthewing.com/why-are-airline-lobbyists-so-bad-at-defending-airlines/ https://viewfromthewing.com/why-are-airline-lobbyists-so-bad... My guess is that the status quo helps consolidate and that helps the monied interests behind the scenes. Or they'd make sure the industry had a parachute, so to speak.
  - nunez 4y ago
    Airlines and their unions (there are many) have amazing lobbyists! Well, the big ones anyway! A bad summer won't end legacy airlines (the big ones, like American or Air Canada), but you can bet on mass furloughs. Regional airlines are a different story. It feels like one bites the dust every few years despite getting flow from the legacies.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

83 points by Amagest 4y ago

Seems like this is glossing over some things...like how expensive air travel was prior to dereg. In the '70s it wasn't unusual to see fares (numerically) equal to a modern budget airline...but a dollar was worth a lot more back then. The average new car purchase in 1975 was $4,900.

BeetleB 4y ago
> The average new car purchase in 1975 was $4,900. That's $28K today. Even in 2019, before the pandemic, the average price of a new car was $39K.[1] Definitely one industry that hasn't gotten cheaper. [1] https://mediaroom.kbb.com/2020-01-03-Average-New-Vehicle-Prices-Up-Nearly-2-Year-Over-Year-in-December-2019-According-to-Kelley-Blue-Book https://mediaroom.kbb.com/2020-01-03-Average-New-Vehicle-Pri...
- ipython 4y ago
  Compare the standard equipment between the 70s car and today - especially when it comes to comfort and safety - and you’ll see you’re buying a lot more for your $$ today than 50 years ago
  - BeetleB 4y ago
    Not disagreeing - just saying it doesn't help OP's comment.
  - bobthepanda 4y ago
    The warranties alone would make a modern car a better deal.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  How many giant SUVs and pickup trucks were part of the 1975 price? How many miles was a 1975 car expected to last without major repair? Today, it is a minimum 200k miles.

CyberDildonics 4y ago

This has nothing to do with malls, stores or technology, it's just commenting on consolidation in various industries.

sli 4y ago
The title of the article could hardly be any more clearly a reference to exactly that.
- CyberDildonics 4y ago
  It would be more clear if the title was about what the article was about.
  - m0llusk 4y ago
    It's a metaphor. Buying things is like going to the mall. Finding only three stores at the mall is like finding a majority of consumer items offered by a few sprawling conglomerates.
    - CyberDildonics 4y ago
      It's in a title so it's a metaphor with no context, which leaves it as nonsense or clickbait, whichever you want to call it. Titles are the time to be literal, how does anyone know what the content is actually going to be about?

dragontamer 4y ago

I honestly don't know the last time I had Pizza Hut, Dominos, or Papa Johns. There are about 3 or 4 local Pizza shops close by me, and I just call them and stop by to pickup pizza when I want it. The last chain I've visited is... Little Caesars, but I don't even bother ordering from them because most of the time they have one "Hot and Ready" for me. So there's no need for me to order ahead. Like, I got this one Indian / Italian fusion restaurant that gives me Chicken Tika Masala Pizza. And the other way, there's _ANOTHER_ Indian/Italian fusion Pizza restaurant that cooks every Pizza on Nan-bread. Why would I go to a boring ol' chain when there's crazy stuff like that nearby? > “Pizza Pizza” … where are’t thou? Little Caesars really is that little compared to its giant rivals Do... they even understand Little Caesar's business model and/or offering? There's literally no need to ever order ahead. Of course there's no "online sales" of Little Caesar. ------- Oh right: and my work, when we do Pizza days, uses Costco Pizza. Based on my experience at Costco, I'd say that they're pretty busy. Starting off the article so incredibly incorrect about the Pizza market / industry makes me less-likely to believe the rest of the article.

mcculley 4y ago
I’m not sure the claims are incorrect. I live in a great downtown with lots of unique local pizza places. But just 30 minutes in any direction are suburbs that have only chains. My situation is rare in terms of total pizza dollars spent.
- karaterobot 4y ago
  > But just 30 minutes in any direction are suburbs that have only chains. That would be weird if true. I've lived in many suburbs, and there were always quite a few smaller pizza restaurants. I live in a suburb now, and let me check Doordash... 39 places where I can get a pizza, not counting Dominos, Little Caesars, MOD pizza, Papa John's, or Pizza Hut (which are also options).
- uxp100 4y ago
  Interesting. The suburbs by me are thick with independent pizza restaurants. And small towns seem way more likely to have a mediocre independent pizza place than a chain. Unlike Subway or McDonald’s which do show up in pretty rural locations, I’ve never seen a Pizza Hut in a town of 500 people. But the data is apparently about Online pizza sales, so the independents, who you just call on the phone, wouldn’t be included no matter what.

dreadlordbone 4y ago

The article argues against deregulation and then cites a Delta Airlines ad that argues that the form of airline deregulation in the 70s is actually increased deregulation. I don't really understand the point trying to be made.

TylerE 4y ago
It's typical substack fluff trying to look important by including lots of pretty graphics.
scarface74 4y ago
And I haven’t heard anyone seriously argue that flying is worse or less accessible now than it was before deregulation. AT&T is definitely not a monopoly. There are three major carriers with their own networks and they divested their entertainment assets earlier this year - because they failed in the market.
- reillyse 4y ago
  Flying is way way way worse. The business class offering is now equal to the old economy offering (alcohol, food and space to relax) and the economy offering is now some weird hunger games event where you are pushed to compete for who gets on first, who gets to put a carry on bag in the overhead with everything nickel and dimed to the nth. I literally hate traveling domestic US airlines.
  - bluGill 4y ago
    Huh? Prices are much less than the 1970s, despite all the inflation since. Sure you get less luxury for the dollar, but you can still fly first class if you have money.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    And how many people could actually afford to fly business? Economy class and price differentiating didn’t really start until after deregulation. For the occasional traveler, it’s much more attainable. For the frequent traveler like me (see my other comment), I have the choice to get credit cards with airline I frequent that gives me airport lounge access, priority boarding, free checked bags, upgrades etc. I get priority boarding class 4 out of 8 and free luggage with a $99 annual fee card with American. While I do pay a $500 Annual Fee for a high end Amex Delta for lounge access, priority boarding, one free up to first class companion ticket, free bag check, etc. But with lounge access to Delta lounges, Priority Pass lounges and Amex Centurion lounges with free alcohol, good with not drinking a few hours on the plane.

lotsofpulp 4y ago

> AT&T isn’t just a telecommunications company … after a recent $85 billion dollar merger with Time Warner (which even the Trump administration sued to stop) it now owns TV studios like Warner Bros and New Line Cinema., online streaming services like HBO, channels like CNN and Discovery, and satellite providers like DirecTV. This is not true. ATT and Warner Bros Discovery are two separate publicly listed companies. And ATT took a huge loss on the original Warner Bros deal. ATT does own 70% of DirecTV, but also took a huge loss on that deal. So many bad moves in the last 15 years that they are significantly behind T-Mobile, Verizon, and Comcast in market cap.

ethagknight 4y ago

>>Americans think they have a lot of choice - but most of the brands they buy are wholly or partially owned by only a handful of companies. I mean, what? Sure, if I'm limited to only choosing from corporations. I can list off several local and regional pizza chains in my city, without even including broader restaurants that also serve pizza. Flights? I feel like American, United, delta, southwest, frontier, Alaska, JetBlue, Allegiant plus numerous smaller specialty airlines... that's a reasonable amount of choice for a business as complex as passenger air travel. Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Autozone, Dollar General, Publix, Trader Joe's, Aldi.. just because Walmart competes across multiple business lines doesn't mean they are the only option. Att is definitely a whale, but there are still options. most cities will have a cable provider, a few fiber entrants. 5g fixed internet service, served to you by Verizon's network of... privately owned towers. No choice except for T-Mobile, Verizon, sat options(?), MVNOs which are a weird bird in this case. I'm so confused what this article is trying to communicate. Walmart is the only Walmart except for Target and also maybe Amazon? What's the story?

AtlasBarfed 4y ago
It's about all markets being cartels (at best) viewed from market share perspectives. These aren't arbitrarily constructed market views. They are "industry standard" defined segments analyzed by MBAs, marketing, operations, etc. Do you disagree that media is controlled by three to four megacorps? That mobile telecom is controlled by three? That internet search is a monopoly? That there are only two mobile OSs that matter? That processed food are dominated by two or three companies, soda by two companies, healthcare by two (if you're lucky in your region), etc etc etc. CPUs, Video cards, DRAM. Beer and liquors. Even commodities like agriculture are surprisingly controlled, because ADM and Cargill position themselves at key rent extraction points in the food supply chain.
- ethagknight 4y ago
  My point is, the author grossly exaggerates the problem. There are large players dominating every industry (for now, those change out over time), and then there's myriad smaller players in most industries. I don't find anything unusual about a concentrated group of power players with the best offering at the moment gaining majority of market share, and a diversified group of secondary players that aren't as competitive. I don't know anything about video cards, but here's the Wikipedia List of video card manufacturers. I assume some of these are not "real" but there's a lot of brands I recognize in that list. Asrock,Asus,AMD,Biostar,Chaintech,Club 3D,Diamond Multimedia,ECS,ELSA Technology, EVGA Corporation, Foxconn, Gainward, Gigabyte Technology, HIS, Hercules Computer Technology, Inc, Leadtek, Matrox, Nvidia, MSI, Palit, PNY, Point of View, PowerColor, S3 Graphics, SapphireTechnology, SPARKLE,XFX,Zotac You may not want the inferior video cards manufactured by some of these players, but that's a different argument.

powera 4y ago

This is full of fake-news and long-debunked stories. The "five companies that control media" lists always have ten-plus companies on it. The "pizza is controlled by three companies" data appears to be the author's own invention.

scarface74 4y ago

> Support innovative, scrappy competitors. If it works for your budget, why not fly JetBlue instead of United? Between doing the digital nomad thing flying across the US and flying for business 6-8 times a year, over the next year, I’ll probably be taking 30+ flights next year. Even before we started nomadding, I did over a dozen flights this past year. JetBlue and the other smaller airlines nickel and dime you for everything - seat assignment, carryon luggage, etc. When I fly Delta (with the Amex Delta Reserve Card), I have access to an extensive airport lounge network with free food and alcoholic drinks), free checked bags, priority boarding, and I can choose my seat without paying extra. It’s just a better experience. I personally don’t have the high end card with American or United with lounge access. But even with those I don’t get nickel and dimed and I get priority boarding and free luggage check. Hotels are the same - Hyatts, Hiltons and Marriotts give you a lot better experience than your mom and pop hotels. Even at lower end Hiltons like Homewood Suites and Home2Suites. And then that’s not even to mention the benefits of loyalty programs. > Or buy the Fairphone instead of a stock Android device And then you also get a slower device with a much worse user experience. People don’t choose the evil monopolist because they are forced to. People chose to go to Google because it was a much better choice. People watch Disney Marvel over an Indy film with amateur actors cosplaying because it’s better. Who would choose Little Caesar’s over even Papa Johns?

veridies 4y ago
I agree with most of what you said, but as someone who recently switched from a Pixel 6 to a Fairphone 3, I just wanted to speak up for it. At this point, a phone is pretty much a phone, and I have no meaningful difference in UX experience. I mostly bought this one because I was quoted $300 for a screen replacement, and figured I'd rather have something that I can cheaply fix myself next time I drop it.
shortstuffsushi 4y ago
A couple of thoughts - The Delta Amex appears to have an annual fee of $550. Not sure what the cost over the various nickels and dimes are, but for most of us who don't fly often, I suspect they're cheaper. Frequently flyers like yourself may find more value in their programs. I suspect the same goes for hotels, although I'm curious what sort of things you're counting towards your "better experience" with the larger chains that the "mom and pops" aren't offering, in my (limited) experience, the smaller places are often better, because they can't afford to lose the business and "go the extra mile." I'm not super familiar with the Fairphones, but it seems you'd be more likely to have a better experience on (eg) FDroid, which is without the Google bloat. I will admit, I have not tried it, though. To the second half of that though, re:Disney/Marvel - they definitely have a bigger budget toward huge actions shots, but storywise, they are often pretty thin, imo. For pizza - it seems this will vary hugely per person. For instance, my favorite pizza, across all I've ever tried, is still a frozen Jack's pizza. Not quite the cheapest available, but very close. I guess my point is, the more expensive options can definitely have an appeal for various, valid reasons, but that doesn't invalidate the cheaper options as maybe "better" options for some people.

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nitwit005 4y ago

The pizza example only includes the websites of the big pizza delivery firms, and the delivery apps: > This analysis is based on over 500,000 transactions from Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, UberEats, DoorDash, Postmates, and Grubhub (including Yelp, Seamless, Eat24, and Tapingo). https://trends.edison.tech/research/pizza-delivery-sales.html https://trends.edison.tech/research/pizza-delivery-sales.htm... If you only include the large firms in your data, it's not surprising you'll only see large firms in the result.

rhaway84773 4y ago
Do most people buy pizzas online from smaller stores on their own websites or one of the major delivery apps? I suspect it would be the latter.
- bluedino 4y ago
  I use the websites for Jets, Cottage Inn, Hungry Howies, and whatever our smaller shops are.
- jcranmer 4y ago
  I'll admit that I may not be typical, but I've always attempted to use the website of a small retailer over some aggregator service if possible.
scarface74 4y ago
My son worked for a local pizza shop in high school and I once did free tech support for the owner (family friend). There are plenty of SaaS platforms geared toward independent shops that make them feature competitive with the big boys
- nunez 4y ago
  ironically, the only platform i can think of in this space is Slice
CivBase 4y ago

jw14 4y ago

What is this doing on the front page?

moneywoes 4y ago
Seems like manipulation

gweinberg 4y ago

A more accurate title would be, "Sure the mall seems to have like 100 stores, because it does. But all of them except 8 are owned by the same big 3 parent companies. And by 3 I mean 12"

ethagknight 4y ago
Yes, plus even a mall usually has a few main anchors and then a bunch of little stores. So maybe "the mall only has 3 anchors"? You mean to tell me Foot locker and Lady Foot Locker are owned by the same people???
bluedino 4y ago
Remember the jewelry stores that used to be in the mall (all of ours closed)? Jared, JB Robinson, Kay, LeRoy's, Osterman And more. All owned by the same company. Ours were in the center of the mall so you had one on each wing.

Kronopath 4y ago

That pizza graph is extremely misleading. It shows only online pizza sales, not in-person or phone sales. Of course that would be totally dominated by big brands, your local pizza shop can’t afford to develop a website or app for their business alone. But they still take calls, pick-ups, and dine-ins.

KptMarchewa 4y ago
Seems like a comment from 2019. To sell online, pizza place needs just to create account on uber eats or door dash.
- Raidion 4y ago
  But a spot that does primarily in person sales before 2020 won't make a huge pivot to online sales just because they open a website. I'm a software dev, I own a Fitbit and Alexa's, I still just call the local pizza place. It's just as fast as most apps and means better margins for a local businesses.
- halpmeh 4y ago
  Selling on door dash or uber eats destroys the pizza business model. Pizza is one of the only foods that is profitable to deliver. A pizza is extremely cheap to produce with markup that can be in excess of 1000%. This allows the pizza maker to pay a driver to deliver the pizza. The driver doesn't make anywhere near the cut Uber takes from each order.
  - jldugger 4y ago
    > pizza is extremely cheap to produce with markup that can be in excess of 1000%. This is true, and more: pizza is well suited to delivery versus other foods. For example, french fries age quickly, becoming unappealing in 10 minutes[1]. Chicken katsu ("chicken cutlets") travels so poorly my local shop sells them to go uncut. Between the The end result is that Dominos Pizza Inc outperformed GOOG in the past 5y[2] Unfortunately, Pizza's viability and profitability in delivery service also undercuts your argument. That mom & pop Curry Pizza place someone mentioned _is_ on ubereats. I spent 15 minutes looking for a pizza place near me that wasnt on uber and failed. Even places that normally don't deliver are on it: Pasqually's is a ghost kitchen selling pizza and wings that is just Chuck E Cheese rebranded[3]. The margins are so high the logic is pretty simple: selling a pizza for only 500% profit is better than no profit at all. [1]: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/772775254/episode-946-fries-of-the-future https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/772775254/episode-946-fries-o... [2]: https://g.co/finance/DPZ:NYSE?window=5Y&comparison=NASDAQ%3AGOOG https://g.co/finance/DPZ:NYSE?window=5Y&comparison=NASDAQ%3A... [3]: https://onezero.medium.com/the-artisanal-pizza-you-ordered-might-secretly-be-chuck-e-cheese-afd3744acd3c https://onezero.medium.com/the-artisanal-pizza-you-ordered-m...

dukeofdoom 4y ago

Reminds me of the mall I went to near Dubai, where every store sold gold. Like 20 stores just selling gold. The mall probably had more gold than a small country.

umeshunni 4y ago
You mean the Gold Souk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Gold_Souk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Gold_Souk
- dukeofdoom 4y ago
  no it was a mall in Sharjah
bluedino 4y ago
Like bars of gold?
- dukeofdoom 4y ago
  Gold jewelry

steve76 4y ago

esparrohack 4y ago

Wow. So half of you are Dominos? I hate Dominos. And Pizza Hut too I’m on Team Papa John but we’re dead last rn

nunez 4y ago

can't speak to pizza; can speak to airlines airline consolidation is largely driven by razor thin profit margins (low ticket prices, stratospherically high capital costs). one bad summer can knock an airline out of profitability forever. consolidation is a big reason why i can fly to NYC from Houston for less than $300 round-trip but is also a big reason why flying with anyone but United is almost guaranteed to be a high-misery trip (because hubbing is extremely efficient compared to point-to-point or waypoints).

drewcoo 4y ago
Clearly, airlines need better lobbyists if one bad summer means the end. https://viewfromthewing.com/why-are-airline-lobbyists-so-bad-at-defending-airlines/ https://viewfromthewing.com/why-are-airline-lobbyists-so-bad... My guess is that the status quo helps consolidate and that helps the monied interests behind the scenes. Or they'd make sure the industry had a parachute, so to speak.
- nunez 4y ago
  Airlines and their unions (there are many) have amazing lobbyists! Well, the big ones anyway! A bad summer won't end legacy airlines (the big ones, like American or Air Canada), but you can bet on mass furloughs. Regional airlines are a different story. It feels like one bites the dust every few years despite getting flow from the legacies.

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