7 ms·

No fear of recession. Keep up raising rates and wrecking the economy.

ceejayoz 4y ago
The job market doesn't show much of a recession brewing. Unemployment rate fell, with 517,000 new jobs instead of the expected 187,000. The real reason for Amazon's unprofitable year is in the article. > By far, the biggest culprit for Amazon's losses over the year was the company's hefty investment in the electric automaker Rivian whose value plummeted last year and ate into Amazon's bottom line.
- PaulHoule 4y ago
  … and I think a lot of expansion that doesn’t make sense. Wegmans supermarkets opened a new store a few years ago at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in reaction to that Whole Foods in Union Square with that dehumanizing cattle chute. People in the cultural-industrial complex who grew up in NYC have been getting groceries at bodegas their whole life, it is easy to impress them with a grocery store that would get laughed at in Ohio. Wegmans had to move into that space as a matter of cultural self-defense. Amazon just sent me an email pleading me to renew my Prime subscription, boasting about somebody, somewhere gets 1-day shipping for some item sometime but they are dead to me because 2-day shipping disappeared 2 years ago for me. No way am I going to pay for a subscription to get service that is worse than what I get from other retailed. (E.g. I ordered a game from GameStop on Saturday, it was postmarked an hour later.)
  - themitigating 4y ago
    "Amazon just sent me an email pleading me to renew my Prime subscription, boasting about somebody, somewhere gets 1-day shipping for some item sometime but they are dead to me because 2-day shipping disappeared 2 years ago for me. No way am I going to pay for a subscription to get service that is worse than what I get from other retailed. (E.g. I ordered a game from GameStop on Saturday, it was postmarked an hour later.)" This might work for you and people in cities but as you get to other areas what you want might take longer than 2 days to arrive.
    - PaulHoule 4y ago
      I am in a rural area about a 4 hour drive from NYC. Other retailers frequently get me next day or 2nd day shipping. This includes big ones like Walmart and Office Depot and many speciality retailers based around NYC. Amazon now promises me 5-day shipping at best. I was one of the early adopters of Prime, I subscribed shortly after it came out. Amazon Prime shipping was better than average back then, it is worse than average now, and that's completely untenable for a service which is marketing itself as "premium". It's like if the cashier made fun at you at the store for using an American Express card.
  - KRAKRISMOTT 4y ago
    Where is this cattle chute of theirs?
    - coredog64 4y ago
      When you line up to check out, there are six lines side-by-side. The cashier signals you via a screen on the ceiling. The WF on the UES only has two lines (and no screen).
      - KRAKRISMOTT 4y ago
        Oh you mean the checkout lines. I thought they were slaughtering cows on premise to keep them fresh. I couldn't imagine how they managed to transport them through the tiny San Francisco streets.
        PaulHoule 4y ago
        I'm talking about that other Union Square in NYC. But then again they have no trouble running bulls on Wall Street.
  - _ea1k 4y ago
    > Wegmans supermarkets opened a new store a few years ago at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in reaction to that Whole Foods in Union Square with that dehumanizing cattle chute. Dehumanizing cattle chute? What do you mean? I've never heard this term in relation to a grocer.
    - tedunangst 4y ago
      Instead of a dozen lines, there's a single line feeding all registers. Somebody studied queuing theory to save you checkout time, but now it's, oh, the humanity! (Unless I'm thinking of the wrong store.)
      - mindslight 4y ago
        I wholeheartedly agree with you about queuing theory, and can't not think of it every time I'm in line somewhere. But apparently they needed to study up on the fallacy of personal choice, which pervades US culture. It's the same reason Southwest has open seating. When people choose their own seats, they stick to them hard. Whereas often on a plane with "assigned" seats, there will be a bunch of people trying to swap with other people (window for aisle, let me sit next to my buddy, etc), which interferes with the new people boarding.
      - vel0city 4y ago
        Sam's Club has mobile app scan and go. Its so nice just being able to scan things as I put it in the cart. When you're ready to leave you just mark finish and pay in the app. It shows a QR code you show to the loss prevention people at the exit. They scan the QR code, scan three items in the cart and do a quick eyeball count of items, and you're on your way. I truly wish more places had this. Its been my favorite way to shop so far. So fast, so easy, far less machine learning and expensive cameras and sensors everywhere. Its even better than a single queue for checkout, which is for sure far better than multiple queues.
        ceejayoz 4y ago
        Wegmans had that for a while; they got rid of due to shrinkage. (I presume lots of people were stuffing $200 beef tenderloins into the bottoms of their bags.) They're trialing a camera-driven replacement now.
- sharemywin 4y ago
  They should split amazon services from retail and all the physical crap. I would even dump the ecommerce site from the marketplace
  - Marazan 4y ago
    Confusing consumers about whether they are buying from Amazon or the market place of 3rd party tat is a core Amazon business line though.

The job market doesn't show much of a recession brewing. Unemployment rate fell, with 517,000 new jobs instead of the expected 187,000. The real reason for Amazon's unprofitable year is in the article. > By far, the biggest culprit for Amazon's losses over the year was the company's hefty investment in the electric automaker Rivian whose value plummeted last year and ate into Amazon's bottom line.

PaulHoule 4y ago
… and I think a lot of expansion that doesn’t make sense. Wegmans supermarkets opened a new store a few years ago at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in reaction to that Whole Foods in Union Square with that dehumanizing cattle chute. People in the cultural-industrial complex who grew up in NYC have been getting groceries at bodegas their whole life, it is easy to impress them with a grocery store that would get laughed at in Ohio. Wegmans had to move into that space as a matter of cultural self-defense. Amazon just sent me an email pleading me to renew my Prime subscription, boasting about somebody, somewhere gets 1-day shipping for some item sometime but they are dead to me because 2-day shipping disappeared 2 years ago for me. No way am I going to pay for a subscription to get service that is worse than what I get from other retailed. (E.g. I ordered a game from GameStop on Saturday, it was postmarked an hour later.)
- themitigating 4y ago
  "Amazon just sent me an email pleading me to renew my Prime subscription, boasting about somebody, somewhere gets 1-day shipping for some item sometime but they are dead to me because 2-day shipping disappeared 2 years ago for me. No way am I going to pay for a subscription to get service that is worse than what I get from other retailed. (E.g. I ordered a game from GameStop on Saturday, it was postmarked an hour later.)" This might work for you and people in cities but as you get to other areas what you want might take longer than 2 days to arrive.
  - PaulHoule 4y ago
    I am in a rural area about a 4 hour drive from NYC. Other retailers frequently get me next day or 2nd day shipping. This includes big ones like Walmart and Office Depot and many speciality retailers based around NYC. Amazon now promises me 5-day shipping at best. I was one of the early adopters of Prime, I subscribed shortly after it came out. Amazon Prime shipping was better than average back then, it is worse than average now, and that's completely untenable for a service which is marketing itself as "premium". It's like if the cashier made fun at you at the store for using an American Express card.
- KRAKRISMOTT 4y ago
  Where is this cattle chute of theirs?
  - coredog64 4y ago
    When you line up to check out, there are six lines side-by-side. The cashier signals you via a screen on the ceiling. The WF on the UES only has two lines (and no screen).
    - KRAKRISMOTT 4y ago
      Oh you mean the checkout lines. I thought they were slaughtering cows on premise to keep them fresh. I couldn't imagine how they managed to transport them through the tiny San Francisco streets.
      - PaulHoule 4y ago
        I'm talking about that other Union Square in NYC. But then again they have no trouble running bulls on Wall Street.
- _ea1k 4y ago
  > Wegmans supermarkets opened a new store a few years ago at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in reaction to that Whole Foods in Union Square with that dehumanizing cattle chute. Dehumanizing cattle chute? What do you mean? I've never heard this term in relation to a grocer.
  - tedunangst 4y ago
    Instead of a dozen lines, there's a single line feeding all registers. Somebody studied queuing theory to save you checkout time, but now it's, oh, the humanity! (Unless I'm thinking of the wrong store.)
    - mindslight 4y ago
      I wholeheartedly agree with you about queuing theory, and can't not think of it every time I'm in line somewhere. But apparently they needed to study up on the fallacy of personal choice, which pervades US culture. It's the same reason Southwest has open seating. When people choose their own seats, they stick to them hard. Whereas often on a plane with "assigned" seats, there will be a bunch of people trying to swap with other people (window for aisle, let me sit next to my buddy, etc), which interferes with the new people boarding.
    - vel0city 4y ago
      Sam's Club has mobile app scan and go. Its so nice just being able to scan things as I put it in the cart. When you're ready to leave you just mark finish and pay in the app. It shows a QR code you show to the loss prevention people at the exit. They scan the QR code, scan three items in the cart and do a quick eyeball count of items, and you're on your way. I truly wish more places had this. Its been my favorite way to shop so far. So fast, so easy, far less machine learning and expensive cameras and sensors everywhere. Its even better than a single queue for checkout, which is for sure far better than multiple queues.
      - ceejayoz 4y ago
        Wegmans had that for a while; they got rid of due to shrinkage. (I presume lots of people were stuffing $200 beef tenderloins into the bottoms of their bags.) They're trialing a camera-driven replacement now.
sharemywin 4y ago
They should split amazon services from retail and all the physical crap. I would even dump the ecommerce site from the marketplace
- Marazan 4y ago
  Confusing consumers about whether they are buying from Amazon or the market place of 3rd party tat is a core Amazon business line though.