Why Amazon is taking over (insurance, license, free market, stock)
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Maybe you do. Glad you've got everything under control amd don't ever have to work overtime.
I didn’t say I never work overtime but it’s not common. It also wouldn’t be common to think “trying to help” fix performance actually works for everyone. It doesn’t and plenty of people are employed for a paycheck and not to get better or have career advancement
Prior to the pandemic I did buy some harder to find things on Amazon but I still preferred to do the bulk of my shopping at brick and mortar stores. The pandemic changed that for me probably permanently.
I needed a new pair of work boots. Right as I was about to buy a pair, the State of Vermont (where I do most of my shopping) announced that only "essentials" would be sold in stores like WalMart, etc. Other "non essential" stores including shoe stores would have to close. No boots for me.
My job is 50 minutes away from home. There's an army navy store close to where I work. I really wanted to stop in and buy some boots from them plus browse around. They announced that their store hours would be reduced to 10am-5pm. My shift at work is usually 630pm-630am. Very inconvenient for me.
So I bought my boots off Amazon. They'll be delivered right to my door. No running around town 15 different places and no playing games with store hours that are different than what's posted on their website.
I find Amazon convenient for oddball items that would have to be special ordered anyway. And I have used it for gift shopping around Christmas when I was not up for venturing out to a mall. All in all I use Amazon very little. I don't buy a lot of electronic gadgets. I do occasionally buy photo equipment, which I order online from B&H.
On a macro scale the Amazon model seems incredibly wasteful. I see the vans stopping at our neighbors nearly every day, and sometimes multiple times a day. And then there are the mountains of boxes buldging out the top of their garbage cans every week.
And then on top of that, whenever I can I prefer to patronize companies who treat their employees well.
One thing about Amazon is that you can order odd things. The big box stores have driven the Mom and Pop stores out of business and the big box stores only carry items that sell fast. None of the local stores carry the dog bones that I want for my dogs and that leaves ordering them online. Amazon sells them.
Most of that less common stuff might be available at many websites, but Amazon has proven itself to be reliable. I hate to send my credit card information off to an unknown place, and some of those smaller websites put you on their spam list.
Mostly it is that Amazon is so convenient and efficient. Sometimes they are less expensive, many times they are not. But their prices are at least reasonable and it saves me from driving around store to store and searching. Also, I can research and compare several different brands and styles easily since I am online anyway.
I didn’t say I never work overtime but it’s not common. It also wouldn’t be common to think “trying to help” fix performance actually works for everyone. It doesn’t and plenty of people are employed for a paycheck and not to get better or have career advancement
Performance improvement is more relative to the organization and/or teams (as opposed to the individual or 'what works for everyone'); that said, I agree with the bolded.
I'd say it's vision, invention, competitiveness, and putting the consumer first, much of what can be attributed to Bezos (and/or the top-notch people he has chosen to lead), whether the discussion is e-commerce, e-books, streaming, cloud computing, digital technology, partnering programs, shipping, and so on.
amazon is great for a lot of stuff but it's not as cheap as people think. it USED to be cheaper than other places for most things. they also used to give you a week to price match (it might have been even longer?) and get a refund on the difference but those days are over. they definitely are super convernient.
Have any of you ever talked with your "local yokel" retailers?
A music store owner gave me an example of what it is like to be competing with Amazon and other online dealers. She carries quite a bit of sheet music in the store for the various musicians and teachers in the area. Thus, she has a lot of money tied up in inventory.
People come in and browse through her sheet music. And then they stand there and search Amazon to see that they can get the same music for 10% less. But in her store they can leaf through the music books and determine if they really want to order it from Amazon.
Local musicians come in and browse through her guitar inventory. They sit in the climate controlled room and strum away for hours. And then they go home and order that guitar from Amazon or some other online music dealer. She ends up with a slightly used set of guitars that she has to try to sell as brand new.
Church musical directors come and ask her to donate to their church's latest mission trip. And then those musical directors go home and order their guitar strings and sheet music from an online dealer.
This lady probably makes more money giving music lessons than she does with retail sales. But now, even music lessons are moving online.
So go ahead and tell me again how the local yokel retailers have bad attitudes.
Even now, with less bargain pricing than when it first started and the inclusion of internet commerce taxes, Amazon continues to grow because it strikes the perfect balance between price and convenience.
Don’t underestimate the combo of those two in driving consumer behavior. I never thought grocery delivery service would succeed but it looks like I may be wrong. Who would trust a stranger to select the best quality, freshest produce or cut of meat? And I actually enjoy grocery shopping. But apparently enough folks think otherwise that it appears there may be a viable market for this service - at least for now. Let’s see how well it does post-pandemic.
Amazon’s not the cheapest, but it’s cheap enough to win out when combined with its convenience, especially in this day and age of instant gratification, I-want-my-stuff-delivered-yesterday culture. Who wants to wait 2-4 weeks for delivery when the can have it next day guaranteed, if not same day delivery?
In addition it provides a measure of consumer confidence in offering legitimate products when there are so many shady or fake e-businesses out there.
As for its environmental, ethical or moral impact? ...Hopefully Jeff will rule wisely and mercifully.
Have any of you ever talked with your "local yokel" retailers?
A music store owner gave me an example of what it is like to be competing with Amazon and other online dealers. She carries quite a bit of sheet music in the store for the various musicians and teachers in the area. Thus, she has a lot of money tied up in inventory.
People come in and browse through her sheet music. And then they stand there and search Amazon to see that they can get the same music for 10% less. But in her store they can leaf through the music books and determine if they really want to order it from Amazon.
Local musicians come in and browse through her guitar inventory. They sit in the climate controlled room and strum away for hours. And then they go home and order that guitar from Amazon or some other online music dealer. She ends up with a slightly used set of guitars that she has to try to sell as brand new.
Church musical directors come and ask her to donate to their church's latest mission trip. And then those musical directors go home and order their guitar strings and sheet music from an online dealer.
This lady probably makes more money giving music lessons than she does with retail sales. But now, even music lessons are moving online.
So go ahead and tell me again how the local yokel retailers have bad attitudes.
Adapt or die. The world doesn't guarantee that what worked for you yesterday will work for you tomorrow.
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