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Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

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Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#121

Post by _pmf_ »

darkclarity wrote: post #30
shuri wrote: post #3

You have to love this sentence "We want Prime to be such a good value, you’d be irresponsible not to be a member."

I like being that irresponsible one. Though it is impressive that Amazon has turned a delivery fee - that most people don't like paying - into an exclusive subscription service. A service that customers fall over themselves to sign up for when it's offered at a discount.

That's a concise description of why I (as an Amazon fanboy) have probably unconsciously abstained from becoming a Prime member ... something just smelled off.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#122

Post by rifung »

sharkweek wrote: post #24
sabalaba wrote: post #12

I see this letter as an attempt at vindication for the controversy sparked by the NYT article on Amazon's corporate culture. Jeff Bezos was clearly affected and I see this as a defense of their "distinctive culture". "For better or for worse" that culture got them to $100 billion in annual sales faster than any company in history.

I live in Seattle and am friends with a lot of Amazon folks. Most work very hard and complain from time to time, but I only know one who left for another job because most who are there now actually really like their jobs. One friend put it best after he transitioned from a small department in the ecommerce side of the business to one of AWS's early-ish hires, that most young departments have the thrill of working at…

I also live in Seattle and worked at Amazon. When I was interviewing, a conversation I had often went something like this.. "Oh, I see that you were at Amazon; we've interviewed many people from there. I'd ask you why you left but I think I already know."

I think it really just depends on your team though. Most of the people I worked with didn't particularly like Amazon (or working in general) but it was a job and paid (relatively) well. They don't pay as well as Google/FB but they still pay much better than most companies in Seattle and as far as I can tell it's easier to get into Amazon.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#123

Post by izacus »

TheAndruu wrote: post #105
MichaelGG wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cancelled it because Amazon's abusing their position. Refusing to sell Chromecast and Apple TV, then lying, repeatedly, about the reason when asked? I've been an Amazon customer for 13 years. I was rather annoyed to see them go with the anti-Wikileaks and try to be "sensitive" by banning certain cultural items. But this shows they've zero commitment to selling products customers want. Edit: And it really hurts. Som…

> Refusing to sell Chromecast and Apple TV This is kind of like expecting a Ford dealer to sell Chevys.

Or Microsoft refusing to allow installation of competitive browsers. The line is in market reach, anti-competitive legislation was inacted due to such abuses by a powerful player.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#124

Post by izacus »

infocollector wrote: post #117
lowmess wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more akin to a used car lot deciding to manufacture cars, and removing Ford & Chevys from their lot. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it is interesting that they only removed those two items and not Rokus and other streaming options.

When can we regulate this .... and break this company into 4 companies, that compete with each other :) I bet 3 will sell Ford and Chevy's on their display.

Yeah, the huge vertically integrated corporations are starting to seriously limit competition in several economic markets. Good for their profits, bad for pretty much everyone else. It's like Weyland-Yutani in the making.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#125

Post by petra »

bdkoepke wrote: post #58
msandford wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon isn't making any money yet. Amazon makes TONS of money. They aren't currently returning any of it to shareholders as profits, they're continuously reinvesting it in the company. The difference between gross profit and net profit is how much Amazon is spending on building new businesses that after a few years start grossing $10b a year in sales like AWS. That got funded out of the gross profits from regular A…

The issue is Amazon stock is very expensive when compared with other companies. Walmart's market cap is ~250B, whereas Amazon is $350B. Amazon had $100B sales last year, Walmart had $500B. If Amazon can generate profit at the same rate as Walmart then Amazon needs to get to $700B in sales for that valuation to make sense... If Amazon double's in value again it would have to have sales representing 10% of US GDP at th…

Amazon is a much more global/scalable company than Walmart, both now and potentially, so the calculation should be a bit different.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#126

Post by eveningcoffee »

buro9 wrote: post #100
shuri wrote: post #3

You have to love this sentence "We want Prime to be such a good value, you’d be irresponsible not to be a member."

Then Amazon is going to have to become much much better. I live in London, UK and do not use Prime. I've almost stopped using Amazon altogether now. Why? 1. Delivery - For our flat, their network either fails to deliver, mis-delivers or screws up in some other way far more than they succeed. There is no option to choose the one postal service that shines for my property: Royal Mail. Anything I order from Amazon may t…

6. Marketplace sellers lying about the origin of delivery. Says ships from Germany, so should arrive in few days but arrives a month later from China.

7. I use a redelivery service for goods from German Amazon (because delivery to German address is often free but out of Germany very expensive). Amazon displays items to be delivered as one shipment before placing an order.

Right after ordering it displays that the items would be shipped in 4 separate shipments making the price of the delivery 4 times more expensive for me.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#127

Post by B1FF_PSUVM »

ditonal wrote: post #56
sabalaba wrote: post #12

I see this letter as an attempt at vindication for the controversy sparked by the NYT article on Amazon's corporate culture. Jeff Bezos was clearly affected and I see this as a defense of their "distinctive culture". "For better or for worse" that culture got them to $100 billion in annual sales faster than any company in history.

We venerate leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt because they inspired millions of individuals to act directly against their self-interest and in favor of the organizations that those leaders own and manage. "We will fight on the beaches" sure sounds inspiring, but if it was my intestines bleeding out onto the sands of Normandy, at that exact moment, it wouldn't have quite the same ring. Yet these inspiring words sti…

It's amazing how little actual spend is needed to psych out a featherless biped.

Our owners have been going to town with it since the XVIII century, when they figured out the "manufacture of consent" thingamajig.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#128

Post by brownbat »

reustle wrote: post #90
MichaelGG wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cancelled it because Amazon's abusing their position. Refusing to sell Chromecast and Apple TV, then lying, repeatedly, about the reason when asked? I've been an Amazon customer for 13 years. I was rather annoyed to see them go with the anti-Wikileaks and try to be "sensitive" by banning certain cultural items. But this shows they've zero commitment to selling products customers want. Edit: And it really hurts. Som…

Wow, TIL Amazon doesn't sell Apple TV or Chromecast, but instead immediately suggests their own competitors. For a company trying to replace all retail, that's pretty lame.

I got a lot of e-books with deceptive names and cover art that make it look like you're buying a Chromecast.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#129

Post by brownbat »

hvm wrote: post #114
audleman wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was gifted Prime and it surprised me how awesome it was. Say I want to buy a few pairs of SmartWool Socks, but since I'm buying them over the internet don't get a chance to try them on. Do I buy 7 pairs and risk it? No, I just buy 1 pair and get it in 2 days with no shipping fee. In fact I buy all kinds of things now on Amazon because I can get them in 2 days with no shipping fee. I get that I'm paying upfront for…

> After a certain number of orders I'm beating the system, and that's fun. That's only true if you would have bought those items anyway. If you wouldn't have then the system is beating you.

> That's only true if you would have bought those items anyway.

And if you would have insisted on 2-day shipping for everything you buy, which seems unlikely. Some purchases, sure, but everything?

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#130

Post by lmm »

buro9 wrote: post #100
shuri wrote: post #3

You have to love this sentence "We want Prime to be such a good value, you’d be irresponsible not to be a member."

Then Amazon is going to have to become much much better. I live in London, UK and do not use Prime. I've almost stopped using Amazon altogether now. Why? 1. Delivery - For our flat, their network either fails to deliver, mis-delivers or screws up in some other way far more than they succeed. There is no option to choose the one postal service that shines for my property: Royal Mail. Anything I order from Amazon may t…

> 1. Delivery - For our flat, their network either fails to deliver, mis-delivers or screws up in some other way far more than they succeed. There is no option to choose the one postal service that shines for my property: Royal Mail. Anything I order from Amazon may turn up eventually, but certainly isn't going to arrive whenever they claim. This is my #1 reason for abandoning Amazon.

Very few online stores give you a choice of delivery service. For me Royal Mail are the absolute worst (DPD are ideal, others are close), but it seems to vary by area. I find Amazon gives you a lot more choice than any of their competitors (they integrate with four or more different "collect a parcel from here" services, in London you can almost always find a pickup location very close to wherever you are). I mean if you live somewhere where Royal Mail are better than XYZ then a Royal Mail-only store is better for you than Amazon, but I don't think anyone's better in general. (Also in London you have Prime Now as an option).

> Either you can't find what you want (the range within cycling for example is extremely limited) and have to look elsewhere

Oh? A week ago I was looking for some specific bike accessories (to go with a specialized bike that I'd bought from the one shop in London (perhaps even in Britain), but even they didn't have the accessories for it); on ebay they were badly described and the range wasn't good. Amazon had what I needed. Maybe a specialized online bike store would have an even better range, but I don't want to have to figure out and trust a new store for every product category I might want to buy; I want a generalist, and Amazon is good at that.

> 4. Bundling - Amazon Prime Video really isn't as good as Netflix, Amazon Prime Now isn't beating Shutl for me in London https://shutl.com/uk/, free postage hasn't been compelling (point #3)... but somehow bundling all of these things together into an ~£80 per year subscription is supposed to make a range of sub-par offerings value for money?

Doesn't it? Their video isn't as good as Netflix, their music isn't as good as Spotify, I'll take your word for it that Shutl is better - but a year's subscription to Netflix and Spotify and Shutl and ... would cost a fair bit more than GPB80, the Amazon options are good enough a lot of the time, and having it all integrated in one place is valuable.

> I've purchased things on Amazon Prime, thinking they were covered by Amazon's customer service, only to discover that the obscure market place seller is really the seller and so my warranty complaints go back to them.

I would agree that the UI isn't as obvious as it might be, but it's still pretty easy to see who the seller is

> They've been overseas and uninterested, and I've had to simply write-off the value of those items.

What? No. If they're not honouring their warranty, do a credit card chargeback.

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