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Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

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Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#161

Post by DannoHung »

sokoloff wrote: post #154
stupidcar wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but it flatly contradicts everything Bezos says in this letter, and elsewhere, about Amazon being customer-focused rather than competitor-focused. A truly customer-focused company would sell the products its customers wanted, even if they competed with the company's own-brand products. And demand for these competing products would be seen as a spur to improve their own. I personally don't think the Amazon's tal…

Amazon stopped selling players that don't support Amazon Prime Video. That can been seen as first-order customer unfriendly, but second-order customer-centric, if you take the view that Amazon Prime Video is a consumer benefit overall. (I do, but I'm still annoyed that I can't get Apple TV on Amazon.) Context: I'll admit to being a fairly rabid Amazon fan (no other conflicts, other than as a retail shareholder). I st…

nah dog, Apple has said they are free to make an Apple TV app. But they won't for some reason. They don't even have to sell items through the app and incur Apple's cut.

They're just shitstains

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#163

Post by ikeboy »

organsnyder wrote: post #141
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…

I cancelled my Prime subscription for the same reason. I've been experimenting with using eBay the same way I used Amazon (mainly for computer-related purchases—we never got into the habit of using it for many household goods). So far, I've found eBay to be in many ways better than Amazon was. Amazon has gotten to the point where you're often buying from some unknown vendor anyways, so in many ways it's already simil…

If you stick to the 99% feedback with more than 50 feedbacks on Amazon you'll do fine as well.

Amazon has far stricter requirements for sellers. What specifically do you find better at eBay?

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#164

Post by JohnTHaller »

MichaelGG wrote: post #44
darkclarity wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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…

Don't forget artificially tying their so-so Netflix competitor video service to their own so-so Android-based tablets and not allowing it to be used on proper Android at all for years. And now artificially tying their video service to their app store so Android users who pay for it can't use it without compromising the security of their device by enabling apps from unknown sources and manually installing the Amazon App Store on their device with full permissions for everything - and the ability for it to spy on and alter anything it wants.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#165

Post by JohnTHaller »

hackerboos wrote: post #37
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."

Pity Prime video isn't available outside of the US/UK and 2 day shipping in Toronto...just poor value for money for Canadians.

Prime Video isn't anywhere near as good as Netflix in terms of content or in terms of technical prowess. The Xbox apps are pretty bad. The Android Prime Video app can't even be used without enabling Unknown Sources and then manually installing the whole Amazon App Store on your Android device. Even then, it doesn't work that well. It's kind of a joke.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#166

Post by amarka »

simonh wrote: post #108
srt146 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His example is a subtle jab at working class. He thinks people are such trash that truck driver is aspirational for them. The education benefits for blue collar workers at Amazon take years to kick in and don't cover a single year at most community colleges. Workers are frequently fired before 90 days to prevent benefits from starting. Workers would do far better to do a small education loan and start training early.

>He thinks people are such trash that truck driver is aspirational for them What planet are you on? Truck driver is an excellent working class job. It's skilled labour (yes, really), you need to be trustworthy and able to operate independently, work long hours and take responsibility for a very expensive asset. As a result it pays a significant premium compared to a lot of manual labour and service jobs.

At best it's an ok working class job; for Amazon, it's more of a stop-gap until delivery vehicles with auto-pilot are more widely available.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#167

Post by ikeboy »

yomly wrote: post #111
MichaelGG wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Several CSRs told me "Oh it's out of stock" (not explaining the 404, or no "marketplace" vendors). I escalated. Then I was told the Chromecast was not sold due to "too many complaints". A supervisor then flat out denied that, as well as denied there being any ban on any such product. I asked about the Apple TV. After other lame "stocking" issues, a supervisor said "oh, we don't have licenses to sell Apple TV" an…

Disclaimer: I used to work at Amazon. Amazon and Apple have had a long patchy history when it comes to selling Apple products. Primarily it comes down to Apple's need to control the pricing of their products and Amazon's desire to drop prices far into the realms of lossmaking, which in part is due to their customer centricity. I cannot comment on this specific case but it is not always necessarily as clear cut as you…

The problem is that they won't allow third parties to sell them on marketplace. Even if Apple won't sell to Amazon, as long as third parties want to list they should be allowed to and it shouldn't cause problems. (I'm probably missing something; what is it?)

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#168

Post by TillE »

Matthias247 wrote: post #109
notjosh wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, Germany also has Prime Video.

Yes, but it's probably also the only justification for paying money for prime. I also use it mainly because it's a requirement for their DVD/Blu-Ray rental service. However that got a massive price increase the last month - so I'm considering stopping to use both. Regarding delivery the interesting thing is that before prime emerged nearly all orders here in Germany were delivered on the next day. Then prime came up…

I had the same experience with much slower normal shipping suddenly after the introduction of Prime. But I just recently allowed my Prime subscription to lapse, and based on my very limited data it seems back to normal again.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#169

Post by giarc »

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.

For what's it worth, I cannot buy a Chromecast or Fire TV Stick at the Apple Store, or an Apple TV or Fire TV Stick at the Google Play store etc.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#170

Post by pc86 »

ArkyBeagle wrote: post #80
darkclarity wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's very effective sleight of hand. The cherry on top is 2-day delivery being prepaid. I wouldn't have paid for 2-day otherwise. They "fixed" that for me. The whole thing makes going to a brick and mortar store feel like going to the DMV.

With the exception that if you drive to store and back home for a single item, you'll have the item inside of an hour. If you live close, inside of 15 minutes?

When I know I will need batteries in a week, I'll buy a box on Amazon and get it in a few days. If I need batteries now, I'll have them within an hour. It's certainly not "like going to the DMV."

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