Day Two to One Day • Hacker News Board

Re: Day Two to One Day

#21

Post by petra » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:38 PM UTC

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

The thing that "sucks" in Amazon's marketplace - is having US entrepneurs , buying some Chinese crap, doing some marketing and playing some tricks(SEO, fake reviews, etc) and over-charging on products.

In theory, with the right tools competition could sort that out.

But this theory doesn't work, not in Amazon, and not in many other online marketplaces.

So the solution is: exclusive brands, controlled by Amazon.

Amazon works hard on scaling that strategy.

And once Amazon is deeply invested in that strategy, a low-quality marketplace seems like a good thing.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#22

Post by madamelic » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:41 PM UTC

dexterdog wrote: post #8

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

Does it even have to be a disruptor? Can't people just figure out how to put a better storefront on Amazon's backend and just filter out the garbage?

Amazon has an API but it is severely rate-limited and has had some functionality cut to prevent such a thing.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#23

Post by scassidy » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:42 PM UTC

justaguyhere wrote: post #10

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

what am I missing about their apparent lack of focus I'd guess it is not that they don't know or they can't fix it, it is that they just don't care. Considering the resources at their disposal, they can fix this problem easily. It is probably not (yet) a problem big enough to hurt them financially, so they don't put any effort into it. Every decision is probably purely driven by financial motive.

I don't think it's necessarily an easy problem to fix. They have one of the world's largest logistics systems built around letting anyone use it to sell or buy, all while keeping one product page per unique item being exchanged. How do they easily filter out bad actors from such a massive system?

Re: Day Two to One Day

#24

Post by joegahona » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:43 PM UTC

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

> And amazon is obviously jam packed with smart people, so what am I missing about their apparent lack of focus or execution on this commonly lamented problem?

I wonder this too. How does this problem track with other problems they're trying to solve, though? Is it commonly lamented just on Hacker News, or are they getting direct feedback from customers? Are their returns skyrocketing? I suspect it's more subtle and longtime power purchasers are starting to buy less and less, like me.

More and more people will start drawing lines like you just did, and I have done. Poop bags for my dog? Definitely Amazon -- it took me 15 seconds end to end on their website, on my phone [!] and were here the next day. No way for electronics, vitamins, or anything that will actually go into my or my family's body (or my dog's body, for that matter).

Re: Day Two to One Day

#25

Post by madamelic » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:45 PM UTC

My wonder is how large a company can get before the founder can no longer force strong culture.

The decision to favor their own products over others seems like a short-sighted goal to help an exec get a bonus rather than help their customers

I am wondering how they can handle short-sighted, highly-motivated individuals self-dealing rather than looking out for the company and its stated culture.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#26

Post by bluedino » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 3:07 PM UTC

allthecybers wrote: post #9

One-day shipping is definitely a logistical leap for mankind but I often wonder the environmental impact that is accrued in the pursuit of total convenience. Also, their Prime branded delivery trucks are driven by gig workers, essentially making Prime the Uber of the delivery world. I just wonder how sustainable it all is. What level of convenience will be demanded next and what cost will that pose to the environment…

Back in 1994 I could order something out of a computer shopper magazine and have it at my house the next day using Airborne express, I was amazed at the time (it usually arrived before 10am) and still kind of am.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#27

Post by justinclift » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 3:09 PM UTC

iikoolpp wrote: post #13

TIL one-day (or, even same-day) amazon shipping isn't a thing outside of the UK?

It's not one-day for all of the UK either. ;)

Saying that as I lived in a ~reasonably remote part Cornwall at the time Amazon launched 1-day shipping in the UK. Bought stuff from them literally every day for a few months.

At first stuff really would turn up in 1 day, and it was awesome. However, after a while I guess they figured out it was costing them a fortune in delivery costs. So the 1-day thing silently became "2 day".

As in, when not logged in it, items would be shown as "Receive it by (say) Wed xx" on a Tuesday. After logging in and purchasing, the expected date would then become Thursday. Yes, even with Prime 1-day. ;)

---

For me it's a moot point anyway, as after some bad customer service experiences - dishonesty on Amazons part - I don't really buy anything through Amazon any more.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#28

Post by heymijo » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 3:11 PM UTC

JackFr wrote: post #16

allthecybers wrote: post #9

One-day shipping is definitely a logistical leap for mankind but I often wonder the environmental impact that is accrued in the pursuit of total convenience. Also, their Prime branded delivery trucks are driven by gig workers, essentially making Prime the Uber of the delivery world. I just wonder how sustainable it all is. What level of convenience will be demanded next and what cost will that pose to the environment…

If Amazon owns the truck, it's not the Uber of anything. They're truck drivers.

Amazon doesn't own the trucks. These are branded partners they contract with.

https://logistics.amazon.com/marketing/opportunity https://logistics.amazon.com/ https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/06/28/amazon-package-delivery-...

Re: Day Two to One Day

#29

Post by frogpelt » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 3:14 PM UTC

Jeff Bezos does not have integrity. We know this because of the way he treated Mackenzie Bezos.

Now, we just have to see how far his lack of integrity will go in his business operation.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#30

Post by reaperducer » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 3:14 PM UTC

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

what am I missing about their apparent lack of focus or execution on this commonly lamented problem?

Until it affects Amazon's stock price, it's not a problem.