Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon • Hacker News Board

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#151

Post by philjohn » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

ethagknight wrote: post #109

My theory: Prime, and its 2-day shipping service, is a flat rate deal, priced according to 10.5 normal months and 1.5 batshit crazy delivery months. Since they can't charge on a demand basis for shipping like FedEx can, they've run into an internal train wreck where they can't afford to deliver all the orders the've received. So their bottleneck is actually a bottleneck of budgeted "delivery slots" for these Spring m…

I've noticed the opposite in the UK - saying they'll take up to a week to deliver, and then the item turning up the next day, or the day after.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#152

Post by shuckles » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

WaltPurvis wrote: post #143

emmp wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In normal times, true. However unemployment insurance has been significantly boosted by the CARES act during the pandemic

Even with the CARES act, Amazon employees can't just quit their jobs and choose to collect unemployment instead. People who quit their jobs aren't eligible for unemployment. There are a few exceptions under the CARES act if you can't work because of something directly related to COVID, e.g., if you're a parent who has to take care of children because schools are closed. Being afraid you might catch the coronavirus at…

Parents with kids in school sounds like a large chunk of the workforce, no?

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#153

Post by philjohn » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

WhyKill wrote: post #13

Amazon sucks now. I can't buy most of the specific items I use in my work, and when I do find something it's swimming in a sea of clone crap. The best thing it does still is books. Anything else is a mizxed bag. AMZ is just Ali Baba for people who can't wait for the ship.

Can't even trust the books now: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/6/24/18715584/amazon-coun...

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#154

Post by jefft255 » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:14 PM UTC

philjohn wrote: post #151

ethagknight wrote: post #109

My theory: Prime, and its 2-day shipping service, is a flat rate deal, priced according to 10.5 normal months and 1.5 batshit crazy delivery months. Since they can't charge on a demand basis for shipping like FedEx can, they've run into an internal train wreck where they can't afford to deliver all the orders the've received. So their bottleneck is actually a bottleneck of budgeted "delivery slots" for these Spring m…

I've noticed the opposite in the UK - saying they'll take up to a week to deliver, and then the item turning up the next day, or the day after.

I can second that for Canada; I've ordered at least 4-5 non-essential items in the last month and only one took more than 3-4 days to arrive.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#155

Post by MattGaiser » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:16 PM UTC

stevenmays wrote: post #129

MattGaiser wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend at Amazon and they say absenteeism among employees is through the roof. They can neither hire nor keep the employees they do have.

Unemployment compensation is high, so the incentive to show up to work has decreased. They can solve this problem by paying more, although wage increases are hard to turn back time on. Maybe they should consider "hazard pay" during the pandemic.

People who quit/get fired/don’t show don’t get unemployment.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#156

Post by eatbitseveryday » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:17 PM UTC

ethagknight wrote: post #109

My theory: Prime, and its 2-day shipping service, is a flat rate deal, priced according to 10.5 normal months and 1.5 batshit crazy delivery months. Since they can't charge on a demand basis for shipping like FedEx can, they've run into an internal train wreck where they can't afford to deliver all the orders the've received. So their bottleneck is actually a bottleneck of budgeted "delivery slots" for these Spring m…

Around where I live (suburbs in Oregon/USA), the Amazon delivery vans have been making passes multiple times a day for the past few weeks.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#157

Post by philjohn » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:18 PM UTC

gilrain wrote: post #128

thoraway1010 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the competition though. We need someone with a clue on competition. I'd go with anyone with a broad / reliable selection - ebay has been working recently - is that the future?

The competition is the niche retailers that have always been there. They focus on one or a few related areas, and do them well. Outdoor gear is always genuine from REI or Backcountry. Spices are always fresh from The Spice House or Penzey's. Et cetera.

Exactly this. For computer parts in the UK I usually go to Overclockers UK - free shipping is possible if you take part in their forums and prices are often identical to Amazon.

Even the big-box electronics retailers like Currys regularly peg their prices to the Amazon one now, and I've got three within a 25-minute drive so I can get the item the same day rather than waiting 1-2 days for delivery.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#158

Post by starpilot » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:18 PM UTC

jdoliner wrote: post #82

Has anyone else noticed Amazon shipping them more of items than they ordered? I've recently had this happen in two separate orders, including receiving 3 SSDs when I'd just ordered 1, for a free $300 of SSD.

I've ordered thousands of items and this has never happened.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#159

Post by sgillen » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:25 PM UTC

cbg0 wrote: post #127

sgillen wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be a money mule! And you may want to report this, someone vulnerable could be racking up massive debt paying for free stuff. see : https://youtu.be/2IT2oAzTcvU?t=300

It's actually very unlikely for this to be the case for the three SSDs. If what is presented in the video is actually happening, there would be no reason for the fraudster to pay for 3 SSDs with a stolen card and send them to the customer, because a higher transaction amount could pop off some alerts at the stolen card's bank, which is a pointless risk. You also have to take into account honest people which would try…

I mean obviously you could be right about that. In the case I linked though basically the exact same thing happened, the speaker ordered some coffee and received that plus a free nespresso machine!

It’s possible that the credit card wasn’t stolen but was opened using a stolen identity, so any alerts could go straight to the fraudster.

The other problem is that there are not many incentives for the platform to do anything about this, proving fraud is hard because this thing can happen through legitimate mistakes. Both the vendor and platform got paid, and the buyer got what they paid for plus some. In the case above the fraud was reported but no one did anything.

The advantage for the fraudster would be hopefully repeat business / positive reviews that generate more business. Admittedly this makes less sense for SSDs compared to coffee.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#160

Post by groby_b » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 9:26 PM UTC

SkyBelow wrote: post #146

admax88q wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this odd. I read these sorts of comments every time Amazon in mentioned on HN, how its literally only clones, fakes, and scams, and impossible to find legitimate products anymore. I have literally never received a fake/clone/scam off amazon, and I can't explain that discrepancy. I personally only buy things that are sold or fulfilled by amazon, never shipped by third party sellers, but surely everyone else as…

>I have literally never received a fake/clone/scam off amazon, and I can't explain that discrepancy. Shopping patterns? I buy a lot of things, not just for myself but as gifts for a large family. I have found some areas are so filled with scams that I no longer buy items from those areas on Amazon. Other areas (which make up the majority) I have no problem at all, at worst getting a slightly delayed or damaged box. A…

The problem is that many 1-star reviews that are meaningful are being drowned in the inane. ("I bought seeds, but they don't sprout if I don't add soil and water" kind of inane).

There's either a massive influx of stupidity, or this is deliberately useless one-stars to drown out useful ones.