Email from Jeff Bezos to employees • Hacker News Board

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#321

Post by victor106 » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:30 PM UTC

techlatest_net wrote: post #213

ignoramous wrote: post #70

> This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name. Jeff's pitch at the time (1997); so on point, so precise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM > The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, “What’s the internet?” Blessedly, I haven’t had to explain that in a long while. Here's Jeff explaining the Internet (at a TED talk): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMKNUy…

And here is the video from 1999 [1] showing his obsession with customer which is why customer support is in the DNA of Amazon 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxwjzVW7z5o

That video is pure gold. Lots of lessons you can use even today for any business.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#322

Post by Scoundreller » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:30 PM UTC

afavour wrote: post #230

techlatest_net wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And here is the video from 1999 [1] showing his obsession with customer which is why customer support is in the DNA of Amazon 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxwjzVW7z5o

I'd argue that the customer experience of Amazon has declined dramatically in the last few years. Maybe there should be more internal viewings of that video.

Might be hard to change anything when you have a core metric that looks like this:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=amazon&tbm=fin

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#323

Post by andrewjl » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:31 PM UTC

airstrike wrote: post #118

munificent wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For comparison, using national total wealth, that makes Amazon worth more than Saudia Arabia, Denmark, Portugal, or New Zealand. It's $280.5 billion in revenue in 2019 put it above the GDP of Romania, Peru, Ukraine, etc. Corporations should never be allowed to get this large.

> Corporations should never be allowed to get this large. Ok, I'll bite. Why? It's not like there's some natural law against it, so you need to provide an argument for why you think they shouldn't.

It's very hard for a corporation to get large without explicit or implicit government support. Truly competitive markets do not allow monopolies to develop in the long-term.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#324

Post by hrktb » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:31 PM UTC

Traster wrote: post #268

paxys wrote: post #52

It was public knowledge that Bezos stopped running Amazon day-to-day a while ago. It was headed by the two execs under him (Andy Jassy for AWS and Jeff Wilke for retail). Jassy even had the CEO (of AWS) title. With Wilke announcing his retirement a few months ago, Jassy was the clear frontrunner to take over from Bezos. In hindsight I guess Wilke retired because Jassy was picked over him. The timing of the announceme…

That does tell us something about the corporate structure though - whilst a lot of people think AWS would be better off being spun out, there's no way you hire the head of AWS as CEO of Amazon if you think that's the direction forward.

My mental image is that people want to spin off AWS for society’s benefits because Amazon grew too big and abuses the integration. Amazon squarely resisting this idea seems uncontroversal.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#325

Post by adventured » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:31 PM UTC

da_big_ghey wrote: post #160

unethical_ban wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's start with the premise that "representative government is the union of the people" and "profit motive is not always the best incentive for action in society", and go from there.

I dispute that premise. I'd hardly call America "unified" at the present moment; we are in such a state of disunity that many are refusing to accept election results. Pervasive as Amazon, Google, et al. may be, they are still much easier to escape than the United States government.

There's nothing new about the US not being united. The Democrats dispute every election they lose, just as they did in 2016. There is nothing new about it. The US has rarely been united throughout its history in fact. It's borderline a fluke that it has survived this long as one nation.

And if you think it's bad now, it's going to get dramatically worse yet. The largest groups that make up the US today, that dominate its politics and culture, have absolutely nothing in common with eachother and will grow further apart as the years pass. The rancor will get much worse. The populism will get worse. The end result is obvious and unavoidable (and I'm not talking about civil war, that's a redneck fantasy; it's tyranny, oppression, endless strife, and ever worsening dysfunction as the Feds try to contain the unspooling and get ever more paranoid).

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#326

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC

Quinner wrote: post #261

arcticbull wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "get this big"? Governments aren't defined by a market cap, but rather by the services they provide to their citizens. Consider that a private company's only goal is to enrich its shareholders, and they have no responsibility to the people or places around them. They are only accountable to their shareholders and the government. A governments responsibility is solely to its citizens who also contr…

A corporation that didn't take its customers demands into account would be quite likely to fail. There are many governments that continue to exist by enriching and providing for a small segment of society, and uses force to suppress the demands of the rest of society. A corporation generally doesn't shoot dissatisfied customers. Even in relatively liberal democracies, governments are clearly more beholden to forces o…

> A corporation that didn't take its customers demands into account would be quite likely to fail.

Meeting customer demands is only one way to compete. A better facebook is going to still have a hell of a time not being out-competed by facebook. Likewise with amazon sometimes throwing its weight around to take a loss to undercut competitors until they starve.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#327

Post by splistud » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC

mullingitover wrote: post #188

personjerry wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Corporations should never be allowed to get this large. Why? Bonus question: Why should governments be allowed to get that big?

> Bonus question: Why should governments be allowed to get that big? I would argue that most of our current problems are happening because our governments are small, ineffective, and corrupt. I would prefer big, effective, smart, and transparent governments that can take decisive action any day of the week. I'd go so far as to abolish state governments entirely and split their powers between counties and the federal…

They were made for a time when we were not so poorly educated that we trusted leadership to people so far away, with so little in common with ourselves and our way of lives.

I tell you what, though. You design an effective, smart and transparent government and I'll never say a word about how big you would like it to be.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#328

Post by andrewjl » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #209

agloeregrets wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The obvious argument is the adage that "If a company's only goal is to grow at any cost it is not a company. It's a cancer." Secondary item is that a company of this scale has the ends and means to ward off any competitor and eventually set the wages for an industry. Companies scaling to this size is evidence that the taxation system is too lax and allows money to be funneled out of the loop. Think of it like a pool…

Amazon is amassing money by transforming the world and increasing efficiency. Everyone is richer, it's not a zero sum game.

Why is increasing efficiency always net good?

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#329

Post by y04nn » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC

_nickwhite wrote: post #92

I remember in the late 90's when Amazon competed with Barnes and Noble (here in the US) to sell books online. An interesting fact that stuck with me about Amazon back then is they didn't use any crazy javascript or front-end emerging tech- it was really basic HTML that drove the website and shopping cart. Their current logo, which smiles from A to Z (buy everything from A to Z!) hasn't always been the logo- as they s…

And amazon.com today still works exactly the same with JavaScript turned off or on.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#330

Post by mikepurvis » Tue, Feb 02, 2021, 10:33 PM UTC

dantheman wrote: post #195

WitCanStain wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A for-profit corporation seems like a terrible candidate for such a position.

Why it actually provides things people want and is based on voluntary interaction.

Some other effects of "voluntary interaction":

"Concealment at scale is the secret to Amazon’s success. Customers enjoy a seamless one-stop shop experience from the comfort of their homes. Out of sight is a ruthless game of regulatory arbitrage, as Amazon installs itself in low-tax jurisdictions and exploits legal loopholes around the world. Even further away from the customer lies Amazon’s environmental impact, scorching frontline communities in the global south while executives in Seattle roll out their latest greenwashed PR campaign."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/01/amazon...