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Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

aboutamazon.com

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Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#401

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.

Practically have to do backflips to avoid accidentally signing up to Amazon Prime. Dark patterns deployed front and centre.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider all the horrors that large nations have inflicted on this world. You might conclude that they are an even worse fit for the position. In my country it is illegal not to subscribe to the state TV channel. The same cannot be said about Amazon Prime.

> In my country it is illegal not to subscribe to the state TV channel. Just curious: 1) What country 2) Do you have to pay?

1) I'd rather not say, although you can probably figure out from my post history if you really want to know

2) Yes

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#403
post #175
post #87

I’m just going to piss into the wind a little. After seeing what happened to Microsoft and Apple after they lost their founder CEOs, I don’t welcome this news as freely as others might. We’re not necessarily likely to see the company go directions that are for the better. (Maybe though this is really a rant about Cook. Amazon has lots of room to improve. Looking at all those forged brand names, for instance.)

Apple and Microsoft are arguably much better off today with their new leaders than they might've been. I don't see your point? I think Facebook, too, could use a new face at the top as a matter of fact.

I think it’s more the case that so many years have passed that it’s not like they were likely to fail. They just failed to succeed quite as much as their original CEOs could have made them. Steve left Tim a cash machine.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#404
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

People argue companies like Walmart don't want to pay their rival Amazon for cloud hosting, but the truth is if AWS is the best cloud provider, it makes business sense to go with them

They can pay Microsoft.

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#408

> 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…

> Jeff's pitch at the time (1997); so on point, so precise:

Agreed! He knew exactly what he was doing.

Interesting that he talks about attention being a scarce resource. Things did not improve from that point....

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#409
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

People argue companies like Walmart don't want to pay their rival Amazon for cloud hosting, but the truth is if AWS is the best cloud provider, it makes business sense to go with them

[deleted]

Re: Email from Jeff Bezos to employees

#410
> As Amazon became large, we decided to use our scale and scope to lead on important social issues. Two high-impact examples: our $15 minimum wage and the Climate Pledge.

Perhaps I'm overly cynical, but I don't think they made these moves because of altruism. They do pay their warehouse employees more than some warehouses, and people talk about changing jobs to work at Amazon because the pay is better. But they also talk about how demanding/grueling it is. I'm not sure Amazon could get people to do this work, for this many hours on end (in some cases allegedly without sufficient bathroom breaks) for less than $15/hr.

As for the climate, I think they would have been clobbered by environmentalists had they not done this. So while it's good that they pay their employees more than minimum wage, and they make efforts to reduce their environmental footprint, I view both of these moves as being in service of the bottom line.

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