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Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

bigtechnology.substack.com

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Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#51

Post by legitster »

rootusrootus wrote: post #16
fhrow4484 wrote: post #4

> Jeff Bezos, this one’s for you. This provision aims at Amazon’s practice of using data it collects from third-party merchants to enhance its own private label offerings. If it passes, the practice would be blatantly illegal. Would it equally apply to physical stores like Safeway, Kroger, Costco's private labels like "Private Selection", "Simple Truth", "Kirkland", ... What makes Amazon different in this regard? Is…

> What makes Amazon different in this regard? Safeway/Kroger/Costco do not have direct third-party merchants, do they? They are just resellers. This is fundamentally different from what Amazon is doing.

I worked for Frito Lay as a salesperson and yes perhaps only 20% - 40% of grocery store inventory is maintained by the store staff. The rest was space that we were allocated to sell our stuff.

Stores would pay for the inventory, but we would rebate them for what would not sell as an incentive to make sure we put out products that actually sold.

But I would literally come in every day to the larger stores and put product on the shelf and argue with the manager about inventory and clean up our area.

None of the stores I worked at explicitly sold shelf space (I think), but our corporate worked with their corporate to determine how much space in each store would maximize their revenue. I am sure newcomers would have to do extra to guarantee they would make enough money for the stores to take risks on them.

Needless to say, they had all of our sales data when it came to developing store brands.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#52

Post by throwaway1777 »

sbacic wrote: post #11

I remember reading once that tech companies, on average, lobby less that traditional industries, such as fossil fuels and finance. I wonder if the lesson they will take from this is that, rather than reform, they should invest more in lobbying. Considering how much money and influence on the public opinion they have, that's a rather scary thought.

I’m pretty sure that’s not the case anymore. FAANG definitely lobbies now.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#53

Post by paulpauper »

>The bills may change before they’re introduced, and they’ll inevitably go through a political process that will water them down. But even if only a portion of what’s written gets passed, the tech giants will lose several advantages they’ve exploited in recent years.

Yeah that is the rub.

It's like in 1998 "we're gonna break up Microsoft!"

2002: "ok Microsoft will agree to make some some changes to their business but otherwise whatever"

Big tech is going to get bigger. Congress does not want to risk destabilizing the economy and and losing reelection as a result by being too hard on tech. These companies employ a lot of people and generate a lot of econ value even if there are a lot of reasons to complain about their business practices.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#54

Post by ethbr0 »

I've come around and landed more on the opinion that we're now enabling our jailors.

Light tech regulation was exactly the correct approach in the 1990s (and arguably the 2000s). It enabled mind-boggling rapid and stunning innovation.

... However, the massive corporate fortunes built by the winners of those times are now primarily enabling rent seeking.

Google and Facebook's other work is interesting in the same way that Bell Labs was interesting -- great for a few, but funded by taxing everyone (albeit via tracking and ad market control in this instance).

And they've learned from their predecessors' demises that part of their winnings need to be continually re-invested in buying startups that might threaten their dominance.

IMHO, everyone will be better off if Facebook, Google, and Amazon are shattered into small enough independent pieces that (1) "get bought" is no longer the startup win condition & (2) they have peer level competitors in all markets in which they participate.

Apple and Microsoft? Mandate open app stores and devices, if an owning user so chooses.

Thinking back to the 90s... if anyone has guaranteed revenue streams out 10 and 20 years these days, the market as a whole isn't competitive enough. That should be enough time for the entire playing field to upend itself.

At least, it used to be.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#55

Post by frumper »

zer00eyz wrote: post #45
fhrow4484 wrote: post #4

> Jeff Bezos, this one’s for you. This provision aims at Amazon’s practice of using data it collects from third-party merchants to enhance its own private label offerings. If it passes, the practice would be blatantly illegal. Would it equally apply to physical stores like Safeway, Kroger, Costco's private labels like "Private Selection", "Simple Truth", "Kirkland", ... What makes Amazon different in this regard? Is…

Your point is valid and correct. Most of you remember Twinkies, its parent company going bankrupt and them being gone... Those products were delivered to stores, fresh every day(ish) by manufacturer employees and put ON THE SHELF by them... This still remains true for tons of products. For some products grocery stores function like a merchant on amazon. Data tracking... well that really matters to a grocery store, be…

Amazon claims it doesn't have liability if those Twinkie's cause harm like the grocery store would.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#56

Post by shkkmo »

klodolph wrote: post #27
rootusrootus wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What makes Amazon different in this regard? Safeway/Kroger/Costco do not have direct third-party merchants, do they? They are just resellers. This is fundamentally different from what Amazon is doing.

If you think that a supermarket buys products wholesale and then puts them on shelves for customers to buy, you don't understand how supermarkets work.

I'd love to read a good article talking about how inventory acquisition and management works at divergent super market chains... I suspect a lot of the interesting details are considered trade secrets though.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#57

Post by jsolson »

rootusrootus wrote: post #40
xyzzyz wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They all have their own store brands.

Sure, but if they are the actual customers of their suppliers, it doesn't seem like what Amazon does. I don't walk into Kroger and buy Doritos from Frito-Lay with Kroger just doing the fulfillment and payment processing, do I? I'm actually buying product that Kroger owns. At least this is how I understand it. I am 100% open to being schooled in how it actually plays out. I'm just a software guy, but I like to learn.

If you're curious, The Secret Life of Groceries is a good (and interesting) read.

One tl; dr thing is that the supermarkets are a _supplier_ to both end customers and those with products to sell. They supply shelf space and customer reach, in the very literal sense that companies bid for things like endcap placement (the end of the aisle being better than being in the aisle, since everyone making an orbit through, say, the deli section will pass your goods).

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#58

Post by wizzwizz4 »

beastman82 wrote: post #18
h2odragon wrote: post #15

Good reporting! Congress is made of people, the process of lawmaking is just group text editing, and they answer their phones. If you think any of these ideas are good ones and would make good law; call your Congresspipples and tell them so . Otherwise the only people they hear from are the sleazy lobbyists speaking paid words, and the silly beltway denizens who wouldn't know the real world if it shat on their desk.

Unless the real world shits on their desk with a large campaign contribution they still won't care.

Funnily enough, some politicians care about their jobs.

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#59

Post by creato »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #34

What if the FAANG companies were paying taxes like ordinary businesses do, wouldn't this be enough to fund free medical services for every US resident?

It's not even remotely close. FAANG total revenue is $275 billion [1].

National health expenditures are $3.8 trillion [2].

You'd have to tax FAANG on revenue at a rate of over 1000% for this to be true.

1. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/tr...

2. https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Sta...

Re: Congress is going to throw the kitchen sink at big tech

#60

Post by root_axis »

Jaygles wrote: post #43
fhrow4484 wrote: post #4

> Jeff Bezos, this one’s for you. This provision aims at Amazon’s practice of using data it collects from third-party merchants to enhance its own private label offerings. If it passes, the practice would be blatantly illegal. Would it equally apply to physical stores like Safeway, Kroger, Costco's private labels like "Private Selection", "Simple Truth", "Kirkland", ... What makes Amazon different in this regard? Is…

Another difference between Amazon and physical stores is that Amazon has pagination. If a product ends up on the second or third page, it will likely not be seen by the vast majority of customers. With physical stores, your options are always all right in front of you.

Stores are constrained by the limits of physical space, it's exactly the same thing as an Amazon "first page" except at least with Amazon you have the option to visit the second page. In a physical store anything that would have been relegated to the second page is simply unavailable.
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