Legislation would unmask third-party sellers, but Amazon is fighting it • Hacker News Board

Re: Legislation would unmask third-party sellers, but Amazon is fighting it

#81

Post by technofiend » Sat, Jun 12, 2021, 11:22 AM UTC

mech422 wrote: post #72

skak wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason people on HN have hate for the post office is they are influenced by capitalists who want another industry to “disrupt.” American oligarchs have been declaring war on public services since the New Deal, and over time American workers have sadly been propagandized to buy into it. As a result, the U.S. Post Office is not what it used to be (it used to offer banking services!!!) but it’s still one of the…

I have hate for the post office because I get like 1 legitimate piece of mail a month, yet the post office is constantly stuffing those stupid supermarket flyers in my box with no opt-out. So I got a PO Box...Aaaannnd of course the P.O. couldn't forward that 1 piece of mail properly :-p so yeah - I find them useless and actively avoid any items that will be delivered by them (eg 'e-packet' stuff from aliexpress is a…

Interesting. I literally never get flyers of any kind in my po box. I used to get them at home but opted out using the usual process.

Weirdly I have the opposite experience using foreign delivery services: my wife buys items from Japan regularly that come DHL and I've never lost one. But I don't use my po box to forward mail, just receive it.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Refuse-unwanted-mail-and-remo...

Re: Legislation would unmask third-party sellers, but Amazon is fighting it

#82

Post by technofiend » Sat, Jun 12, 2021, 11:32 AM UTC

sneak wrote: post #47

skak wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason people on HN have hate for the post office is they are influenced by capitalists who want another industry to “disrupt.” American oligarchs have been declaring war on public services since the New Deal, and over time American workers have sadly been propagandized to buy into it. As a result, the U.S. Post Office is not what it used to be (it used to offer banking services!!!) but it’s still one of the…

Replace "disrupt" with "replace with an improved version" and you have accurately characterized my view. The USPS does an absolutely terrible job, by objective measure. Many of their locations are significantly understaffed, with 30-60 minute waits for basic services (for paying customers!). Rude, unhelpful employees are the norm. Why should package and letter delivery be a public service? Their approach is not worki…

You'll never please everyone: any replacement service will have the same complaints magnified by the fact they'll be unable to operate at the post office's scale. My local post office can have lines but they greet me and any other regular by name. They're also down the street from me. In fact there are several within a three mile radius and that's a good thing.

My experience going to FedEx and other post office competitors is the polar opposite. Everyone there is pissed off they're forced to schlep across the city to some grubby terminal staffed by permanently disaffected employees. FedEx is fortunately a couple of miles away but if I'm forced to go to UPS that's a ten mile drive and DHL is more like 23 miles and that's in traffic because I'm not taking a day off for a package pick up.

So I don't agree aggregation down to a few physical places for package pick up when otherwise service will be for me worse and equally bad or worse for everyone else is an improvement. The only change will be a publicly traded company will be chasing new levels of poorer service every quarter because their #1 duty is not to their customers but their shareholders. It's exactly the opposite of what you want in a customer-facing service.

You only have to look at customer ratings of the local competitors to see what the public thinks of corporate run delivery services now. They hate them. I am skeptical yet another delivery service could improve much less disrupt anything, other than ruin a public service. Hate the post office? Then engage in the political process and help it improve.

Re: Legislation would unmask third-party sellers, but Amazon is fighting it

#83

Post by mech422 » Sat, Jun 12, 2021, 10:46 PM UTC

technofiend wrote: post #81

mech422 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have hate for the post office because I get like 1 legitimate piece of mail a month, yet the post office is constantly stuffing those stupid supermarket flyers in my box with no opt-out. So I got a PO Box...Aaaannnd of course the P.O. couldn't forward that 1 piece of mail properly :-p so yeah - I find them useless and actively avoid any items that will be delivered by them (eg 'e-packet' stuff from aliexpress is a…

Interesting. I literally never get flyers of any kind in my po box. I used to get them at home but opted out using the usual process. Weirdly I have the opposite experience using foreign delivery services: my wife buys items from Japan regularly that come DHL and I've never lost one. But I don't use my po box to forward mail, just receive it. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Refuse-unwanted-mail-and-remo...

Unless its changed - you can't refuse stuff addressed to 'occupant' like supermarket flyers. You can remove your _name_ from mailing lists, but that wasnt' my issue. So I got a 'PO Box' from a local ups store type place. Now I don't get junk mail.

Maybe the difference is due to my "PO Box" actually being at a store and not an actual Post Office? It's at a local ups store/mailboxes etc. type store, so the Post Office would actually have to forward the mail, not just drop it in a PO Box on premise.

Re: Legislation would unmask third-party sellers, but Amazon is fighting it

#84

Post by miej » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 3:48 PM UTC

aidenn0 wrote: post #33

babypuncher wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the offloaded liability is just a technicality and is a poor lack of incentive for Amazon to do anything. Sure, the product was sold by a non-Amazon third party, but from the user perspective the defective product was purchased on Amazon. The company can deflect blame to the marketplace sellers all they want, but it's still Amazon's reputation that receives the most lasting damage.

I am wondering if Amazon is immune to reputational damage though. People have been complaining about counterfeit and defective products from Amazon for about 5 years now, and it doesn't seem to have had significant effect on market share. I've been disentangling my purchasing habits from Amazon, but I don't know too many other people who are.

i cancelled my prime subscription yesterday after finally getting frustrated enough by so much of what i've bought/wanted to buy on amazon being clearly fraudulent in one way or another. forget free shipping, i want products that work, and which actually are what they are advertised as. i've wasted too much time munging through reviews to try to figure out if a good product was stealthily replaced with a dud, if manufacturing standards dropped significantly, if the seller was paying for positive reviews, not to mention time/effort wasted on returns and discovering that the products i got were in fact blatantly counterfeit/defective.

yall probably know rule 34, but I'm pretty sure there should be another rule of the internet: "if a product exists, it will be counterfeited on amazon". just try taking a look at how many people on the amazon sellers forum have their businesses/brands seriously harmed by the myriad of counterfeiters on amazon.

i also recommend this write-up for more perspective on the extent and nature of fraud on e-commerce platforms: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/20_0124...

Re: Legislation would unmask third-party sellers, but Amazon is fighting it

#85

Post by aidenn0 » Tue, Jun 15, 2021, 9:16 PM UTC

miej wrote: post #84

aidenn0 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am wondering if Amazon is immune to reputational damage though. People have been complaining about counterfeit and defective products from Amazon for about 5 years now, and it doesn't seem to have had significant effect on market share. I've been disentangling my purchasing habits from Amazon, but I don't know too many other people who are.

i cancelled my prime subscription yesterday after finally getting frustrated enough by so much of what i've bought/wanted to buy on amazon being clearly fraudulent in one way or another. forget free shipping, i want products that work, and which actually are what they are advertised as. i've wasted too much time munging through reviews to try to figure out if a good product was stealthily replaced with a dud, if manu…

My biggest problem so far has been finding alternatives that are not just as fraudulent. So far picking a retail store and only getting things that are "available for pickup" even if I plan to have it shipped seems to work for me, but that greatly reduces the available options. Buying direct from the manufacturer often works, but some mfgrs have switched to a storefront on Amazon :(