How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail • Hacker News Board

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#151

Post by dclowd9901 » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 4:15 AM UTC

arjunnarayan wrote: post #97

cglee wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Zappos first came out I thought they'd tank. I purchase new basketball/running shoes every 6months, and never ever make a new purchase without trying it on. Playing basketball or running with an even slightly uncomfortable shoe can lead to blistering, back problems, ankle sprains, etc. But my gf at the time thought it was brilliant. What I learned was that a lot of women's shoes are purchased based on anything e…

Yes. The build quality of women's shoes is astoundingly bad. Sometimes I look at them and they literally feel like glued on piece of leather, pretty on the outside, and nothing more. It's interesting how two different markets have developed (men's shoes and women's shoes) that have such different parameters. Men's shoes have outstanding build quality --- to the point where a good pair of quality shoes gets resoled mu…

I wouldn't say it was "bad". Women's shoes are designed with fashion and daintiness in mind. They seem flimsy because they are flimsy, and they are flimsy because well crafted, long lasting shoes are big and burly with lots of material and stitching. This goes counter to the point of the shoes: to look trim and to make the woman's foot look small and pretty.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#152

Post by ww520 » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 4:17 AM UTC

fsckin wrote: post #98

Amazon failed to collect/remit ~270M in sales tax in Texas and has owed millions for years. So what did the state of Texas do about it? They struck a deal to erase the 270M owed, as long as Amazon starts collecting sales tax starting 7/1, create 2000 jobs and invest 200M in Texas. They were likely already planning more infrastructure in Texas, but threatened to reverse course and pull out of the state entirely. The w…

Texas would have collected double taxes in the form of use tax from its resident and the sales tax from Amazon.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#153

Post by sanjiallblue » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 4:28 AM UTC

Once 3D printing tech gets off the ground, same-day delivery could end up becoming common or even the standard.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#154

Post by damian2000 » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 4:51 AM UTC

Here's the original Financial Times article that this one was mostly taken from (nb: this link avoids their paywall via google's url redirection):

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9...

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#155

Post by smallblacksun » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 4:53 AM UTC

ww520 wrote: post #152

fsckin wrote: post #98

Amazon failed to collect/remit ~270M in sales tax in Texas and has owed millions for years. So what did the state of Texas do about it? They struck a deal to erase the 270M owed, as long as Amazon starts collecting sales tax starting 7/1, create 2000 jobs and invest 200M in Texas. They were likely already planning more infrastructure in Texas, but threatened to reverse course and pull out of the state entirely. The w…

Texas would have collected double taxes in the form of use tax from its resident and the sales tax from Amazon.

No one actually pays use taxes.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#156

Post by ShabbyDoo » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 4:57 AM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #110

steve8918 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon has an absolutely amazing return policy. I've only returned an item once, but it was a $400 USB video adapter that didn't work with my monitors. I just printed out a UPS label, and returned it to the closest UPS store for free, and I got an instant refund.

"Amazon has an absolutely amazing return policy." Watch out of Amazon Marketplace though. I bought a copy of The Wire through there that ended up being pirated (and terrible quality), and Amazon would neither refund the purchase nor shut down the vendor, even after we got a letter from HBO confirming that it was a pirated copy.

Did you contest the charge with your credit card provider? I can't imagine that Amazon would contest such a claim.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#157

Post by MartinCron » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 5:08 AM UTC

tomfakes wrote: post #65

learc83 wrote: post #43

The other day I ordered something from Amazon, and it showed up in a small cargo van, delivered by a guy without a uniform, and in a package with no UPS or FEDEX label (or any other delivery label I could discern apart from the amazon labels). Was this some kind of test for Amazon ran delivery from a local warehouse?

The package I had delivered today came via Amazon Fresh - the grocery delivery service they are testing in the Seattle area. It looks like they're also using it for non-Fresh items too for small, commodity items like CDs This is Amazon owning the entire process from order until the item is in my hand.

I use Amazon fresh all the time, and it's possible to get all sorts of non-grocery things through it. I think it's whatever Amazon.com stuff they have available in the local warehouse.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#158

Post by MartinCron » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 5:18 AM UTC

cjensen wrote: post #25

S201 wrote: post #10

Looks like Amazon is finally bringing Webvan to fruition. Only took 11 years.

By building many warehouses before proving the idea works, they appear to also be repeating Webvan's greatest error.

They've been working on making the idea work in Seattle for years now. It has been fascinating to watch the many different iterations and experimentations. To say that they're just building warehouses isn't even close to correct, they are proving their business model, startup-style.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#159

Post by dubya » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 5:19 AM UTC

fsckin wrote: post #98

Amazon failed to collect/remit ~270M in sales tax in Texas and has owed millions for years. So what did the state of Texas do about it? They struck a deal to erase the 270M owed, as long as Amazon starts collecting sales tax starting 7/1, create 2000 jobs and invest 200M in Texas. They were likely already planning more infrastructure in Texas, but threatened to reverse course and pull out of the state entirely. The w…

I recently got an email from Amazon stating the amount I owed sales tax on in my home state of Tennessee, with a link to a tn.gov site where I could pay. Amazon actually seems to ship a lot of things to Memphis, so I'm not sure why they don't collect it directly.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#160

Post by InclinedPlane » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 5:23 AM UTC

sebastianavina wrote: post #70

InclinedPlane wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the same county as Amazon's HQ, I pay full sales tax on everything there, it hasn't changed my shopping habits one bit, amazon is just such a better deal most of the time.

so, this means we are heading to a walmart vs amazon war? shit just got real.

False dichotomy. In the big box race to the bottom of prices, perhaps, but that's not the whole market (for amazon or for retail).