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Costco is the anti-Amazon

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Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#601

Post by me-vs-cat »

twoodfin wrote: post #597
me-vs-cat wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is responsive to your question on why the government should have something to say about price negotiations between producers and retailers of frozen pizzas.

Government overreach X is good because in a sea of bad consequences, a few good things happen, too? It’s much better for governments to be principled, and only interfere with mutually voluntary engagements by citizens when there’s an urgent harm to remedy.

Despite your assumptions, you should realize all I said was that government representatives should care about the topic and have something to say.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#602

Post by account42 »

hx8 wrote: post #319
oatmeal1 wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The next revolution is zoning reform so it's legal to build shopping people want to do within walking distance of where they live.

As someone that has lived in a walkable neighborhood with a lot of shopping let me tell you, it doesn't solve the problem. Realistically you aren't going to reach more than 250k skus within a 20 minute walk of your home, and probably less. Even this is very heavily biased towards using retail space instead of space for anything else (homes, restaurants, parks, offices). You can only build up to add more space within…

I don't think counting SKUs gives you a very useful metric. For example my local grocery store has a whole isle of different flours. Sounds great but its just a couple of brands each having their own interchangeable version of five or so standard flours with barely anything outside that range. That's not to stay that having choice for the "same" product is never useful but clearly not all additional SKUs provide the same amount of additional useful choice.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#603

Post by close04 »

robocat wrote: post #557
close04 wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rotation is because they stock the product for which they can negotiate the best discount. But as you say the 20k SKUs premium stores stock aren’t a necessity. They drive up the costs for the store and the price for the buyer all so the buyer has the feeling they bought something different, when many brands are anyway the same product under different labels. The premium store 3 minutes from my home stocks 30 type…

> That’s what 99% of people buy anyway Until there's one less common thing you want. If you don't care much about flavour or have no taste in products then you can sub in any crap food or product. I go to a particular supermarket because it has the tomatoes I like: they just can't be substituted. It also has an uncommon milk that is the only one I really like. The issue gets harder once you desire specific Deli foods…

That’s fine, you’ll just need to walk 10min extra to the specialty/ethnic/Deli store which stocks that. Supply is proportional to the demand so you can’t expect every niche item to be sold right next to you. How many types of milk can every store stock just so everyone can see their niche preference 10 min walk from anywhere?

250k SKUs means everything anyone would ever want. But the distribution of the demand for those SKUs is very lopsided. 20k are what everyone buys. Another 20k are probably things almost nobody buys. So how could you have both high and low demand items spread equally through a city without creating waste? If everything needs to be 10-20 min from you then somewhere a store is sitting empty with barely any customers or a shelf isn’t touched by anyone. The logistics for stocking and supplying products almost nobody buys costs everyone else.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#604

Post by shimman »

righthand wrote: post #318
shimman wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I understand your overall point your example of tailwind just seems odd. The idea that a css library makes or breaks what a project is capable of is kinda... IDK... laughable? What is the challenge in downloading class names into a style directory?

> The idea that a css library makes or breaks what a project is capable of is kinda... IDK... laughable? Then you didn’t understand my point, because it didn’t make or break a project. Making or breaking a project wasn’t my point. Who works with Tailwind? The dev writing code or the product person demanding that Tailwind be used in code they’ll never maintain or even look at?

Okay then I still don't know your point outside of wanting to take a "stand" against a CSS library.

You need to write more clear + intentional because you aren't clear in what you're saying at all.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#605

Post by victorbjorklund »

throw1234567891 wrote: post #587
victorbjorklund wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus no wonder Americans are so fat when they don’t even have strength enough to carry their shopping bags

It’s funny that you assume I’m a fat American. Don’t assume so much. And what does Jesus have to do with it.

I never assumed that you're fat. I have no idea what your BMI is. It was more a comment about Americans not being able to use their bodies to carry their own groceries. Of course being lacy and not able to do physical work can still mean that you're skinny. It wasn't a comment about you personally but about your culture.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#606

Post by chrsw »

gcanyon wrote: post #583
chrsw wrote: post #567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not unusual, but most people can't afford to live in NYC.

You're reminding me of the Yogi Berra quote (paraphrasing): "New York is so expensive no one lives there anymore." You're not wrong, but millions (literally) of people do afford to live in NYC. I live in Harlem, which is more fun and more affordable than many areas.

I didn't mean nobody lives there. I meant if you plucked random people from all over the country and told them to relocate to NYC, odds are they would need a massive income increase to survive. And even then, it would be touch-and-go for most.

I'm from Harlem, and other parts of NYC. I moved out to pursue a career in an industry that is relatively non-existent in the NYC metro area. If I moved back now I could probably afford it on my current salary. But there are no jobs there for what I do. And if there was a bigger tech industry in NYC the costs would likely be even higher.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#607

Post by mlinsey »

mike50 wrote: post #484
mlinsey wrote: post #472

Costco is an elegant solution for the suburbs, where everyone is driving around a vehicle large enough to store giant boxes off a pallet and bring them home. Here in NYC, it's really impractical to go to a warehouse and carry a month's worth of supplies home on the subway. The flip side is that the Amazon last mile deliveries are done on electric scooters that can bring a whole trailer worth of packages to the mailro…

This has to be astoturfed or something. There is literally a Costco in Manhattan and several in suburban Queens and Staten Island. Nothing stops you from going to Costco and just getting a cab back for a once a month trip.

You got me, I'm totally paid off. Real New Yorkers love to go five miles (just for the closest one to me, in Manhattan seven avenues over and around 100 streets north), take a cab back from shopping, then haul costco-sized boxes up the stairs. I only pretended to not love that to get the sweet check from daddy Bezos (good thing he didn't notice my aside criticizing the e-bike trailers breaking traffic laws, though I guess that was subtle if you haven't been following the controversy about them here)

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#608

Post by mlinsey »

mlinsey wrote: post #607
mike50 wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has to be astoturfed or something. There is literally a Costco in Manhattan and several in suburban Queens and Staten Island. Nothing stops you from going to Costco and just getting a cab back for a once a month trip.

You got me, I'm totally paid off. Real New Yorkers love to go five miles (just for the closest one to me, in Manhattan seven avenues over and around 100 streets north), take a cab back from shopping, then haul costco-sized boxes up the stairs. I only pretended to not love that to get the sweet check from daddy Bezos (good thing he didn't notice my aside criticizing the e-bike trailers breaking traffic laws, though I…

Also, I just want to step back and actually give Costco some props here for their brand loyalty. Inshallah, when I have a 400 Billion market cap company and someone writes a fawningblog post about how awesome I am from a social-benefit perspective and how socialist mayors should learn from me…it’ll be the skeptical comments that will be suspected as paid shills for my $2T competitor!

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#609

Post by throw1234567891 »

victorbjorklund wrote: post #605
throw1234567891 wrote: post #587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny that you assume I’m a fat American. Don’t assume so much. And what does Jesus have to do with it.

I never assumed that you're fat. I have no idea what your BMI is. It was more a comment about Americans not being able to use their bodies to carry their own groceries. Of course being lacy and not able to do physical work can still mean that you're skinny. It wasn't a comment about you personally but about your culture.

I mean, you assume I'm American.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#610

Post by adi_kurian »

rpdillon wrote: post #262
adi_kurian wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are four Costco's in NYC, all but one in working class neighborhoods, and full of large families getting deals.

Yeah, they're in Manhattan. Wasn't trying to paint NYC as homogeneous, just wanted to ground my opinions with experience folks can understand.

I lived two blocks from a Costco in Manhattan for quite some time.

I totally get where you are coming from, just offering a counter. I have observed that the packed like tinned sardines is one kind of life, typically lived by transient folks who desire to live in the hippest neighborhoods, get gouged, live in shitboxes, and then move on and say "I needed more space and convenience", when the space and convenience was always there, just not next to an Equinox.

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