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Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

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Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#191

Post by andrewguenther »

karmelapple wrote: post #143
inopinatus wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll echo that from personal experience. I left AWS to start my current company. I had a regret-prevention imperative to do so, but it was still the toughest call. Amazon's culture is highly polarising. The emergent properties of which are all the truths and lies you ever read about the place.

Can you confirm any truths or deny any lies?

My views don't represent that of my employer yada yada yada.

Anything in the NYTimes piece that wasn't a personal story was grounded in truth, but spun as bullshit. It was a hit piece. There are bad teams, but at a company of this size, there will always be bad teams, and I am sorry for the poor experiences that people seem to have had, but I would hardly call them widespread. The entire article has really become a bit of an internal joke. That is how ridiculous many people find their claims.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#192

Post by andrewguenther »

HashThis wrote: post #64
jacalata wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a lot of people who have left Amazon, and are very bitter about how it was to work there. I know some who are waiting out their signing bonus. I also know a lot who've left Microsoft, but they definitely have a lower average bitterness about the company.

I know a ton of people like this. 70% of the people I know didn't stay at Amazon past 4 years.

Is it unreasonable to want to try something new after 4 years? I don't really imagine staying with any company for more that 4-5 years.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#193

Post by andrewguenther »

sombremesa wrote: post #150
rifung wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also live in Seattle and worked at Amazon. When I was interviewing, a conversation I had often went something like this.. "Oh, I see that you were at Amazon; we've interviewed many people from there. I'd ask you why you left but I think I already know." I think it really just depends on your team though. Most of the people I worked with didn't particularly like Amazon (or working in general) but it was a job and pa…

They don't pay as well as most companies in Seattle, unless you're only looking at tiny companies or something. Maybe the new hire offer is market rate, but at 1+ years you are definitely going to be paid more anywhere else. Amazon's job levels are also structured to have higher requirements and lower pay than equivalent positions elsewhere.

Amazon's job levels outpace others fairly quickly I've found. If I were to ask for my salary at Google or FB, I'd probably get laughed out the door. You start lower, but if you work at it, you'll surpass what you'd be paid elsewhere. Benefits however is another story...

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#194

Post by [deleted] »

tamana wrote: post #61
danblick wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I think these lines are directly related to the NYT controversy: """ If it’s a distinctive culture, it will fit certain people like a custom-made glove. The reason cultures are so stable in time is because people self-select. Someone energized by competitive zeal may select and be happy in one culture, while someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose another. """

Rather bold to publish a letter saying that someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose to leave Amazon

[deleted]

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#195

Post by andrewguenther »

tamana wrote: post #61
danblick wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I think these lines are directly related to the NYT controversy: """ If it’s a distinctive culture, it will fit certain people like a custom-made glove. The reason cultures are so stable in time is because people self-select. Someone energized by competitive zeal may select and be happy in one culture, while someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose another. """

Rather bold to publish a letter saying that someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose to leave Amazon

That isn't what that sentence says at all....

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#196

Post by ryandrake »

preordained wrote: post #101

I work at a small software company, and too often our CEO and company will latch onto nuggets from material like this and use it to justify a "swing for the fences", "nothing ventured nothing gained" sort of mindset. All well and good, but they blithely overlook the "we fail all the time" parts, and sometimes we take risks where the potential losses are not easy to absorb, or we don't have the vast resources of a big…

Like when the Steve Jobs book came out and every CEO in the valley all of a sudden thought they were a product design genius.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#197

Post by JBReefer »

marincounty wrote: post #96
MichaelGG wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cancelled it because Amazon's abusing their position. Refusing to sell Chromecast and Apple TV, then lying, repeatedly, about the reason when asked? I've been an Amazon customer for 13 years. I was rather annoyed to see them go with the anti-Wikileaks and try to be "sensitive" by banning certain cultural items. But this shows they've zero commitment to selling products customers want. Edit: And it really hurts. Som…

I cancelled it because I was buying crap I didn't need. I cancelled it because I noticed the prices of items rising. I cancelled it because I felt guilty about a huge truck delivering an AM radio. I cancelled it because I was having problems with third party sellers. The real reason I cancelled it; the prices went up. It was slight at first, but after reading feedback, I noticed a trend. They all bought their item at…

Yeah, that's also definitely why they shut down PriceZombie. They're not the cheapest anymore, they know it, and they don't want to advertise it.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#198

Post by dlgeek »

zeven7 wrote: post #53
andys627 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fee is getting paid somehow - either by you up front, as a subscription, or for "free" built into the cost of the item.

That's not what I've heard. A quick search found me this: > The company loses an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion on Prime shipping annually http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-free-shipping-killing-am... Amazon wants market share enough to absorb a loss on shipping costs. It's part of why Amazon is still not profitable.

Not profitable? They made almost 600 million dollars profit, after taxes last year.

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#199

Post by lmm »

buro9 wrote: post #149
lmm wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. Delivery - For our flat, their network either fails to deliver, mis-delivers or screws up in some other way far more than they succeed. There is no option to choose the one postal service that shines for my property: Royal Mail. Anything I order from Amazon may turn up eventually, but certainly isn't going to arrive whenever they claim. This is my #1 reason for abandoning Amazon. Very few online stores give you…

> Very few online stores give you a choice of delivery service. The ones I'm now using all do. The different options of exigency are usually different providers, which is very convenient. > Oh? As a quick experiment I built a bike from components and accessories last year and couldn't find any of the items I wanted on Amazon, but have just tried again. No Rohloff hub, Enve rims, Gilles Berthoud mudguards, Schmidt dyn…

> The ones I'm now using all do.

Such as? What's the Amazon-like where I can buy a big range?

> The different options of exigency are usually different providers, which is very convenient.

That's true on Amazon too

> They're only "good enough" if having them means that you do not have the Netflix, Spotify and other things in place. A quick survey of the people sat around me with Prime is that every one still has those subscriptions elsewhere.

Hmm, weird. I don't know why you'd get Prime in that case - I guess they find the next day delivery worth the GBP80 on its own?

Re: Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders

#200

Post by kylehotchkiss »

hartator wrote: post #35
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #33

I'm trying to do some math. What is the total economic value of the actual Amazon river, and how many Amazon rivers economies did Amazon.com make last year. Anybody?

I guess you can now say Brazil has the 2nd most valuable Amazon.

ha! good one.
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