Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 560 posts

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#201

Post by freedomben »

justinrubek wrote: post #151
rainsford wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found myself gravitating back to local stores after years of buying essentially everything on Amazon because local stores at least to some degree curate their inventory while Amazon increasingly does not. If you're looking for a specific product that doesn't matter as much (although Amazon also has counterfeiting problems). But if you're just looking to browse what's available in a certain category of product, Amaz…

While the junk item situation on amazon is real, I can't agree with this take about local stores. I find that local stores tend to have random crap that they want to sell rather than high-quality items.

Yes, exactly my experience as well. And the more of a mom and pop store that it is, the worse this problem tends to be. I have actually audibly laughed out loud for a second before catching myself when seeing some of the prices.

Ironically, it's the big chains that seem to be the best on this. They have some curation and their pricing is usually a little higher than What I'll see on Amazon but isn't outrageous.

The big exception is anything edible, such as groceries. Anything edible on Amazon is going to be wildly overpriced. For edible items I definitely go to big chains that are local

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#202

Post by gruez »

carlosjobim wrote: post #153
cpitman wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That driving and time is amortized across 1000s of deliveries.

The product is delivered the same distance, whether it is from "Producer -> Amazon warehouses -> Customer" or if it is "Producer -> Retail warehouses -> Customer". An Amazon delivery car with a bunch of products to deliver is the equivalent of OP filling up his car with purchases when shopping in town.

>An Amazon delivery car with a bunch of products to deliver is the equivalent of OP filling up his car with purchases when shopping in town.

Right, but if you want something in 2-3 days (which amazon provides), you need to make a dedicated trip. Even if timing wasn't a factor, at best doing a consolidated errand run allows you to visit a handful of stores, whereas an amazon delivery van delivers to dozens of houses in your neighborhood in one trip.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#203

Post by driverdan »

a12k wrote: post #102

I’ve found that the rise of Apply Pay as a payment mechanism on random sites has been helpful in getting me off of Amazon. Often it’s just as easy to order something direct if they have Apple Pay (or ShopPay, but I have other issues with them) and the same price as Amazon. Plus discoverability is awful on Amazon anyways. Still don’t get the Whole Foods return ability when not shopping from Amazon, but not punching in…

Why do you care about providing your credit card number to order something? You're not liable for fraud and most banks will replace the card quickly. In 25 years of having credit cards and using them extensively online I've had them compromised only a few times. It's really not something to worry about.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#204

Post by kube-system »

Bishonen88 wrote: post #195
kube-system wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't dislike typing in my credit card numbers because I'm worried about the number leaking (This is the US, I hand my card to strangers a half dozen times per week), I dislike it because I have to go find my wallet and fill out a long form. Apple Pay is nice because I can slap one button on the top right of my keyboard.

A password manager can fill out CC details automatically as well.

Except basically none of them store the CVV and so even if I use them, I still have to go get my wallet. And many cannot fill out the varying expiration date fields correctly.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#206

Post by gruez »

gspetr wrote: post #119
vasco wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my grandpa's village everything was local production and commerce but they all lived way worse than me and my friends that get paid through remote companies and spend our money online. It's incredibly unclear to me why a super poor and undeveloped local economy is better than a specialized globalized one. In my country there was a dictatorship with protectionism and when we opened things got way better, not worse.…

Where were the police and regulations when Boeing's products killed hundreds of people? Last time I checked, nobody among top management went to prison for that. That's what "too big to fail" corporations can get you: failed products, anti-competitive environment, regulatory capture, no responsibility. Getting fined for a few (hundred) million dollars is not responsibility, it's chump change for multi-trillion dollar…

You can have "global business" that aren't "too big to fail". If anything, if you're pro-competition, blindly buying local has the same anti-competitive effects, because you're protecting the local firm from competition from elsewhere.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#207

Post by Symbiote »

gruez wrote: post #180
Symbiote wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many replies already, but one point that hasn't been mentioned: The local store pays their taxes — local and national taxes. Amazon is big enough to evade these, or where possible, pay small amounts only in Luxembourg, Delaware etc.

Amazon pays sales taxes, which makes up a big chunk of the local business' tax burden anyways. Moreover, the retail division Amazon barely makes any money, so any taxes on profit going to delaware or whatever is probably minimal (as % of your spend).

> Moreover, the retail division Amazon barely makes any money

That is exactly the kind of creative accounting unavailable to a small business.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#208

Post by freedomben »

dartos wrote: post #200
crazygringo wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> most of the profit goes to Bezos. Incorrect. Bezos only owns 8.8% of Amazon. Most of the profit is distributed to a wide variety of shareholders in the form of rising share prices, reflected in things like retirement accounts. In other words, a lot of that profit goes to grandmas across the country with their money in a Vanguard retirement fund. Including grandmas in your local community. And you really think the l…

> And you really think the local shopowner kept all the profit in their community? E.g. they didn't send their kids to college in another state? Imagine spending money and having that money allow people in your local community to afford college. Then imagine thinking that’s a bad thing. Obviously it’s complicated, but the gist is longer money stays in a local area, the better off that area is going to be. It’s better…

GP definitely did not say he thinks having people in the local community afford college is a bad thing. That's quite a straw man. Their point about the money quickly leaving the local economy is valid. If the shop owner is making a reasonable wage at the end of the day, then I think the local effect is good. Doubly so if they employ people from the local area. However, if the shop owner is getting rich and most of those profits are going into a fat bank account, then it makes no difference to the local economy. If helping the local economy is really your goal, I think there are much more efficient ways.

That said, I do mostly agree with you. Where we might differ is that I don't accept paying significant markup to shop local. If an item I want is available locally and is close to the same price as online, I will go local every time for exactly the reasons you mention: to help the local economy. But I have a low tolerance for The outrageous markup that most Small shops insist on applying. In my opinion, those shops probably should go out of business by being non-competitive. That would open up some room for a less greedy retailer to come and be more of a service to the local community.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#209

Post by hirsin »

driverdan wrote: post #203
a12k wrote: post #102

I’ve found that the rise of Apply Pay as a payment mechanism on random sites has been helpful in getting me off of Amazon. Often it’s just as easy to order something direct if they have Apple Pay (or ShopPay, but I have other issues with them) and the same price as Amazon. Plus discoverability is awful on Amazon anyways. Still don’t get the Whole Foods return ability when not shopping from Amazon, but not punching in…

Why do you care about providing your credit card number to order something? You're not liable for fraud and most banks will replace the card quickly. In 25 years of having credit cards and using them extensively online I've had them compromised only a few times. It's really not something to worry about.

Convenience. If it works like Google pay (fair bet?), it hands over your payment, billing, and shipping details in one go. It's wildly effective.

Re: Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses during busy holiday season

#210

Post by ITB »

I don’t understand why all these comments are about who buys or doesn’t buy at Amazon. The article is about unionization and strikes. I expect a conversation about the merits of unions and their negotiation tactics. In my opinion, events like these will just accelerate job elimination. The goal of a logistics company is to be reliable. Humans are unreliable and more so when they are purposely and collectively unreliable. I’ve lived in a country with very powerful unions and it sucks— miss every 5th flight because the union decides to strike.
Post reply on HN