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Postal Arbitrage

walzr.com

211–220 of 293 posts

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh, the 70s. Good memories.

I recall using this occasionally in the 90s even. There was also a period where I would regularly "one ring" my parents as code to call me back. IIRC that was because my cell plan had unlimited (or at least more) incoming minutes.

It will never stop being weird to me how US mobile plans make (or made) you pay for incoming calls and texts.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#212

Ah, luckily the climate doesn't mind that oil was extracted, a phone case was produced out of it, shipped from China, to end up not even being used but just as a "greeting card". Why yes, I am fun at parties.

The climate does indeed not mind.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#213
post #198
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note: the Verge article links to this blog post, describing the situation in more detail: https://www.readmargins.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage

Maybe that's my EU mindset, but I'm baffled how it's even legal to add a company to your public listing - complete with fake phone number - and just declare they're taking deliveries, all against the explicit wishes of the company. (Complete with "chill bro, I was just joking demand testing you" at the end) The blogger calls this being "tricked" to sign up for DoorDash. Seems to me, this is the same way a burglar "tr…

I can baffle you even more: if you register your company in Delaware, you don't even need to specify who owns the company.

You only need to specify the name and address of the registered agent, which is sort of a "contact person", not somebody who works for the company.

https://www.delawarebusinessincorporators.com/blogs/news/can... and https://velawood.com/anonymity-in-delaware/

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#214
I used to import a lot of stuff from the US to Norway. I lived all the way up in northern Norway, so parcels would take roughly 5 working days from Oslo to where I lived.

Domestic overnight mail / express mail was prohibitively expensive, something equivalent to $150 for small items.

However, if I ordered something via USPS International Express, those items would automatically be shipped as overnight / express mail once inside Norway, and handed to the Norwegian postal system. A parcel from New York to where I lived would take 2-3 working days, and as a bonus, USPS Int'l Express only cost around $50 for the same size parcel!

So while not the same type of arbitrage as OP posted about (where items become cheaper due to free shipping), I could save a lot of time and money.

Maybe a more extreme example would be the ultra cheap shipping prices from China. You paid like $1 in shipping, which would have cost $10 if you bought the same service domestically.

IIRC, the root of these practices go back many, many decades. And has a been a thorn on the side of modern shipping ever since Chinese e-commerce exploded.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#215
This reminds me of Digikey International Shipping rates - free for orders over $60. Without the massive bulk discount rates they presumably get the DHL Express International/FedEx International Priority cost is far more than $60.

https://www.digikey.com/en/help-support/delivery-information...

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#216
This is madness. Prime costs $139 per year. It may be a sunk cost for you, but it's explicitly a cost.

Try giving the USPS $139 per year and see what you can send with them.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you put all of the money Amazon as a whole has taken since it was founded in 1994 in a stack on the left, and all of the money Amazon as a whole has spent since then in a stack on the right, the stack on the left is slightly larger, but this has only been true for a couple of years now. It's the difference in 1990s billionaires and 2020s billionaires. Bill Gates was so rich because he owned a lot of Microsoft shar…

Can you share numbers? What are Amazon’s margins?

Across the board they're about 11%, I believe, though retail seems to be about 5% despite being the bulk of revenue. AWS has far higher margins.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#218
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain? Amazon is wildly profitable, and while AWS is far higher margin than their retail businesses, everything I can find suggests their retail segment also has a healthy operating margin.

If you put all of the money Amazon as a whole has taken since it was founded in 1994 in a stack on the left, and all of the money Amazon as a whole has spent since then in a stack on the right, the stack on the left is slightly larger, but this has only been true for a couple of years now. It's the difference in 1990s billionaires and 2020s billionaires. Bill Gates was so rich because he owned a lot of Microsoft shar…

None of which supports the argument of the person I replied to that what you buy from them today is somehow "subsidised by imaginary money"

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#219

There are some of us going to great lengths to reduce the amount of plastic we consume, the crap we buy and then throw out, distances travelled on our behalf. And then there are these people. Sending a pregnancy test to their grandma. What a hoot!

Sometimes it's a curse to think. My friend group years ago started "Secret Santa" at Christmas and I quickly realised it wasn't about giving useful or even entertaining gifts, it was just about the joke of the item itself. The more useless or stupid the better! I didn't realise this and chose a gift I thought would be appreciated but they were super disappointed that they weren't part of the joke. I've boycotted Secr…

Jokes are one of the good parts of human existence, so - while I see your side of the story - there is another side.

Re: Postal Arbitrage

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tipped generously. You shouldn't tip delivery drivers, it's literally their job.

Have fun when no one wants to deliver food to you.

The army of faceless delivery gig workers can’t exactly pick and choose. They deliver the food or they get banned from the platform and replaced by the next guy.
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