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Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

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Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#261

Post by icebraining »

cookiecaper wrote: post #260
icebraining wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cost customers? Amazon has free returns, and sometimes they even refund you and let you keep the item. Meanwhile, it's not like you can really test a toy in a store, and returning it means another trip.

Amazon only has free returns if you choose very specific options that place the blame wholly on the seller (I think it's "item defective"). If, for example, you say that you found a better price, or just didn't want the item anymore, Amazon charges a hefty return shipping fee and may also charge a restocking fee. Of course, this means that customers always choose that option, and FBA sellers get harmful demerits on t…

Nope, sorry. Just returned something, selecting that I ordered by mistake, yet didn't have to ship it back at all.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#262

Post by linkregister »

falsedan wrote: post #230
linkregister wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No way. The high-quality wooden hand-crafted toys at good mom & pop toy stores are not available on Amazon. Discoverability of good intellectually stimulating toys is similarly poor on Amazon. You also overestimate the delta between the Amazon price (if the product is carried by Amazon) and that of the brick & mortar price. Often the brick & mortar price is identical after shipping costs. The competitive advantage of…

> Often the brick & mortar price is identical after shipping costs. The competitive advantage of a good mom & pop toy store is a specialized, curated selection of unique merchandise. I think their main advantage is not the curation but the availability. You can plan a trip to the toy shop, agree to a budget, go and play with toys, choose something in budget, and go home with a toy. This is a way better parent-child b…

Museum shops are an excellent place to buy toys.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#263

Post by linkregister »

falsedan wrote: post #231
muse900 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but thats a very small example of the market. When we are looking at the generic market, nowadays people go to a store, look at something and then go on their phone to see if they'll find it cheaper anywhere else, as local stores tend to overprice stuff to make up their marginal costs.

I dare you to try telling a 3-year-old who's winding up a tantrum because they want the airsoft pistol from the other aisle that they have to wait 3 days for the sensible age-appropriate & mentally-stimulating toy to arrive.

You raise a good point. Availability is a huge advantage, especially for last-minute gift purchases. I haven't seen the good toys that I'm looking for on Amazon; I have seen them on Etsy.

On a tangential matter, I disagree with avoiding opportunities for teaching children delayed gratification in such a high impact way.

Think about it this way: every time you rightfully don't give your child something they want due to their bad behavior, you're giving them an effective lesson and improving their future life.

It's cruel to intentionally create situations that trigger a child; it should happen organically. It doesn't take long for children to adapt to understanding they won't get their way and start adopting appropriate self control.

Especially with modern research showing the damaging effects of corporal punishment, parents should take opportunities when they arise to discipline their children in a way that is meaningful to the child: withholding a toy they desire or another form of leverage.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#264

Post by Veelox »

linkregister wrote: post #263
falsedan wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dare you to try telling a 3-year-old who's winding up a tantrum because they want the airsoft pistol from the other aisle that they have to wait 3 days for the sensible age-appropriate & mentally-stimulating toy to arrive.

You raise a good point. Availability is a huge advantage, especially for last-minute gift purchases. I haven't seen the good toys that I'm looking for on Amazon; I have seen them on Etsy. On a tangential matter, I disagree with avoiding opportunities for teaching children delayed gratification in such a high impact way. Think about it this way: every time you rightfully don't give your child something they want due t…

I would be interested in seeing the research about the negative effects of corporal punishment if you have a link.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#265

Post by cookiecaper »

icebraining wrote: post #261
cookiecaper wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon only has free returns if you choose very specific options that place the blame wholly on the seller (I think it's "item defective"). If, for example, you say that you found a better price, or just didn't want the item anymore, Amazon charges a hefty return shipping fee and may also charge a restocking fee. Of course, this means that customers always choose that option, and FBA sellers get harmful demerits on t…

Nope, sorry. Just returned something, selecting that I ordered by mistake, yet didn't have to ship it back at all.

It's possible that Amazon has some algorithm that decides whether a product is worth returning or not, and that they just tell you to keep the product since the cost of return handling, etc., would consume the margin they'd make reselling it. I'm not sure if this type of algorithm would be applicable to FBA sellers, but I doubt Amazon would want it to be, since they'd lose out on the opportunity to collect additional handling fees from the seller.

Just conjecture at this point as I don't think any non-Amazon employee could know exactly all the details around when Amazon decides to charge a return handling fee, etc. I guess this may be in the fine print somewhere, but I would rather expect the fine print just to say "We can charge you a return handling fee if we want".

My experience is that I tried to return something last year, and Amazon was going to dock 12 dollars of my 14 dollar refund for return shipping if I clicked anything other than "defective". The product wasn't defective so I just decided to keep it, not worth the hassle for a $2 refund.

Did you order from a third-party FBA seller? If you did, they will often tell unsatisfied customers to keep the product and issue a refund anyway, because they'd rather be out one unit than have a return against them.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#266

Post by jimmaswell »

heurist wrote: post #218
jimmaswell wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Local will re-emerge with tighter communities. Suburbs are unsustainable wastes and we'll have to adapt by reforming walkable cities. Kids will have tons to explore at that point, like they used to. The suburb hate bandwagon on here has gotten way out of hand. They are not inherently unsustainable and it is not a "waste" to spend a bit more resources to make a space that's nicer to live in. Not everybody wants to ha…

If you can form that argument more convincingly than Jane Jacobs I'll give it more thought. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_and_Life_of_Great_Am...

A lot of people simply dislike density beyond the density found in small towns and suburbs and are willing to pay a bit of a premium for that living condition. The author even "admits that the ideas of the Garden City and the Decentrists made sense on their own terms: a suburban town appealing to privacy-oriented, automobile-loving personalities should tout its green space and low-density housing. [Their] anti-orthodox frustration stems from the fact that their anti-urban biases somehow became an inextricable part of the mainstream academic and political consensus on how to design cities themselves[.]"

I noticed that the author mentions that a busier city street is safer from violent crime but doesn't acknowledge that very busy streets are also havens for pickpockets, whereas you generally get it both ways on mostly-vacant-except-cars streets in lower density areas with little to no violent crime.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#267

Post by icebraining »

cookiecaper wrote: post #265
icebraining wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, sorry. Just returned something, selecting that I ordered by mistake, yet didn't have to ship it back at all.

It's possible that Amazon has some algorithm that decides whether a product is worth returning or not, and that they just tell you to keep the product since the cost of return handling, etc., would consume the margin they'd make reselling it. I'm not sure if this type of algorithm would be applicable to FBA sellers, but I doubt Amazon would want it to be, since they'd lose out on the opportunity to collect additional…

It wasn't from FBA, sold by Amazon itself.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#268

Post by wolverine876 »

falsedan wrote: post #237
wolverine876 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brandon did very well at Dominos; Bain Capital, Dominos' owners, certainly thought so, because they later hired him to run Toys R Us. > Since Dave left Michigan, the interim AD hired Jim Harbaugh, and the football program is now regularly in top 10 in the nation. Harbaugh's record through 2 seasons + 3 games = 23-6 Brady Hoke, the coach Brandon hired, through the same period = 22-7. Hoke also beat Ohio State during t…

> But more important to the University of Michigan than winning a children's game played with a ball, Rude.

I very much enjoy watching football, and might have seen over 100 Michigan football games. But it's a game; the welfare and education of the students playing it are real life.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#269

Post by wolverine876 »

aswanson wrote: post #257
wolverine876 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm amazed and saddened to find this written here. What you read in the parent is the content of a social media slander campaign from years ago led by a blogger named Brian Cook (who runs a blog popular with University of Michigan sports fans called MGoBlog), apparently because Brandon fired Cook's favorite coach. Sorry this is so long, but I can't watch a good person's reputation be slandered. Dave Brandon was a cla…

How was there not a lawsuit against him for what he did to the thirteen year old?

I've wondered that. Perhaps the ~13 year old felt intimidated or ashamed (completely unfairly, but they are 13 facing the wrath of a mob of adults) and hid it from their parents? Maybe the parents were absentee, didn't care, didn't know what to do, or lacked resources? IIRC, the kid lived in another state, complicating things. Or maybe there was a lawsuit and quiet settlement, and I just don't know about it.

Also, IIRC, the ~13 year old's forum posts were fine, they just disagreed with Cook and his mob, apparently a crime in Cook's mind. Not that any forum post would ever justify doxxing someone.

Cook also ran a campaign against two journalists at one of the major Detroit newspapers who broke the story of the football team's (and Cook's beloved Coach Rodriguez's) NCAA violations. At least one, and I think both, of the journalists left town for greener pastures. For years afterward, and probably to this day, Cook's supporters vilified the reporters for the team's violations. That will teach them for practicing journalism.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#270

Post by tootie »

anitil wrote: post #173
tootie wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just sat through a meeting with a bunch of high-level execs at a huge corporation. The amount of shrugging and barely educated guessing that goes into million dollar decisions is pretty absurd. The main qualification seems to be the willingness to make decisions in the face of uncertainty.

I have no experience at that sort of level, so can't speak to your experience, but being able to make decisions in the face of uncertainty is black magic to me. I think there is definitely value in being able to do it.

"Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous.”

- General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord

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