More technology driven hyper-deflation on the way. The future: high inflation in food, energy, fuel, and consumables, hyper-deflation in everything else except to the extent that it depends on or consumes the former.
What else could you expect when the explicit goal of monetary policy is to fight natural deflation? (how does any upstart win in a competitive market? doing better things cheaper). The costs of manufacturing and services are dropping the quickest, so feedback-driven monetary inflation causes the price of raw resources to skyrocket.
Amazon failed to collect/remit ~270M in sales tax in Texas and has owed millions for years. So what did the state of Texas do about it? They struck a deal to erase the 270M owed, as long as Amazon starts collecting sales tax starting 7/1, create 2000 jobs and invest 200M in Texas. They were likely already planning more infrastructure in Texas, but threatened to reverse course and pull out of the state entirely. The w…
The residents are required to pay a use tax on things purchased out of state. I don't see this as Amazon's responsibility.
I remember my grandmother telling us how first the bus and then the family car let her shop where she wanted to. Stores adapted. Face it, lack of transportation will allow bad service to exist simply because the customers are trapped.
Am I the only person in existence that does? My state offers a table that estimates your use tax due based on income. I've always used that.
I do as well. And I actually look through my bank records to make a reasonable estimate of how much I've bought online to get the number as good as I can without having to actually track everything all year.
> Amazon has long enjoyed an unbeatable price advantage over its physical rivals. When I buy a $1,000 laptop from Wal-Mart, the company is required to collect local sales tax from me, so I pay almost $1,100 at checkout. This is such an over blown argument. Sure, Amazon is ~7% (where I live) cheaper than traditional stores due to sales tax. But that $1000 Wal-Mart laptop has a $900 sticker price on Amazon, and most no…
Exactly. I live in Oregon where there's no sales tax no matter where I buy something. I still get most non-grocery items on Amazon. More selection, cheaper, and I love the reviews. I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a highly reviewed Amazon item.
Yes. The build quality of women's shoes is astoundingly bad. Sometimes I look at them and they literally feel like glued on piece of leather, pretty on the outside, and nothing more. It's interesting how two different markets have developed (men's shoes and women's shoes) that have such different parameters. Men's shoes have outstanding build quality --- to the point where a good pair of quality shoes gets resoled mu…
There are plenty of poor quality men's shoes. Go to H&M or any similar "fashionable" retailer and pick up some low cost shoes. They'll have terrible thin rubber soles and fall apart within weeks. Similarly, there are plenty of high quality women's shoes. I'd probably agree that more men buy high quality shoes. In my experience men on average tend to put less emphasis on style over function, and so that does inevitabl…
Though the shoes at H&M (in particular) are at least really cheap.
>I get blisters if I walk too far, they're a pain to take on and off, but they look awesome and I'll probably be getting another pair. To each is his own, but the runner in me can't help but think "Those poor feet..." :(
Well, part of the reason I got them and part of the reason they're hurting my feet is that they are completely flat soled, with almost no cushioning. I'm transitioning quite well to a mid-step gait when walking, and eventually I want to be running mid-step or on the ball, rather than toe to heel.
If those are the Chuck Taylor model Converse, then I'm not surprised that your feet hurt. I don't know how hoops players wore those back in the day.
Amazon has been doing this in parts of Germany since 2009. The results haven't been nearly as dramatic as the article predicts. As others have indicated, the limiting factor isn't so much speed of delivery as the inclination to physically inspect items before buying them. That said, Zappos, now a part of Amazon, has succeeded in doing that in one of the markets that tends the most towards such. Even so, there are sti…
When Zappos first came out I thought they'd tank. I purchase new basketball/running shoes every 6months, and never ever make a new purchase without trying it on. Playing basketball or running with an even slightly uncomfortable shoe can lead to blistering, back problems, ankle sprains, etc. But my gf at the time thought it was brilliant. What I learned was that a lot of women's shoes are purchased based on anything e…
30 years ago, I used to buy running shoes by mail order. Asics had outstanding quality control--I at least once bought a pair of Excalibur GTs the night before a marathon, and ran it in them with no discomfort (attributable to the shoes, that is). So a couple of times, I sent my check off to a place in Cumberland, MD, and got back a package with running shoes. I'm not sure why I quit doing this, unless it was that Asics discontinued the model.
I think amazon is concentrating on the clear and really hard pieces of eCommerce: warehouses everywhere, robotics, pack stations and leaves the fuzzy and less hard pieces to start-ups. So now for example there are many start-ups working on the clothes and shoes fitting problem. In the future when the solution will be found , amazon would buy them , or just use their eCommerce muscle to force them into good terms or j…
Do you have some examples of startups working on the clothes and shoes fitting problem? (I have an idea about that, which I hope to turn into an MVP)
"Amazon has an absolutely amazing return policy." Watch out of Amazon Marketplace though. I bought a copy of The Wire through there that ended up being pirated (and terrible quality), and Amazon would neither refund the purchase nor shut down the vendor, even after we got a letter from HBO confirming that it was a pirated copy.
Did you contest the charge with your credit card provider? I can't imagine that Amazon would contest such a claim.
No. To their credit Amazon eventually did end up eventually sending us a new copy of the DVDs, but it took quite a lot of effort to make that happen.