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Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

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Re: Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

#341

Post by johnrgrace »

kriro wrote: post #136
Areading314 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes Walmart is the textbook example of a monopsonist being able to extract steady profits while creating a race-to-the-bottom for prices among their suppliers. Great for end customers, but harmful nonetheless.

I don't agree Walmart would make for a textbook example. I'd argue they were/are not even a monopsonist with regard to their suppliers. They might be a strong regional force but they have failed (or chosen) to move out of their regional power position. That's not a bad thing and in fact is a strength. I'm pretty sure they were cited as an example of good strategy for exactly that in "Competition Demistified" but don'…

They aren't quite a monopsonist, but the difference for most companies is academic.

You've never sold to walmart, I have. If they put your physical product on the shelf you'll sell a lot of units. No one else has the shelves walmart does. If you are not on the walmart shelf there is NO way to get the same number of units sold.

Re: Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

#342

Post by Terretta »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #214
nickpp wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I guess any company becomes a "monopoly" if you reduce enough the definition of its field?!

The key thing economists look to, to define a monopoly, is that the company has the power to set prices. This is in the economic sense: that there isn’t some give-and-take supply-and-demand setting prices for them, and they just happen to record that. When Office Depot was considering a Staples merger a while back, the Feds looked at the price of corporate office supply services in markets where there was only one of…

Just because Amazon shoppers may ignore prices elsewhere doesn't mean Amazon can "set" prices.

It may mean Amazon understands their shoppers' price sensitivity, to be sure, but I can find almost anything on there elsewhere for less, or also for more.

Re: Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

#343

Post by grishka »

rrdharan wrote: post #286
jodrellblank wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actual Googler looking into a complaint personally happening on HN - 9 years ago - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2795465 "[Googler], can you suggest a strategy for dealing with Google support issues that doesn't involve "get Matt Cutt's attention on Hacker News"? - 9 years ago - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2797972 "Guess we won't be able to get Google support from Matt on HN this month. :)" - https://…

How many of these are actually first hand versus just repeating / referencing earlier collective HN “knowledge” (or hearsay)?

Mine is first-hand, except the part where you hit the wall. I met one of their developer relations guys at a Google I/O before my app had any problems needing escalation.

Re: Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

#344

Post by jpcooper »

dakna wrote: post #247
ethanwillis wrote: post #9

The merchants must navigate a largely automated, guilty-until-proven-innocent process in which Amazon serves as judge and jury. Their emails and calls can go unanswered, or Amazon's replies are incomprehensible, making sellers suspect they're at the mercy of algorithms with little human oversight. This is something our modern society was and is not ready for. Bureaucracy and the bureaucrats that administered it is a…

> But this is fully automated bureaucracy. Except instead of having well known rules or human bureaucrats we can confront Reminds me of a novel that was written over 100 years ago: > The Trial (German: Der Process,[1] later Der Proceß, Der Prozeß and Der Prozess) is a novel written by Franz Kafka between 1914 and 1915 and published posthumously in 1925. One of his best-known works, it tells the story of Josef K., a m…

Orson Welles did a brilliant film adaptation of The Trial. Worth checking out.

Re: Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

#346

Post by noir_lord »

willturman wrote: post #269
noir_lord wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "provide good, human support to everyone" - it creates as many problems as it solves. Agreed with all your points except they really should have some `if (claim > minForHumanAgent){ bypassAutomatedHandling(); }` logic for millions of dollars.

This comment feels so ... wrong. As a society, so many of our institutions seemingly prioritize attention or outcomes effectively in exactly this fashion, but seeing it in code makes it that much more cold and ruthless.

Aspects of society are that cold and have been for a while.

Actuaries have been a thing for quite a while.

It’s a shame but humans can be ruthless.

Re: Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

#347

Post by theonemind »

tomp wrote: post #187
DoreenMichele wrote: post #78

Yeah, you know, when people keep saying "You aren't as far from being homeless as you imagine you are" this is what they mean. Just because your life has not come unraveled overnight doesn't mean it can't for reasons beyond your control having nothing to do with personal virtues or lack thereof. We really need to get universal health care in the US, among other things, to limit how far people can fall when something…

I don't understand why people like you keep ranting about "universal healthcare" when obviously about 50% of your country so strongly opposes it that I think it's sooner that hell freezes than US getting social healthcare. Instead, why don't you propose alternative solutions? E.g. in Switzerland, it's illegal for your healthcare to be paid by the company, and also it's obligatory to have healthcare insurance (probabl…

Nothing will change with our healthcare system no matter what anyone proposes or thinks. Our healthcare problems are only a symptom of a bigger problem an this point. Our country is in the pocket of large moneyed interests and they essentially make our laws and at the least, can keep anything in their favor in place as the status quo. Our healthcare industry is huge and they won't let anything shift against their favor.

Re: Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

#348

Post by hyperdimension »

sjansen wrote: post #255
mwexler wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in 2003, Seldon and Colvin wrote a pretty good book about Angel Customers and Demon Customers ( http://geoffcolvin.com/books/angel-customers-demon-customers... ) which examines many of these issues. A bit of friction, if applied correctly, is not a terrible thing if an interaction's cost outweighs it's value. Getting the balance right is tricky but worth considering some alternatives to just "putting up with it"…

> A bit of friction, if applied correctly, is not a terrible thing I observed the same thing in a different context in my previous gig doing Linux training. We strived to make our books as clear and simple as possible. When we discovered streps in our labs that confused students, we would rewrite them to avoid repeating the problem in future classes. Eventually I started noticing a tipping point where if the lab did…

> When we discovered streps in our labs

Was this typo intentional so readers don't just disengage and skim through your comment? ;)

That's interesting, though. I wonder why more accurate instructions resulted in more problems. I know you mentioned 'disengagement,' but wouldn't more detail and accuracy make it easier to do the exercise(s)? Or does it make the students just zone out and type the lines out without thinking?

(I know I certainly was guilty of that the first time I went through the Linux From Scratch book.)

Re: Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

#349

Post by temp20201028 »

mistersquid wrote: post #270
AussieWog93 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So sometimes discs won't load or cartridges won't read in their console, or they're unhappy with condition - sometimes this is as simple as apologising and accepting a return, sometimes people aren't happy with that and just want to kick up a stink. More often than not, the people kicking up a stink return a perfectly working product, and they just wanted to make sure we'd accept it by them being as foul as possible.…

Thank you for these details about the difficulties in handling support requests from people with underlying socialization and/or mental health issues. As someone who is mostly emotionally and cognitively balanced and who has been trained to communicate in order to reach mutually satisfactory outcomes, I don't even think to consider that some people are too maladjusted to use support resources (i.e. communication) in…

This compassionate comment and its parent mean a lot to me as someone who struggles with regulating emotion. I just wanted to point out that it’s some of us on HN too, and it’s not always the ones you might expect. I have a job, friends, and supportive family. But a swirl of feelings can overwhelm me without warning, and the memory of all the times I’ve failed to reach help before can stop me from trying again. I was hospitalized this year with suicidal thoughts and a diagnosis of “Major Depressive Disorder with Psychotic Features.” I expect to continue succeeding on the outside, but the internal battle is far from over. Again, I want to stress that most people can’t even fathom that anything is wrong with me. I have a good job, talents, people who care about me. But there’s some defect in my makeup (nature or nurture, who knows?) and your willingness here to be more aware of people like me is really heartening.

Note for the concerned: I am receiving treatment and a number of people in my circle are aware of the struggle, so this isn’t a cry for help. I just thought this might enrich the discussion for anyone not familiar with these things who would like to understand them better.

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