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I'm not buying the "we'll grow really fast and then profit later" - didn't we learn about how that worked out already with the dotbomb?
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I don't believe that. Throughout history, labor-saving machinery has put people out of work, and they become available labor for entirely new industries. For example, there's a growing industry now of digitizing the zillions of documents, books, photos, movies, art, etc. This is low skilled labor. Or Apple/Google/Microsoft sticking camera hats on people and having them hike trails to develop maps. The list is endless…
Both of those examples seem like temporary solutions at best. And robotic tech already exists that could theoretically replace humans for those tasks. I may read too much sci-fi, but I am fully convinced that we are heading to a future where most menial, low skill tasks will soon be done by technology and robotics. We have been heading in that direction for quite some time and I don't see that changing. The end resul…
What about people who can't be educated for high-skilled labor? Seems like a taboo subject, but there are a lot of people like this in the world. What do they do?
* edit. These labor shake-ups are going to take place in "high-skilled" areas, too. IBM's Watson can probably be trained to be more talented at illness diagnosis than most MDs. It will be interesting to see what happens to those MDs.
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Dumb question, as I literally know nothing about stock or savings: isn't it generally a bad idea to put 100% of your long term money in any one place?
Isn't it stupid to just to have one job, one car, be a citizen of one country, have one house and one family. I mean really - one must diversify. What would you do if you lost any one of those? No, it's not stupid to concentrate wealth. Problems only arise when you do it stupidly, like buying too big a house, being part of the wrong family, living in the wrong country or buying an unsafe car. Diversification does not…
I feel like if Jason Fried were to comment on this article that he would say there is no time like the present to practice earning money. I'm not buying the "we'll grow really fast and then profit later" - didn't we learn about how that worked out already with the dotbomb?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dumb question, as I literally know nothing about stock or savings: isn't it generally a bad idea to put 100% of your long term money in any one place?
Isn't it stupid to just to have one job, one car, be a citizen of one country, have one house and one family. I mean really - one must diversify. What would you do if you lost any one of those? No, it's not stupid to concentrate wealth. Problems only arise when you do it stupidly, like buying too big a house, being part of the wrong family, living in the wrong country or buying an unsafe car. Diversification does not…
I think Amazon's profit per employee is around $6K. Compare to Apple at $600K. Amazon is practically a non-profit. Not surprising, as they play in a shitty, ghetto space--retail.
I think Amazon's profit per employee is around $6K. Compare to Apple at $600K. Amazon is practically a non-profit. Not surprising, as they play in a shitty, ghetto space--retail.
Say what you want about some of their other business practices, but they appear to have successfully destroyed rents in the retail industry, which is great for consumers of retail. Regardless of how they do for their shareholders, that is a real benefit to society. Right?
Brick and mortar stores are essentially free showrooms for online retailers. How many of us decide which TV to buy at Best Buy, and then get it for less at Amazon? We may not like the consequences if B&M retailers are driven out of business, and we're forced to rely on dubious online reviews to make purchasing decisions.
I can even look at manufacturer responses to reviews on Newegg, and ask other customers about specific issues I might have with a product. Of course, there is a possibility of the system being gamed, but I've had nothing but great experiences, although I am still vigilant for manipulated reviews.
Edit: I also don't have to choose from substandard consumer products sold at most stores, with high markups on trivial things like wires. With monoprice, Amazon, newegg, and others I can get reliable, quality products for what they're actually worth.
I feel like if Jason Fried were to comment on this article that he would say there is no time like the present to practice earning money. I'm not buying the "we'll grow really fast and then profit later" - didn't we learn about how that worked out already with the dotbomb?
Actually, Amazon did spectacularly well during the internet bubble with just that strategy. This is a return to the company's roots, in a way.
I think Amazon's profit per employee is around $6K. Compare to Apple at $600K. Amazon is practically a non-profit. Not surprising, as they play in a shitty, ghetto space--retail.
Amazon lost money, so what does it mean to say its profit per employee is $6k?
Anyway, a company that plows all its extra cash into growth doesn't make any profit in the short term, but if they're doing it right they'll make more money in the end. They went for a lot of years without making anything - now they're in a growth phase again.