511–520 of 865 posts
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Ordered the book based on the fact that it helped you make these connections and hypotheses. Must be a good book.
fwiw, starslatecodex did a review of Red Plenty http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/24/book-review-red-plenty/ I'm sure reading the whole thing would be a useful exercise as well
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short-term boosterism is the cause of more than a few problems in our economic system
There is always a need to balance both the short term and the long term. I rather doubt anyone who has retired and is drawing on their retirement investments will be thinking long term since, to be morbid, they simply aren't going to be around in the long term.
This is not good for Instacart. My understanding is WF was their biggest partner and source of revenue. No way amazon will use them.
Challenge often becomes an opportunity. Instacart recently landed Publix who has MUCH higher market share in the markets they serve. Disclaimer: I'm an Instacart investor.
Somewhat off topic, but I have had a weird thought circulating in my head (triggered by reading Red Plenty) that I wanted to put out there: What is the relationship between a centrally planned economy as for example Gosplan was trying to run in the USSR, and the presence of these huge market-like but centralized entities like Amazon and Wal-Mart inside a free-market economy? This becomes particularly interesting beca…
>"triggered by reading Red Plenty" >"A central problem faced by Gosplan was the collection of high quality data about supply chains and the estimation of the utility function of consumers." Red Plenty is a book of fiction, is it not?
https://twitter.com/dkberman/status/875701677504024576 "Amazon did not just buy Whole Foods grocery stores. It bought 431 upper-income, prime-location distribution nodes for everything it does."
this is they type of acquisition that seems a little puzzling at first, but makes sense in the context of their overall strategy (unlike most acquisitions, which just remain puzzling since they're usually ego/prestige plays).
Oof. I wonder what this means for Whole Foods culture and employees. If you don't know, John Mackey, the CEO / founder, is a major believer in conscious capitalism and of empowering his employees. Whole Food employees get paid pretty darn well with some crazy good benefits for their industry and line-of-work (UNION FREE most of the time too!). WF banks on them being true believers and motivators of the cause - includ…
I'm a long time WF stock holder and fan of "alternative" grocers. Since it was Wild Oats. There are some big investors that have been unhappy and applying pressure. WF is fundamentally a regional thing that they made multi regional. It doesn't work everywhere with everybody. I'm just guessing, but I'd think WF would tighten up the philosophy a little, probably focus on whole and natural foods more than some of the ot…
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I don't know about this. I think it's been over-done to such a degree that actually good customer service is a rare gem to find at this point, and is a better discriminator than price in most products. The price difference is rarely worth the hassle or tension of dealing with bureaucracy or unpleasant people. Or bad websites.. I really can't stand vendors who can't build an easily navigatable, fast website. I've stuc…
The trouble there is under certain circumstances, good will is a commodity. It can be accumulated through a pattern of behavior, and then spent (converted to capital) to turn a short-term profit. So there's a legit strategy that makes sense to a Wall Street firm, where you specifically go after stuff with good will so you can convert that to capital and then flush what's left. It's not dissimilar to how real estate i…
I think in growth industries, the potential future of goodwill outweighs the value of expending that goodwill right now. Unless you've already lost the market -- but I don't think that'll be to prices as much as competitors offering more/better products.
Looks to me like the ultimate war between grocery stores in the US will be fought out between Amazon/WFM (premium, delivery) and ALDI/Lidl (discount, no-frills). As a German I'm amazed by the "food haul" videos on YouTube and the positive feedback for ALDI US (belongs to ALDI Süd), Trader Joe's (ALDI Nord) and Lidl (part of Schwarz Gruppe, they just started in the US yesterday).
Walmart is the closest thing to "discount, no-frills" in the US, however it's 100% a facade. Their prices are realistically no better than chain grocery stores like Kroger, yet they do a very good job convincing poorer people that they are. Walmart is also really really gross. It doesn't matter where in the country you go, it feels like a hospital, and mysteriously the people always look like they're one stop away fr…
I don't have a Kroger nearby, but WM is far cheaper than any other grocery chain in my area. I go to WM for all nonperishable items and then a more expensive store for fruits/veggies/meats.
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no thanks. look at what collective/forced/politicized bickering over hours has done to the job market everywhere its been tried. look at the corruption. i enjoy my freedom to negotiate my terms as I, as an individual, and my employer see fit.
I lived and worked in Iceland for five years, and they have a virtually 100% unionization rate. It's handled at the industry level rather than individual companies, but when you start a job, you are pretty much automatically enrolled in the union relevant for your work. A little money comes out of your paycheck, and the union is there in case you have problems. The unions also provide other benefits. For example, mos…