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The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

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Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#61

Post by AnssiH »

tudelo wrote: post #43
AnssiH wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you live in an apartment building, the leasing offices which sign for packages Somewhat OT, but are these common in US (or wherever you are)? If so, out of interest, what other duties to they have? In Finland, I've never seen such offices even in the larger apartment buildings with hundreds of dwellings. Parcel lockers (both public and recently in apartment buildings) are a thing here as well, but they are mostl…

I think you would be hard-pressed to find an apartment complex without a leasing office. I have never seen that in the US. Mostly I think they are there to handle showing people around and finalizing leases. They also can handle maintenance disputes and forward complaints to the right people.

Commonly apartment complexes here (Finland) are owned by building-specific limited liability housing companies that do not make profit, with shares corresponding to apartments. Those shares are then owned by various individuals or rental companies, so a building office makes less sense.

But if a rental provider company owns the complex outright, they still don't have building-specific offices, but just one central office per city/region.

Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#62

Post by askafriend »

macspoofing wrote: post #51
askafriend wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be the devil's advocate here: Cars are loud and dangerous - we figured it out as a society.

That's a fair point, but have you actually heard a drone? It's really loud. It will be incredibly hard to counteract public pressure.

I actually just bought one last weekend. Haven't flow it yet, so I suppose I'll find out very soon!

I believe you that they're crazy loud, but I think the technology will improve and we'll figure out regulation, fly zones, etc.

Of course, this is all predicated on us agreeing as a society that we want this thing integrated into our communities. This want is unclear and I think that's the meat of the point you were making which is a fair one.

Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#63

Post by AnssiH »

d1zzy wrote: post #54
AnssiH wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK. Here such companies just have one central office per city/region, no building-specific ones. The largest companies here manage "only" tens of thousands of rental apartments, though.

How are they handling visiting the grounds/future apartments for interested renters? That's one of the main duties of the leasing office people in the US. When looking to rent one visits many such places and asks the leasing office people various questions while doing so.

Scheduled public presentations, or appointments.

Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#64

Post by rconti »

leggomylibro wrote: post #25
aresant wrote: post #16

The author dramatically underestimates the opportunities of scale and future tech in her model. Amazon is already: - Installing lockers into apartment communities https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=6442600011 that make deliveries dramatically more efficient. - Predictive logistics & ordering patterns are a core Amazon discipline and they are world class at it. - Droning looks like a gimmick today, but why should i…

The lockers are amazing. If you live in an apartment building, the leasing offices which sign for packages are often only open during business hours. If you live in a house, there's a good chance that someone grabs your package off your porch. So what do you do if you need a strip of LEDs for a project that you're putting together by this weekend and you don't have the right hours open in your schedule? (Or [insert r…

> If you live in a house, there's a good chance that someone grabs your package off your porch.

I don't know about "good chance". Small chance, perhaps. I've still never had a package stolen in 20+ years of ordering online. But many folks have packages delivered to work for this reason (and I admit I'm more likely to have expensive packages delivered to work). But the lockers solve a problem I don't really have, and suddenly make ordering online as inconvenient as buying stuff in-store.

Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#65

Post by rconti »

ProAm wrote: post #13
daxorid wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[edit] Disregard, can't ask an earnest question on HN either.

> Is this a common state of affairs? Who doesn't have at least a week's supply of food and water in their home? I cant tell if this is a serious question? I definitely do not have more than 1 weeks worth of food in my home.

Hell, the 5 cases of Soylent would last a long time, not to mention a fridge and pantry full of food. Maybe not stuff I want to eat, but they're calories in a pinch.

Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#67

Post by gdulli »

jpatokal wrote: post #66

I'm rather surprised to see an Amazon PM openly slagging their company's own product, or at least its profitability. I wouldn't have expected Amazon to tolerate this sort of thing, and this seems like a career-limiting move pretty much anywhere.

Given the number of employees and what we know about working at Amazon I'm sure there's a subset at any given time who are trying to get out and might fish for a dismissal if it comes with severance. Rather than just quit.

Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#68

Post by phil21 »

rconti wrote: post #64
leggomylibro wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lockers are amazing. If you live in an apartment building, the leasing offices which sign for packages are often only open during business hours. If you live in a house, there's a good chance that someone grabs your package off your porch. So what do you do if you need a strip of LEDs for a project that you're putting together by this weekend and you don't have the right hours open in your schedule? (Or [insert r…

> If you live in a house, there's a good chance that someone grabs your package off your porch. I don't know about "good chance". Small chance, perhaps. I've still never had a package stolen in 20+ years of ordering online. But many folks have packages delivered to work for this reason (and I admit I'm more likely to have expensive packages delivered to work). But the lockers solve a problem I don't really have, and…

It really depends on your area and living situation.

I have a place in suburban Minneapolis and I could (and have) left packages sitting on my doorstep for weeks while on vacation. Still there when I got back - only a single lost package over about a decade now.

I also have a place in Chicago. A package left outside at the door would be gone within hours as I live directly off a very busy street. Even if put inside, if the door gets left unlocked or ajar a bit you have a very high chance of the package disappearing. Packages get delivered to the office or not at all when I'm in town.

I agree re: having zero interest in driving to the nearest locker though - I'd just go to the store. It's possible they will reach the density in Chicago where I can walk a half block - which I'd be okay with - but I can't imagine that being cost effective for most areas of the city.

Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#69

Post by phil21 »

macspoofing wrote: post #51
askafriend wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be the devil's advocate here: Cars are loud and dangerous - we figured it out as a society.

That's a fair point, but have you actually heard a drone? It's really loud. It will be incredibly hard to counteract public pressure.

They are not able to be heard (at least in a common city setting) above 100ft or so, in my experience. Maybe less.

I imagine any drone network would fly at a couple hundred feet for most of the journey, and only be a "nuisance" for the period of time it has to descend straight down to the delivery point.

Re: The Illusion of a Profitable Amazon Prime Now and Prime Fresh

#70

Post by shanghaiaway »

dnomad wrote: post #48
nsx147 wrote: post #35

Amazon Flex will eventually encompass more than just delivering goods. Delivering people (uber/lyft). Retrieving packages from households and shipping them, maybe even last mile delivery? I feel like this article completely misses the point about the Amazon philosophy. It doesn't matter if Prime Now / Amazon Fresh are profitable. They aren't supposed to be profitable. They are building out the infrastructure of Amazo…

Yes the author is kinda silly. People have been writing these sorts of silly articles about Amazon for nearly 20 years. Yes, Amazon is wasting investor capital. No, investors don't care as long as the innovation and growth train continues. Still, as an Amazon investor, I do wonder why Amazon has to do everything themselves. It makes me nervous that they are essentially building or their own ride sharing network rathe…

None of what you listed is happening in China. It also will not be happening anywhere at any time. Restaurants won't become industrial kitchens because that is not what restaurants are for.
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