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Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

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Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do we ever see "oil prices are down 3.5%, we are lowering our prices by 3.5%"? Never. Companies lower prices all the time . It's the competitive market at work. They just don't tend to say why, because nobody cares about the reason, so it's not necessary. E.g. snack prices are coming down, to pick one recent example: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/03/nx-s1-5697941/pepsi-prices-ch... But it's human bias to notice when…

Absolutely in a competitive market. There’s an argument to be made that Amazon has so much of the online buying market that’s it’s not competitive and can likely get away with increasing price. And I tend to agree with that

I disagree. There are many other sites to buy anything you find on Amazon. If they raise prices and don't drop them, but other online retailers either don't increase or lower after they do, Amazon loses.

People Google things they're going to buy. Or at the very least they go to other places they're familiar with like Walmart (for the US).

Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#62
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of the USPS budget is from delivering bulk mail. They already fail to break even (albeit with absurd retirement funding rules imposed on them). Without the fees from bulk mail they would need to raise prices, and it's not entirely clear they could given they face strong competition.

I don't really understand why we need a US Postal Service in 2026. Yes, the Constitution grants congress the power to establish "post offices and post roads" but it doesn't mandate it AFAIK. Other countries (Denmark is an example) have completely privatized physical mail delivery. All official mail is electronic. There's some nostalgia for the postman on his red bicycle (or in the USA, walking the neighborhood or dri…

Because you can’t make money serving rural areas and no for profit company would touch deliverying to those areas

Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#63
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Let's not enforce any immigration law, and subsidize those here illegally This isn't an accurate description of the Democrat party's platform and repeating it uncritically is contributing to the problem.

> This isn't an accurate description of the Democrat party's platform and repeating it uncritically is contributing to the problem. I welcome your critical interpretation of the existence of sanctuary cities and CFAP/California DREAM Act/related programs.

Well, the city government is no more responsible for enforcing immigration laws than it is enforcing IRS fraud.

Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#64
post #58

Amazon third party seller (low 8s) here: last time this happened was during COVID and it ended up being a permanent FBA shipping price increase. Practically speaking shipping accounts for 10-20% of the sale price, so realistically it's the seller who will absorb it and maybe pass on costs to the buyers, but we're talking about 3.5% of 10-20%, which is really a 1% price increase, so a noticeable but not make-or-break…

Amazon still charges ebook publishers the same “delivery fee” for each sold digital copy (US$0.15/megabyte) as it did in the mid 2000s when Kindles came with 3g chips. https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634500

Are record companies still charging artists for vinyl breakage on mp3 downloads?

Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#65
post #58

Amazon third party seller (low 8s) here: last time this happened was during COVID and it ended up being a permanent FBA shipping price increase. Practically speaking shipping accounts for 10-20% of the sale price, so realistically it's the seller who will absorb it and maybe pass on costs to the buyers, but we're talking about 3.5% of 10-20%, which is really a 1% price increase, so a noticeable but not make-or-break…

Amazon still charges ebook publishers the same “delivery fee” for each sold digital copy (US$0.15/megabyte) as it did in the mid 2000s when Kindles came with 3g chips. https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634500

AWS egress prices have been the same for a decade despite massive networking advancements.

In two decades, since 2006, they've only come down by about 50%.

Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This isn't an accurate description of the Democrat party's platform and repeating it uncritically is contributing to the problem. I welcome your critical interpretation of the existence of sanctuary cities and CFAP/California DREAM Act/related programs.

Well, the city government is no more responsible for enforcing immigration laws than it is enforcing IRS fraud.

> Well, the city government is no more responsible for enforcing immigration laws than it is enforcing IRS fraud.

Oh, so these Democrat sanctuary cities are in open rebellion against the party?

Wouldn't it be crazy if the Democratic Party sourced their presidential candidates from sanctuary cities, especially candidates with law enforcement careers in said cities?

Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the city government is no more responsible for enforcing immigration laws than it is enforcing IRS fraud.

> Well, the city government is no more responsible for enforcing immigration laws than it is enforcing IRS fraud. Oh, so these Democrat sanctuary cities are in open rebellion against the party? Wouldn't it be crazy if the Democratic Party sourced their presidential candidates from sanctuary cities, especially candidates with law enforcement careers in said cities?

What are you talking about?

Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well, the city government is no more responsible for enforcing immigration laws than it is enforcing IRS fraud. Oh, so these Democrat sanctuary cities are in open rebellion against the party? Wouldn't it be crazy if the Democratic Party sourced their presidential candidates from sanctuary cities, especially candidates with law enforcement careers in said cities?

What are you talking about?

On the off chance you're sincere but not well educated on this topic:

> What are you talking about?

Kamala Harris was DA for SF during the early 2010s, where she explicitly backed the city's sanctuary policies.

As CA AG she opposed the "Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act", which was aimed at deterring sanctuary cities through withholding of federal funding.

In the 2024 presidential election she was the Democratic candidate.

This is all on her Wikipedia page.

Can you answer my question?

> Oh, so these Democrat sanctuary cities are in open rebellion against the party?

Re: Amazon is adding a fuel surcharge to fees it collects from third-party sellers

#69
post #60
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon still charges ebook publishers the same “delivery fee” for each sold digital copy (US$0.15/megabyte) as it did in the mid 2000s when Kindles came with 3g chips. https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634500

Maybe the technical requirements at the time were a good excuse but as soon as you demonstrate the market will tolerate that why on earth would you remove it?

To turn around the famous quote: "Amazon's margin is someone else's opportunity". :)

The Amazon flywheel is all about reducing costs to consumers. The moment that stops happening, consumers can get caught by offers elsewhere, and the flywheel can start to go backwards.

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