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2019-12-24 Economy
More than 9,300 stores are closing in 2019 as the retail apocalypse drags on ‐ here's the full list
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Posted by Besoeker 2019-12-24 01:16|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ]  Top

#1 We all love low prices but Amazon's predatory pricing model is a perversion of capitalism. Bezos is abusing his market power. He's not a capitalist; he's a thug.

Bad for the nation, bad for communities, bad for workers. Time to start enforcing the competition laws.
Posted by Lex 2019-12-24 01:23||   2019-12-24 01:23|| Front Page Top

#2 Nope, Amazon takes advantage of the fact that the government tries to maximise rents.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2019-12-24 05:32||   2019-12-24 05:32|| Front Page Top

#3 ^Explain, please?
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2019-12-24 05:39||   2019-12-24 05:39|| Front Page Top

#4 100 years ago the Amazon for most Americans was Sears; if not for the ~10% price advantage for Amazon’s first 10 years (not subject to sales tax) Sears might still be the ‘Amazon’ instead of about out of business.
Posted by Shomoth Unamble8505 2019-12-24 09:23||   2019-12-24 09:23|| Front Page Top

#5 We all love low prices but Amazon's predatory pricing model is a perversion of capitalism.

Do you drive to a "big box" grocer instead of walking to a neighborhood "Mom & Pop" grocer?
It is the exact same thing. In our area Safeway™ was careful to match the prices of the small neighborhood stores and was happy at making the extra money off its customers. Then in the late 80's a national chain showed up and offered the customers a lower price alternative -- the smaller stores started closing and the only ones that survived were the "24/7 convenience stores with gasoline pumps". I watched this from the sidelines both as a customer and as an employee in a dairy plant that sold to everyone.
Posted by magpie 2019-12-24 09:59||   2019-12-24 09:59|| Front Page Top

#6 #4 As Shomoth pointed out, Bezos the rentier received a state subsidy that his competitors never got.

Every one of our wannabe oligarchs in tech has exploited government giveaways, government protection, government efforts to suspend the rules and tilt the playing field in their favor.

"Net neutrality."
Taxes for thee; none for me.
"We're not a media company, we're a platform!"
A 2-sided marketplace with one company running all sides of it -- with zero transparency or scrutiny.
"Competition law? Not for us: we're national champions!"

Posted by Lex 2019-12-24 10:28||   2019-12-24 10:28|| Front Page Top

#7 What of the Kindle™ (Semi-)Monopoly? I am more concerned with that than the things they ship by mail.

Pause a second and consider what happens if one actor gets to decide what will be read because they are effectively the only seller? What if Amazon decides that your book is Hate Speech™, or perhaps it says something unkind about Bezos, and decides it can't be sold. More and more books are only sold electronically and Amazon is getting a lion's share of that market.
Posted by magpie 2019-12-24 10:55||   2019-12-24 10:55|| Front Page Top

#8 Dollar General opening 900 some stores.
Posted by Dale 2019-12-24 11:41||   2019-12-24 11:41|| Front Page Top

#9 I'm starting to order more stiuff for other than Amazon now. NewEgg is pretty good for tech stuff. Dropping Amazon Prime as well. Their delivery is hit-or-miss. Order something and its hit or miss if it gets to *your* door or someone else's.
Posted by CrazyFool 2019-12-24 12:09||   2019-12-24 12:09|| Front Page Top

#10 Anyone have any good alternatives?
Posted by CrazyFool 2019-12-24 12:10||   2019-12-24 12:10|| Front Page Top

#11 When Amazon is the only place where you can buy stuff they'll raise their prices. You can bet on that. After WaPo did that Convington kids thing, I don't shop Amazon anymore at all.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2019-12-24 13:14||   2019-12-24 13:14|| Front Page Top

#12 Too bad. Sears was the original mail order biggy. Had the catalogue and infrastructure. The suits decided they didn't want to play IT. Would have been a great fit. Stupid management pure and simple.
Posted by Procopius2k 2019-12-24 15:07||   2019-12-24 15:07|| Front Page Top

#13 Provo - they couldn’t compete; they had physical presence in each state and had to add sales tax, which Amazon did not until recently. That’s close to a 10% price advantage in a world that seldom had a 10% sales margin.
Posted by Glenmore  2019-12-24 16:44||   2019-12-24 16:44|| Front Page Top

#14 Sorry for family reasons had xmas a day earlier.

High Rents are the largest cost of any retail business.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2019-12-24 19:39||   2019-12-24 19:39|| Front Page Top

#15 B&H for electronics. Great customer service.

Newegg stuff many times comes from other vendors.
Posted by Mullah Richard 2019-12-24 21:15||   2019-12-24 21:15|| Front Page Top

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