Jeff Bezos: Bring stable employment to high unemployment urban areas

Upon announcing additional distribution center in SE WI Milwaukee's mayor has penned an op-ed to Jeff Bezos. I wonder how Bezos would respond?

Big corporations are now so intertwined with politics via Super PAC's and Citizens United that we now have to look to CEO's to guide social change [[wtf, yikes).

FYI, Jeff Bezos and the Walton Family are each worth approx $150 Billion. Remember to vote in Nov.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/07/13/mayor-tom-barrett-jeff-bezos-bring-stable-employment-milwaukee/780346002/

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A noticeable exception to the low unemployment rate, unfortunately, is the still high unemployment rate in communities of color. Since housing patterns are so segregated in southeastern Wisconsin, unemployment is highly concentrated in the city of Milwaukee.

That’s why we have an employment “geography gap” as well as a skills gap. It’s also why now, more than at any other time in our recent history, it is imperative that corporate America, our local business community, state and local government focus on addressing racial disparities and the geography gap.

If we don’t address unemployment in communities of color when unemployment is low, when will we do it? Or, have leaders just given up on locating jobs in central cities?

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Originally Posted by hybridy

Upon announcing additional distribution center in SE WI Milwaukee's mayor has penned an op-ed to Jeff Bezos. I wonder how Bezos would respond?

Big corporations are now so intertwined with politics via Super PAC's and Citizens United that we now have to look to CEO's to guide social change [[wtf, yikes).

FYI, Jeff Bezos and the Walton Family are each worth approx $150 Billion. Remember to vote in Nov.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/07/13/mayor-tom-barrett-jeff-bezos-bring-stable-employment-milwaukee/780346002/

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He would probably say that this doesn't have anything to do with Detroit, and should be moved to the Non-Detroit Forum.

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A noticeable exception to the low unemployment rate, unfortunately, is the still high unemployment rate in communities of color. Since housing patterns are so segregated in southeastern Michigan, unemployment is highly concentrated in the city of Detroit.

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is that more to your liking?

Race likely has nothing to do with Amazon's geographic decisions.

That this mayor publicly takes Amazon to task for racism is also harmful to urban employment.

These constant screams of racism are sufficient reason for any smart corporation to stay away. Corporations do not like being pawns in someone else's political game. This mayor would do better for his citizens to actually improve his city's business climate. The blame game is not the right approach.

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Originally Posted by hybridy

is that more to your liking?

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Ehhhhh, a bit of a stretch, but I'll accept that.

https://www.epi.org/publication/unfu...oyment-growth/

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Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Race likely has nothing to do with Amazon's geographic decisions.

That this mayor publicly takes Amazon to task for racism is also harmful to urban employment.

These constant screams of racism are sufficient reason for any smart corporation to stay away. Corporations do not like being pawns in someone else's political game. This mayor would do better for his citizens to actually improve his city's business climate. The blame game is not the right approach.

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Wesley, where did you get this?

In the letter I don't see a single use of the word racism, nor do I see any screaming, literal or proverbial.

What is suggested in the letter is that Amazon does not consider social impacts. A perfectly reasonable assertion that is not made in accusatory way.

The letter simply asks that those impacts be considered, and would help make Amazon a leader in addressing inequity while gaining good staff, positive PR and still being in the black.

The letter specifically states that the causes of the inequity go far beyond Amazon or corporations at large. It simply states there's a problem and you can help, and we would appreciate it.

That undoubtedly, logistics would be the highest consideration for a fulfillment centre is a given, then available land at a reasonable cost, workforce availability and then property taxes and the like.

I can't speak to Milwakee's tax situation, but as I know the highway system is readily accessible to the City, I'm assuming the other considerations would be competitive.

IF Milwakee's taxes are high [[and as i said, I haven't researched this), I do think its an unfair burden to ask a poverty-stricken area to eat a revenue reduction they can likely ill afford.

The way to remedy things like this, is to either pull a Detroit [[use bankruptcy to clear legacy costs) or have the state provide one-time financial relief [[uploading debt or legacy costs) in exchange for a tax reduction.

Regardless. My only issues w/the letter would be that Amazon fulfillment jobs are neither high-skill nor high-pay, and there will likely be fewer in the future w/aggressive automation.

I think if one were to reach out, probably privately, it would be to a business that could create lasting change, through high-quality employment, and through a structural improvement to the City's financial condition via the new taxes paid.

Find Milwakee's answer to Gilbert who mixes a bit of philanthropy with a desire to make a killing on under-valued real estate and work something out.

Meijer's has a HUGE distribution center around I-75 and I-275; don't know the community.

I don't know if Meijer's has stores in Canada; I don't think so. But if I had a business that distributed products in several states states I'd place the distribution centers in the center of those areas with interstate access to all the stores within range. I'm sure that Meijer's knows what it's doing but its downriver site is a mystery to me as it's not in the center of a cluster of stores assuming there are none in Canada. [[I know the lawyer very well who represented Meijer's in the land acquisition and construction of the distribution center and he explained why the site was chosen but it still didn't't make sense to me.)

I'm sure Amazon has an extensive list of criteria that must be satisfied in connection with every site selection.

I have begun avoiding anything AMZ related. I don't care for the company or their goals. Much the same as WM.

^ at $16 a month for the privilege of knowing them,they are not exactly geared towards the underprivileged and while stating the obvious,it does look good in print.

People oooo and aaaa to them while they make billions.

Amazon Is Thriving Thanks to Taxpayer Dollars

How Wal-Mart Has Used Public Money in Your State

Report: Wage Theft is Pervasive in Corporate America;
Big Banks, Insurers are Among Most-Penalized Firms

Five Powerful Families

WTF - Amazon plans to open 4 [[four) distribution centers

The one in Livonia is up/running, the one in Romulus is launching hard,
another is planned for ShelbyTownship and another for Grand Rapids.

Yeah we lost the bid on the headquarters, but AMAZON went beserk in Michigan, building, constructing, and employing people everywhere.

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Originally Posted by O3H

WTF - Amazon plans to open 4 [[four) distribution centers

The one in Livonia is up/running, the one in Romulus is launching hard,
another is planned for ShelbyTownship and another for Grand Rapids.

Yeah we lost the bid on the headquarters, but AMAZON went beserk in Michigan, building, constructing, and employing people everywhere.

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I don't see how this is special. Amazon is doing this in every major market possible.

Other stores simply can not compete with a company that has shown zero need to ever profit as a retailer. Their retail division basically breaks even [[And mostly loses money), and has done so for decades. The only way Amazon has stayed in business is by supplementing their retail losses through profits from their web services and by speculative investors.

The U.S Government should have stepped in a long time ago to break Amazon up, but like always they'll only do something when it's too late and the destruction is irreversible. At this point Amazon's motivation for operating as a retailer has to be questioned.

Can you provide some articles/media coverage/etc. Johnnny5
to back up the ""operating -at-a-loss "" strategy of AMAZON.

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Originally Posted by O3H

Can you provide some articles/media coverage/etc. Johnnny5
to back up the ""operating -at-a-loss "" strategy of AMAZON.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmark.../#12d0967437ad

https://www.ibtimes.com/amazon-nearl...m-care-1513368

https://www.recode.net/2017/4/27/154...ash-flow-chart

[[Pay close attention to the 2nd chart in this link)



You can do a Google search and you'll find thousands more.


It's only now that Amazon controls nearly half of all online sales and is valued at more than all other large brick and mortar retailers COMBINED that they are showing an extremely meager profit margin [[As a retailer).

Online retail is growing at a break neck pace, and without government intervention it's going to be 90% Amazon in less than a decade. Is that really a good idea?

A short video about Amazon worth watching [[Especially around 2:40 mark).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDTw1G5Wmxw

We already seen that with Wal-Mart,at one time there was talk about them running logistics for the government.

K Mart then wall mart now Amazon,technology moves fast and somebody else will come along and push them off of the top of the hill.

The problem is while the titians are slugging it out at the top everybody else down below gets wiped out giving them more solid ground and us less options.

The only way the little guy makes it in retail is to find a nich,milk it and sell out to the titians.

Neither Walmart or K-Mart spent the majority of two decades operating at a loss, nor did they completely dominate the market the way Amazon is online retail. What Amazon is doing is without precedent.

Well they did take a page out of Teslas book.

I pay the $16 per month but honestly thier prices are far above everybody else.I use the streaming aspect more then the ordering,but even at that HBO streaming is $8.

The 4 pack of 60w led daylight is the same price as Batteries plus bulbs,and they have a 5 year in store warranty.

Nothing I ever ordered was included in the next day prime and thier shipping is no faster then anybody else online.

I actually get Sears within three days and everything else 7 to 10 days,I am not really seeing the advantage of paying prime as are lots of others.

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Neither Walmart or K-Mart spent the majority of two decades operating at a loss, nor did they completely dominate the market the way Amazon is online retail. What Amazon is doing is without precedent.

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Amazon has shown a profit the past three years, but nothing big for its size. Quite a few people must believe in their business model, and believe they're profitable enough, though, or they wouldn't have boosted their stock so high. You might think the greater fool theory applies, but so far it's been pretty good to investors [[says someone who thought about it at $300).

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Originally Posted by archfan

but so far it's been pretty good to investors [[says someone who thought about it at $300).

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If you look back through to when Netflix was bottoming out around 50, you might find AMZ in a similar area. That's when I thought about both. But I didn't like either company even then. It wasn't about what I might get out of them, I didn't want either to have any of my money, even my mere pittance.

I've never paid for a subscription plan on either. Whenever I bought from AMZ, I tried to buy from smaller sellers rather than the company itself.

Costco has the same business model. It breaks even on operations but virtually all of it millions in profits come from annual membership fees.

Shopping at Costco is a pleasure. Their employees are well paid and have health and other benefits. Its meat and produce are the highest quality one can buy anywhere.

It's the largest buyer of wine in the world and the largest seller of wine in the world. The Costco at Telegraph and Square Lake Rd. is the largest seller of wine in the Costco chain. Frequent shoppers receive cash back from the credit card company it uses [[Citi Visa only) which in my case is over two times the amount of then membership fee. Costco gasoline is about 20 cents a gallon lower than anything in its immediate area.

I've purchased over 30 items from Amazon this year and frequently watch Amazon Prime streaming service. I think it's membership fee is a bargain. Apparently a large percentage of the country thinks the same way.

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Originally Posted by 3WC

I've purchased over 30 items from Amazon this year and frequently watch Amazon Prime streaming service. I think it's membership fee is a bargain. Apparently a large percentage of the country thinks the same way.

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And how much direct harm have you caused to locally owned business while you were saving a few pennies?

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Originally Posted by O3H

Can you provide some articles/media coverage/etc. Johnnny5
to back up the ""operating -at-a-loss "" strategy of AMAZON.

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The charts provided do show that the profit is mostly from AWS. Here's some text from 2016:

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• North America segment had a segment operating income of $2.4 billion and a segment operating margin of 3.0%.
• International segment had a segment operating income of -$1.3 billion and a segment operating margin of -2.9%.
• AWS segment had a segment operating income of $3.1 billion and a segment operating margin of 25.4%.

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Its clear that AWS [[web services) is a huge winner.

But anyone who has followed Bezos, Inc., know that he doesn't play by the Wall Street book. He's long preferred to reinvest in pursuit of increased sales over profits. The business didn't return much if any profit for ages.

Bezos, Inc. doesn't care what you, me, or anyone thinks of him. He's making money in all segments, but prefers to re-invest rather than cash out. Isn't that a great thing? Don't we wish all corporations don't care about the current quarter's performance and look at the long term?

No need to worry about whether Amazon is making money. He's doing just fine -- and AWS is the thick layer of icing on the ever-growing cake.

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Originally Posted by Meddle

And how much direct harm have you caused to locally owned business while you were saving a few pennies?

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It may be different up there because Michigan supplies the rest of the country when it comes to manufacturing but most of my suppliers do not stock anything anymore.

By the time I drive there to find out they do not have it in stock it is just easier to order direct,it does slow up turn around though.

There are not many small locally owned businesses,just chains with little inventory.

Both in eBay and Amazon there are individual suppliers that also use those venues for additional sales,I always check in the origin of the seller because a lot of them just direct ship from China and never really touch the item.

I just ordered a master cylinder kit for my vintage truck,the order originated in Brazil but the parts were manufactured in Argentina,very high quality,the ones advailable here in the U.S. Were Chinese stamped out knock off junk.

I got the rotors and brake pads,for my car,directly from the machine shop out of Michigan,$250 where I could have went to the local parts store and bought the same items for less then $100.

But I will get 25,000 miles out of the quality ones where the local cheap China crap I would have to change every year.

Even locally the suppliers are just go betweens for cheap Chinese crap in order to maximize profit,I would rather pay a little more and not have to replace the same item every 6 months.

Weather it is local or online,whoever has the best made product is who I deal with.

But that may be a generation thing,us old peps know the difference and value between quality and well made verses cheap,the younger generations will be raised on cheap crap so they will not know the difference eventually.

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Originally Posted by 3WC

Costco has the same business model. It breaks even on operations but virtually all of it millions in profits come from annual membership fees.

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I don't agree that supplementing retail sales through customer membership fees is the same thing as supplementing retail sales from a totally unrelated business [[Amazon's AWS). Costco is still making their profits from retail sales, they're basically just trading higher prices with an annual fee for the abilty to shop in their stores.

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Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Bezos, Inc. doesn't care what you, me, or anyone thinks of him. He's making money in all segments, but prefers to re-invest rather than cash out. Isn't that a great thing? Don't we wish all corporations don't care about the current quarter's performance and look at the long term?

No need to worry about whether Amazon is making money. He's doing just fine -- and AWS is the thick layer of icing on the ever-growing cake.

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Bezos might not care what he is doing to the rest of the retail segment, but we should be very concerned, and our representatives in Washington should be as well.

My question is what is the end game for the growth of Amazon? Is their long term goal to use losses and miniscule profit margins to dominate online retail to the point where no one can compete? If that's the case, then I think the government has an obligation to step in. Century old retailers are going bankrupt on a monthly basis, and no one in their right mind is putting money into new online retail sectors in which Amazon competes [[With the exception of those just looking to get bought out and walk away, or existing retailers last ditch efforts to stay in business).

If you look back a few years, you'll find that the stock didn't really start to take off until numbers from AWS were rolled into the main company's numbers.

And that's why I feel the company needs to be broken into at least five:

AWS
Retail
Transportation [[trucking, air freight and local delivery)
Space exploration
Research and Innovation.

AMAZON leverages technology and works on economies of scale

Back in 2012, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems, the warehouse robotics company,
to help automate its order fulfillment operations.
Human-robot symbiosis exploded with 2,000 robots next to humans.
As 2017 drawing to a close, Amazon has added a dizzying 55,000 robots
to its fleet, approx. doubling its total number of robo-workers from 2016.
Estimates suggest that by the end of the year
robots could make up 20 percent of the company’s workforce.

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Originally Posted by O3H

AMAZON leverages technology and works on economies of scale

Back in 2012, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems, the warehouse robotics company,
to help automate its order fulfillment operations.
Human-robot symbiosis exploded with 2,000 robots next to humans.
As 2017 drawing to a close, Amazon has added a dizzying 55,000 robots
to its fleet, approx. doubling its total number of robo-workers from 2016.
Estimates suggest that by the end of the year
robots could make up 20 percent of the company’s workforce.

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Slave labor camps.Where the human worker is subject to it's robot overlords.

The robots due the slave labor, allowing humans to operate at a higher level

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Originally Posted by O3H

The robots due the slave labor, allowing humans to operate at a higher level

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https://www.facebook.com/senatorsand...7162842017908/

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Bezos might not care what he is doing to the rest of the retail segment, but we should be very concerned, and our representatives in Washington should be as well.

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You may or may not remember when Walmart took over as the dominant retailer. People complained they were destroying our way of life, and they would dominate all retail with their evil efficiency and nefarious logistics savvy. Now, Walmart is back on their heels and Amazon looks like it will take over the world.

But really, that's what innovations do - sweep in, shake things up, then become the status quo. Self serve supermarkets had a cost advantage over mom and pop groceries, which shut down. A new Walmart in a rural area could shut down several downtowns.

It will be interesting to see what will happen with retail. Some small businesses will give us a reason to drag ourselves in - personal service, unique products, social interactions, etc. Amazon may eventually find their costs increasing if their peasants revolt. And ultimately, some innovator is going to eat Amazon's lunch with their great new idea.

There is zero difference between AMAZON and any Auto Supplier being squeezed to supply cheaper and cheaper parts, operating on small margins.
Many people will work 10-12 hours days [[especially the newbies) standing on the floor, [[no sitting), moving parts into fixtures [[welding, piercing, etc.) in a dirty, smelly, windowless, old run down building. UAW Workers force seniority.
Sure the robots do a process but UAW workers put wear/tear on bodies.

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Originally Posted by archfan

You may or may not remember when Walmart took over as the dominant retailer. People complained they were destroying our way of life, and they would dominate all retail with their evil efficiency and nefarious logistics savvy. Now, Walmart is back on their heels and Amazon looks like it will take over the world.

But really, that's what innovations do - sweep in, shake things up, then become the status quo. Self serve supermarkets had a cost advantage over mom and pop groceries, which shut down. A new Walmart in a rural area could shut down several downtowns.

It will be interesting to see what will happen with retail. Some small businesses will give us a reason to drag ourselves in - personal service, unique products, social interactions, etc. Amazon may eventually find their costs increasing if their peasants revolt. And ultimately, some innovator is going to eat Amazon's lunch with their great new idea.

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I'm old enough to remember when they built the first Walmart in Michigan, and had been to their stores in Texas long before that. I'm not opposed to Amazon competing through innovation or efficiency [[At least not yet), what worries me is their model of growth and market dominance and how they got/get away with funding that dominance by subsidizing it through outside means. That's more akin to how Rockefeller grew Standard oil than how Sam Walton succeeded with Walmart.

Walmart has consistently been profitable as a retailer throughout their entire 50+ year history. True they may have driven many competitors out of business, but at least they did so on fairly level playing field.

A better comparison to what Amazon is doing would be if the Detroit casinos took all their profits from the gaming floor and opened gas stations all around the city selling at a loss generating discount. Of course customers would be ecstatic about getting such a great deal on fuel, but that's a shortsighted way of looking at it. This is what Amazon has been doing for decades! They took huge loses on their retail sales and subsidized them through investors and their other profitable businesses. We have laws against gas stations doing this [[Thanks to Rockafeller's shenanigans), but for some reason Washington has all but ignored Amazon's attempts to do basically the same thing.


Here's a link showing the difference in profit margins between Walmart and Amazon. Keep in mind that Amazon's charts include their profits from AWS which account for almost 100% of their profits in most years. Without those profits from AWS Amazon would shows losses in almost every year since they opened for business!

https://revenuesandprofits.com/amazo...its-1995-2015/

The comparison is tough between Walmart and Amazon - you're comparing a 67 year old company whose explosive growth is well behind them, with a 21 year old company who is still growing. At 21 years, Walmart was a regional player still.

Also, this explains that Amazon's retail business in North America was profitable, but their international retail had an even bigger loss.

Finally, to bring this back to Detroit, I still prefer to shop at Meijer's Thrifty Acres.

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Bezos might not care what he is doing to the rest of the retail segment, but we should be very concerned, and our representatives in Washington should be as well.

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Why concerned? I see no harm to anyone. New entrants [[WalMart) are growing like weeds online.

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

My question is what is the end game for the growth of Amazon? Is their long term goal to use losses and miniscule profit margins to dominate online retail to the point where no one can compete?

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Nothing to worry about, since that's impossible. Amazon will kill Alibaba? No. Kill WalMart? No.

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

If that's the case, then I think the government has an obligation to step in.

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Did you think they needed to step in when IBM was ruling the computer industry?

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Century old retailers are going bankrupt on a monthly basis, and no one in their right mind is putting money into new online retail sectors in which Amazon competes [[With the exception of those just looking to get bought out and walk away, or existing retailers last ditch efforts to stay in business).

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Who cares what miserable firms go bankrupt. Why is that a problem? It sounds like progress to me.

In essence, WalMart is a new online retailer. They took some investor cash, and bought Jet. They've become the clear #2 player in online retail.

The most interesting thing I found when looking at online sales stats was the Canada's Hudson's Bay Company makes the list of *US* online retailers. Maybe that's a mistake. But interesting. https://wwd.com/business-news/busine...lers-10862796/

Reading your posts, you seem to think that not taking profits is somehow a problem. Or is it shifting profits from one business unit to another. Let's break them up!

You may be misunderstanding what's happening. BezosAmazon decided to not play by the usual Wall Street playbook, wherein you raise money by selling stock, and you agree to return cash dividends as soon as you make a profit. BezosAmazon decided that investment was more important than any profit-taking. So he cheated Wall Street. And only Wall Street. Most populists like yourself think that's a good thing. He cut out the money men. He could have tried to keep raising more money and paying more dividends and interest. It might have worked. But he bet big. And it that certainly worked. Money flowed to workers, building contractors, creating a giant AWS [[web/database hosting) service, and back to the economy -- instead of taking a stop at Wall St. I like that approach.

But today he is not invincible. Macys is the #4 online retailer. Who'd a thunk.

So you'd rather have BA take profits, keep prices the same [[since price isn't a function of profits but of the market), and stop investing in the future?

America got Amazon Web Services because Bezos decided to build a better mousetrap. Its that kind of creative work that makes the US the best in the world. Keep it up, Jeff.

The USA has a unique way of dealing with bubbles via WallStreet.
When the tide turns, and the stock price tumbles, correction will occur.
At $1,800 a pop, no one is gobbling up AMAZON stock right now.

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Originally Posted by O3H

The USA has a unique way of dealing with bubbles via WallStreet.
When the tide turns, and the stock price tumbles, correction will occur.
At $1,800 a pop, no one is gobbling up AMAZON stock right now.

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Amazon stock has almost doubled in the last year. If that's not the definition of being "Gobbled up" I really don't know what is.

An Amazon Fulfillment Center would had been nice for the city but we wanted Amazon to move a second headquarters to Detroit instead

^^ Detroit DID get a new fulfillment center, built in the last few months.
It's directly across from the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport,
in Romulus: DTW1 - 32801 Ecorse Road, Romulus, MI.

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Originally Posted by O3H

^^ Detroit DID get a new fulfillment center, built in the last few months.
It's directly across from the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport,
in Romulus: DTW1 - 32801 Ecorse Road, Romulus, MI.

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They meant in Detroit proper.

A few years old, but applies more today than ever.

https://medium.com/@matthewstoller/h...n-fe947c15cb61

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

A few years old, but applies more today than ever.

https://medium.com/@matthewstoller/h...n-fe947c15cb61

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If you dislike Amazon, lots of justification for your prejudice. Most of the claims could be made against every large firm in existence. What big firm doesn't have tax disputes? Or wage and hour claims against them? If you dislike business in general, this article will prove you right.

But what Stoller doesn't do is explain how this 'monopoly of one man' isn't vulnerable to competition.

For example, he says

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[COLOR=rgba[[0, 0, 0, 0.843137)]Amazon should not have the ability to peer directly into the commercial infrastructure of its competitors, or control the critical infrastructure of entities with which it competes directly, like Netflix.[/COLOR]

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Well first, he doesn't say Amazon DOES peer at competitors data, just that it could. And in fact, they don't. He doesn't even both to accuse them of this. If they did nobody would use their web services. Netflix would leave. After all, there is plenty of competition in this market. [[IBM & Microsoft to name two.)

There's nothing about Amazons business that couldn't collapse in a minute. He even says...

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[COLOR=rgba[[0, 0, 0, 0.843137)]As good a planner as Jeff Bezos might be, Soviet-style bureaucratic structures do not in the long-run deliver anything but catastrophe. They can produce a burst of growth up front, as Amazon is doing now and as the U.S.S.R. did in the 1950s, but [[Amazon will) fall apart as their internal dynamics reveal themselves unable to meet human needs[/COLOR]

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Has Amazon disrupted existing businesses. Yes.

Is it a problem that he's killed inefficient businesses?

Does he even mention that WalMart is doing just fine competing with Amazon? No.

Back to the thread... Amazon owes no obligation to Detroit proper or anybody else. Their just a great firm delivering great value. To quote Stoller again...

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[COLOR=rgba[[0, 0, 0, 0.843137)]The one group that is treated with exceptional grace is consumers. They get low prices and great service.[/COLOR]

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Now there's a real indictment.

Wesley, Amazon is immune to serious competion because its retail business doesn't need to be profitable. Not even Walmart can compete with that business model, and your assumption that they are is incorrect. The growth of Walmart's online sales has been anemic at best. They account for less than 4% of total online sales [[Compared to Amazon that is approaching 50%).

From the link below.

"It's also possible that greater regulatory scrutiny could

one day

throw a wrench into the steady expansion of Amazon's e-commerce empire. But don't count on Walmart or another smaller rival to do so."

https://www.thestreet.com/story/1449...ce-growth.html

Resistance is Futile


Attachment 36208


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I have a hard time to believe that AMAZON is profiting from Whole Foods.
The price savings for the everyday family just is not there, regardless of the private 365 labeled goods, or the Prime Pantry, or the yearly Prime package. It will be a long time before they shed that "Whole Paycheck" image. If they thought delivered packages were stolen before, wait till they are filled with food, sitting on someone's porch in cooler weather......

Late to the party, but apparently no has questioned the assumption that the work amazon is offering is actually stable, regardless of who it's offered to.

https://gizmodo.com/on-amazon-s-time-1826570882
https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/...h-amazon-temp/
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/04/wha...r-to-find-out/

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Wesley, Amazon is immune to serious competion because its retail business doesn't need to be profitable. Not even Walmart can compete with that business model, and your assumption that they are is incorrect. The growth of Walmart's online sales has been anemic at best. They account for less than 4% of total online sales [[Compared to Amazon that is approaching 50%).
...

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Amazon hasn't had to be very profitable yet, because it has managed to continually extend the startup model of high growth/reinvestment over profits. And Wall Street has rewarded them for it, by continually boosting their stock price.

That high growth model needs to show steadily accelerating growth. But they can't grow forever. Then, they will have to balance their slowing growth with increasing profits, reinvestment will slow, and pretty soon their finances will start to look like Walmart's.

It would seem that the grunt workers at Amazon are not exactly
the ones buying from Whole Foods, Amazon Prime, etc., etc.
-versus- the grunt UAW workers who actually buy the cars they make.

AMAZON is the best place to work - surpasses many others

https://work.qz.com/1236944/linkedin...pple-or-tesla/

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Wesley, Amazon is immune to serious competion because its retail business doesn't need to be profitable. Not even Walmart can compete with that business model, and your assumption that they are is incorrect. The growth of Walmart's online sales has been anemic at best. They account for less than 4% of total online sales [[Compared to Amazon that is approaching 50%).

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Not all of those sales are direct from Amazon. Amazon has 1.8 million "third party sellers" who use Amazon as a sales platform and/or a "Fulfillment" [[shipping) service.

Online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy are the new "mom and pop" storefronts for small business owners.

^^ You can spin it however you want, but Jeffy B still gets a piece and he doesn't need any of mine. I'll be shopping local whenever possible.

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Originally Posted by O3H

AMAZON is the best place to work - surpasses many others

https://work.qz.com/1236944/linkedin...pple-or-tesla/

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That means nothing.

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Each year... LinkedIn... crunches data from three areas; jobs applications, engagement [[interest in a company’s brands and their employees), and talent retention. Each year... LinkedIn... crunches data from three areas; jobs applications, engagement [[interest in a company’s brands and their employees), and talent retention.

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1. Applications - of course, people are applying to one of the most valuable companies in the world that's constantly in the news.

2. Engagement - see number 1.

3. Talent retention - this is a worthwhile metric but without knowing how it's weighted or how Amazon compared to anyone else it says nothing.

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Originally Posted by O3H

It would seem that the grunt workers at Amazon are not exactly
the ones buying from Whole Foods, Amazon Prime, etc., etc.
-versus- the grunt UAW workers who actually buy the cars they make.

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I don't see why this matters. Are you saying one is better than the other?

^^^ The UAW go home broken, exhausted , crushed and still
pay that car/truck note on a $30 - $40 thousand vehicle for 5 years.
They make a life out of the overtime, and don't enjoy much of it.

At least at AMAZON the overtime rush is mainly November - December.

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Originally Posted by Meddle

^^ You can spin it however you want, but Jeffy B still gets a piece and he doesn't need any of mine. I'll be shopping local whenever possible.

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It's not spin, it's fact, and how is that different from a small business owner having to pay rent on a retail location to whatever company owns the land/building? What, you think small business owners keep 100% of that dollar you give them? Ever think about the overhead costs of operating an actual physical storefront business: gas/electric/water/insurance/etc? I guarantee you that they are paying a far larger percentage of that dollar in overhead and rent than some Amazon seller is paying to Amazon. Gee, it's almost as if there's some financial incentive for business owners to ditch storefronts and move their retail operation online...

I kind of get the vibe that maybe you just don't like Jeff Bezos.

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Originally Posted by O3H

^^^ The UAW go home broken, exhausted , crushed and still
pay that car/truck note on a $30 - $40 thousand vehicle for 5 years.
They make a life out of the overtime, and don't enjoy much of it.

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Well according to your hypothetical, they seem to be enjoying driving around in a car that cost 30-40K. I'm pretty sure Ford and GM make vehicles that cost less than 30K new. Everything is life is a trade-off of time for money. The UAW guy driving that car decided that that vehicle was worth X number of hours of his life.

Let's not kid ourselves why so many of them kill themselves working overtime, it's to pay for that $40,000 truck... and the other $40,000 truck their wife drives...and that boat or pair of jet-skis they have in the driveway...it's all that "Keeping up with the Joneses" bullshit.