I disagree with the Amazon part. That company is not free market. They are using government contracts for high margin cloud services to subsidize a very low margin retail business that no one in their right mind would be paying over 100 P/E to own. They are using that high margin business segment to crush their competitors and essentially remove all profit from the retail sector. This is bad in so many way yet these dumb fucks continue to feed it and worship it.
Yup. I had a bad experience with a local coffee shop this week. I was buying occasional fru-fru drinks from them and regularly fresh ground coffee for work at $16 a pound. I was waiting there last Saturday morning at 9 am and nobody showed up to open. I had already had a horrible week and was there to get a fru-fru drink for a coworker. So the next Friday I go in and get berated in front of the entire place by a low-level staffer, the boss was having a bad day that day. So I told them I’d never spend another cent there. You don’t get to piss on your good paying customers when you’re a small business owner who’s ‘having a bad day’.
Ham Roid
June 17, 2018 7:46 pm
I’m beginning to believe that UPS, FedEx and the USPS are going to kill Amazon. Half of what you purchase online either ends up at your neighbor’s house or in pieces. I hate going to any brick and mortar store. But damn, at least I get what I purchase.
Funny thing about Amazon is their Locker system. Buy online and then if you want to return something you go find a locker.
Work-In-Progress
June 17, 2018 8:13 pm
Thank you for this post. Perfect reminder for me and my business.
Mike
June 18, 2018 3:02 pm
Netflix – never posted a profit, relies on cheap and easy access to capital to function. The only cash positive function they perform is their DVD by mail system.
Uber – never posted a profit, and uses cheap capital to subsidize their own taxi fares. No uber tech made transporting a person cheaper, they just shifted the cost.
Apple – had a fantastic hardware and software lineup that was taken over by accounting and marketing folk. Enjoy the incremental upgrades for increased cost.
Amazon – never posted a profit, and uses cheap capital to operate at a loss against companies that cannot operate at a loss. Yes, AWS is profitable, due to government business. Also, retail is stupid because it built 2x the square footage of any other developed nation. Do Americans really need twice the amount of shopping space as everyone else? Well considering the obesity epidemic, probably. Unfortunately it appears they cannot support that much retail square footage.
Airbnb – Providing a framework for folks to make voluntary associations seems like a swell idea. =)
This poster had always understood the definition of Fascism to be the crossover of government and corporate power, whereby the government regulations are used to either force people to purchase a corporate product or service or to severely define their use of said corporate product. The regulatory framework that exists to allow large corporations to operate at a loss for 10, 15, 20 years has absolutely nothing to do with a free market system. In fact, a free market system would prevent such behaviour by allowing the losers to die. Look at Sears and JCPenny, the same regulatory and capital apparatus that keeps Amazon alive keeps them alive.
So, FAANG and it’s ilk seem more like an expression of Fascism than free market capitalism.
digitalpennmedia
June 18, 2018 10:57 pm
of course reading the list and accepting it all as true without any digging into it or rational thinking would lead one to believe that its true… but given that costs related to brick and mortar, employees, insurance and so on would cause blockbuster to suffer in ways that netflix did not. This extends to the rest as well. This is also the reason that fast food is moving toward robots and self ordering kiosks … no employees, less insurance cost … and so on
Yep, free mkt always wins in the end.
I disagree with the Amazon part. That company is not free market. They are using government contracts for high margin cloud services to subsidize a very low margin retail business that no one in their right mind would be paying over 100 P/E to own. They are using that high margin business segment to crush their competitors and essentially remove all profit from the retail sector. This is bad in so many way yet these dumb fucks continue to feed it and worship it.
Yep – the free market would eventually win if we actually tried it.
I remember watching Kmart lose its customers to Walmart over surly workers, crowded isles and poor selection.
Get off my island
Yup. I had a bad experience with a local coffee shop this week. I was buying occasional fru-fru drinks from them and regularly fresh ground coffee for work at $16 a pound. I was waiting there last Saturday morning at 9 am and nobody showed up to open. I had already had a horrible week and was there to get a fru-fru drink for a coworker. So the next Friday I go in and get berated in front of the entire place by a low-level staffer, the boss was having a bad day that day. So I told them I’d never spend another cent there. You don’t get to piss on your good paying customers when you’re a small business owner who’s ‘having a bad day’.
I’m beginning to believe that UPS, FedEx and the USPS are going to kill Amazon. Half of what you purchase online either ends up at your neighbor’s house or in pieces. I hate going to any brick and mortar store. But damn, at least I get what I purchase.
Funny thing about Amazon is their Locker system. Buy online and then if you want to return something you go find a locker.
Thank you for this post. Perfect reminder for me and my business.
Netflix – never posted a profit, relies on cheap and easy access to capital to function. The only cash positive function they perform is their DVD by mail system.
Uber – never posted a profit, and uses cheap capital to subsidize their own taxi fares. No uber tech made transporting a person cheaper, they just shifted the cost.
Apple – had a fantastic hardware and software lineup that was taken over by accounting and marketing folk. Enjoy the incremental upgrades for increased cost.
Amazon – never posted a profit, and uses cheap capital to operate at a loss against companies that cannot operate at a loss. Yes, AWS is profitable, due to government business. Also, retail is stupid because it built 2x the square footage of any other developed nation. Do Americans really need twice the amount of shopping space as everyone else? Well considering the obesity epidemic, probably. Unfortunately it appears they cannot support that much retail square footage.
Airbnb – Providing a framework for folks to make voluntary associations seems like a swell idea. =)
This poster had always understood the definition of Fascism to be the crossover of government and corporate power, whereby the government regulations are used to either force people to purchase a corporate product or service or to severely define their use of said corporate product. The regulatory framework that exists to allow large corporations to operate at a loss for 10, 15, 20 years has absolutely nothing to do with a free market system. In fact, a free market system would prevent such behaviour by allowing the losers to die. Look at Sears and JCPenny, the same regulatory and capital apparatus that keeps Amazon alive keeps them alive.
So, FAANG and it’s ilk seem more like an expression of Fascism than free market capitalism.
of course reading the list and accepting it all as true without any digging into it or rational thinking would lead one to believe that its true… but given that costs related to brick and mortar, employees, insurance and so on would cause blockbuster to suffer in ways that netflix did not. This extends to the rest as well. This is also the reason that fast food is moving toward robots and self ordering kiosks … no employees, less insurance cost … and so on