Amazon Go is a "fist" aimed at the convenience store industry - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE=TestECull;53081974]They do, though, because by gathering up as much information about me, an individual, as possible they can tailor advertisements and try to get me to buy things I don't want or need. They don't care about my well being, true, but they do care about me, in that they can fine tune their marketing with more info. Which is the case with literally every business out there that sells things. They want as much information on you as they can get so they can adjust their marketing and try to dupe you into buying shit you don't want with money you don't have. [editline]25th January 2018[/editline] I don't. They have the bare minimum they need for me to buy shit off their desktop site, which they've needed since they were founded nearly a decade ago. It's a shame they don't take paypal. They'd have even less on file than they already do. Not really. I wouldn't be shopping at their B&M stores anyway. They don't have anything to offer me that walmart also can't offer. I mean, shit, what's on offer here? A store where employees aren't pestering you, where you're paying dirt cheap prices for doritos and mello yello? Walmart does that just fine, with the added convenience of offering more than just convenience store fare. I can throw a fairly tasty NY Strip, a 12AWG outdoor extension cord, 4 235/75R15 Goodyear Wranglers, a lawn tractor, two boxes of .12ga magnum slugs, a muzzle-loading rifle, a copy of Forza 7, an XBone to play that on, a week's worth of t-shirts and slacks, a new pair of boots, and an oil change into the same transaction right alongside the doritos and mello yello if I'm shopping at at WalMart. Can't do that at Amazon Go.[/QUOTE] You shouldn't be comparing them to big box stores like Walmart. Amazon Go is not competing with them. That's the role their online store plays. They're competing with gas stations and convenience stores. The main offer besides the low prices is the lack of checkout. You don't need to wait in line or pay the cashier. You just go in, grab whatever you want, and leave. If it's a busy time of the day that could be a deal breaker.

[quote]Jeff Bezos made $2.8 billion in one day after his company introduced technology that eliminates the need for cashiers. All cashiers in America make an average of $210 million a day combined[/quote] [quote]Ten percent of Amazon's Ohio workforce is on food stamps, according to a snapshot study done by a nonprofit liberal-leaning policy research group called Policy Matters Ohio. And it was released just days before Bezos' net worth broke the world record at $105 billion.[/quote] [quote]And it turns out, these Amazon employees relying on food assistance cannot use food stamps at the company's new cashier-free store, Amazon Go, the company has confirmed to CNBC.[/quote] [url]https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/25/10-percent-of-amazons-ohio-employees-are-on-food-stamps-liberal-think-tank-says.html[/url] [media]https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC/status/956057660478181377[/media] Loving that corporate dystopia.

The big 4 need to be broken, ASAP. This isn't healthy, this is wealth consolidation. This is sounding more and more like a fucking feudal empire. Walmart did the same shit and everyone screamed at them, watch no one say anything to Amazon.

[QUOTE=SunsetTable;53082362]The big 4 need to be broken, ASAP. This isn't healthy, this is wealth consolidation. This is sounding more and more like a fucking feudal empire. Walmart did the same shit and everyone screamed at them, watch no one say anything to Amazon.[/QUOTE] Because you see/hear about less Amazon employees than Walmart. Walmart you walk in and apply. Walmart employees you can probably find every day. Amazon is a bit harder, so their employee abuse is a lot more hidden.

[QUOTE=SunsetTable;53082362]The big 4 need to be broken, ASAP. This isn't healthy, this is wealth consolidation. This is sounding more and more like a fucking feudal empire. Walmart did the same shit and everyone screamed at them, watch no one say anything to Amazon.[/QUOTE] Not really, at least in Amazon's case. They still only control a single-digit percent of US retail. Additionally, they're moving to expand horizontally into other market, not vertically to consolidate their online retail dominance. In all markets =/= a monopoly [url]http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-is-actually-the-weakest-of-the-big-us-retailers-2017-08-30[/url] Had Kroger acquired Whole Foods, no one would have cared, even though that would have moved a market much closer to a monopoly than Amazon acquiring it.

[QUOTE=Harbie;53082424]Not really, at least in Amazon's case. They still only control a single-digit percent of US retail. Additionally, they're moving to expand horizontally into other market, not vertically to consolidate their online retail dominance. In all markets =/= a monopoly [url]http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-is-actually-the-weakest-of-the-big-us-retailers-2017-08-30[/url] Had Kroger acquired Whole Foods, no one would have cared, even though that would have moved a market much closer to a monopoly than Amazon acquiring it.[/QUOTE] Horizontal gives way to vertical, just look at the telecomm companies. Or Alphabet.

[QUOTE=SunsetTable;53082429]Horizontal gives way to vertical, just look at the telecomm companies. Or Alphabet.[/QUOTE] Alphabet's still only dominant in their two core competencies - search and ads. Every other space they're in has multiple large competitors or is bleeding money. Legislating based on potential future events isn't wise and is liable to abuse. If Amazon does become a monopoly they can be legislated against then.

The problem ends up being private ownership of forces that have become foundational in our way of life, which invariably leads to exploitation for private gain. These forces that could be much more efficient at churning out good for society are instead vessels for selfishness to run amok.

[QUOTE=Harbie;53082433]Alphabet's still only dominant in their two core competencies - search and ads. Every other space they're in has multiple large competitors or is bleeding money.[/quote] Actually, they're dominant in a lot of things. They're a MAJOR email address source, they have a very veeeeery strong foothold on mobile OS to the point there's only really one viable contender, they own the only video sharing service on the internet that's worth using(Even if it does hemorrhage money like no tomorrow), and if it wasn't for the old guard enacting laws that prevent competition they'd be dominant in the ISP market as well...to say they're dominant in only two things is to spread a blatant falsehood. IT is true, though, that they're flailing about financially with most of it. Legislating based on potential future events isn't wise and is liable to abuse. If Amazon does become a monopoly they can be legislated against then.[/QUOTE] [editline]26th January 2018[/editline] [QUOTE=Harbie;53082160]You shouldn't be comparing them to big box stores like Walmart.[/quote] But I am, because that's what I'm deciding between when I'm deciding where to go to buy food. [quote] Amazon Go is not competing with them. [/quote] They are for my dollar. My business with gas stations is buying gasoline. I seldom actually enter the store, and if I do it's probably because I'm at Pilot and want one of their fucking delicious fresh-ish in-house cheeseburgers, or because the pump is acting up and forcing me to pre-pay. Neither scenario applies to Amazon Go, but what does is when I want to buy a few odds 'n ends to snack on.

[QUOTE=Tetracycline;53082455]The problem ends up being private ownership of forces that have become foundational in our way of life, which invariably leads to exploitation for private gain. These forces that could be much more efficient at churning out good for society are instead vessels for selfishness to run amok.[/QUOTE] Things that are "foundational in our way of life" have always been privately owned. It's not some new phenomena. Food production, for example.

[QUOTE=Harbie;53082424]Not really, at least in Amazon's case. They still only control a single-digit percent of US retail. Additionally, they're moving to expand horizontally into other market, not vertically to consolidate their online retail dominance. In all markets =/= a monopoly [URL]http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-is-actually-the-weakest-of-the-big-us-retailers-2017-08-30[/URL] Had Kroger acquired Whole Foods, no one would have cared, even though that would have moved a market much closer to a monopoly than Amazon acquiring it.[/QUOTE] Kroger's stock price fell 33% after amazon announced they were buying whole foods amazon makes up 24% of all retail growth in the US, 44% of all e-commerce sales, 55% of all black friday sales, 62% of US households have prime (this is all in Scott Galloway's talks about amazon btw) the market value of nearly every single retailer other than walmart and kroger since 2006 has fallen, except amazon's which has risen 3,153% saying amazon only controls a single digit of retail and thus aren't anything to worry about is using one pixel of a whole picture which is telling us a very different story amazon has immense intellectual and material capital, and it is not a coincidence that whenever amazon comes out with a press release, you can guarantee the stock prices of all their retail competitors is going to fall nobody would have given a shit about kroger buying wholefoods because kroger isn't one of the four most valued companies in the world, kroger doesn't own a near unstoppably profitable cloud service, kroger isn't pushing advertising in directions that are near dystopian, kroger isn't embracing tech amazon is not only in nearly every market, it's capable of essentially taxing their rivals via market cap, and is literally digging up other retail corps by their roots

... and why is Amazon doing so well? Because they provide an equivalent product, at lower cost, with more convenience, with more variety, and with good customer service.

[QUOTE=sgman91;53083558]... and why is Amazon doing so well? Because they provide an equivalent product, at lower cost, with more convenience, with more variety, and with good customer service.[/QUOTE] Why is amazon providing equivalent products, at lower cost, with more convenience, with more variety, and with good customer service? Abuse.

[QUOTE=01271;53083656]Why is amazon providing equivalent products, at lower cost, with more convenience, with more variety, and with good customer service? Abuse.[/QUOTE] Now go ahead and substantiate your claim.

[QUOTE=01271;53083656]Why is amazon providing equivalent products, at lower cost, with more convenience, with more variety, and with good customer service? Abuse.[/QUOTE] No, it's not abuse. It's scale. Economies of scale allow for things like Amazon to provide a better service, faster, for less. What this means for the rest of the economy is up to debate, but most forecasts about this kind of issue are negative for the economy as a whole, too much consolidation isn't a good thing in the long run. Honestly, we're entering the era of the corporate nation, and we should just get used to it. Even if we were armed, we couldn't change what's coming.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;53083695]No, it's not abuse. It's scale. Economies of scale allow for things like Amazon to provide a better service, faster, for less. What this means for the rest of the economy is up to debate, but most forecasts about this kind of issue are negative for the economy as a whole, too much consolidation isn't a good thing in the long run. Honestly, we're entering the era of the corporate nation, and we should just get used to it. Even if we were armed, we couldn't change what's coming.[/QUOTE] [url]https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?_r=0[/url] [I]“Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk.”[/I] [I]"Thanks in part to its ability to extract the most from employees, Amazon is stronger than ever."[/I] Amazon treats you like a robot that eats food. I think the army parody from the movie full metal jacket treats its members more like humans than amazon does. There's always like unethical shit going on with purchases like for example all our electronics have conflict minerals like cobalt in them but with amazon it's slavery inside our own countries. We can actually do something about it. We got so used to workers being treated like shit thanks to wal-mart, now that wal-mart has put the prybar in the door to at-home profitable human rights abuses amazon is yanking on it as hard as it can. [url]https://www.standard.co.uk/news/techandgadgets/amazon-develops-wristbands-to-track-warehouse-workers-a3663536.html[/url] Just keep working like a cog in a machine, we're adding bracelets that tell you where your hands have to go on top of your current gps that beeps at you when you're too slow. [url]http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/amazon-workers-working-hours-weeks-conditions-targets-online-shopping-delivery-a8079111.html[/url] [quote]Amazon workers working 55-hour weeks and so exhausted by targets they 'fall asleep standing up[/quote] This isn't even new, these working conditions are still happening. I'll post the story about the amazon air conditioning again, I found the update on it: [quote]Despite continued reports of grueling working conditions in Amazon's warehouses, the situation has been somewhat improved by the company's $52 million investment to retrofit older warehouses with air conditioning units. Amazon made the decision to install temporary air conditioning units in the Breinigsville, PA warehouse after The Morning Call reported that the warehouse heat index topped 110 degrees in the summer, and workers suffered heat-related injuries. Since, the company has replaced the temporary system in the Breinigsville warehouse with forty permanent roof-mounted air conditioning units, and added cooling systems to older warehouses countrywide. After several heat related injuries in May of last year, Amazon began paying to have ambulances stationed in its parking lot on hot days. In June, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an inspection of the facilities after getting complaints from doctors and employees. One complaint stated that 15 employees collapsed while working when the heat index rose above 100 degrees. [/quote] You have to ride their ass over everything and make a huge stink in the media for them to install air conditioning and make conditions livable in their warehouses. Jeff Bezos meanwhile is keeping millions of his company's dollars out of our tax systems, [url]http://www.newsweek.com/2016/07/22/amazon-jeff-bezos-taxes-479814.html[/url] At their scale they should take care of their employees, [url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/25/10-percent-of-amazons-ohio-employees-are-on-food-stamps-liberal-think-tank-says.html]1 in 10 ohio amazon employees is on food stamps[/url] and [I][url=https://slate.com/technology/2018/01/the-amazon-go-store-doesnt-take-food-stamps.html]You can't even spend your food stamps at amazon go[/url][/I]. Imagine working for a company that spat in your face that much. If you want to argue that all companies do that then all right, but that's not a good thing, and it shouldn't be a defense. Their economy of scale includes workers getting worn down and thrown out. Amazon is abusing workers, abusing tax systems, it can make your city [url=https://splinternews.com/all-the-thirsty-shit-cities-are-doing-to-woo-amazon-1819683162]humiliate itself to try to lick a dollar bill off the bottom of its bootheel[/url], and it's super fucked up.