NPTim Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Amazon is the ultimate success story of capitalism. A finger in just about every pie. Is it a monopoly? Should it be broken up? Is it a victim of its massive success? Do we resent it’s success or it’s harvesting of our information? How can we claim to support capitalism and then revile amazon? Life ain’t simple. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huaco Kid Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 I think there is a difference between beating the competition in a “fair fight” and buying and shutting down the competition. Should Disney be broken up? Or AT&T - again? How many “invincible companies” have died or almost died when the next big thing came along? Kodak invented digital imaging but thought the world would continue to belong to film. Woolco, Sears, K-Mart, J C Penny, most 5 and 10 stores, Westinghouse, RCA, GE, all steam locomotives manufacturers... As stated, capitalism can be tough. But is there an example where central planning worked over the longer term? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostinTexas Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crockett Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 It's pretty simple. Both big government and big corp is bad for The People, the republic, freedom and liberty. Any growing "group" of people - no matter if its a huge company or a one party system - will use their increasing control to abuse the masses for profit or more power. Also, research the endless lists of companies that have been bought up and sucked dry by Amazon, Google and Facebook. HUNDREDS of companies gone, or merged into these ever-growing big tech companies. What do you think will happen when there is no proper competition anymore? Buyers (aka The People) will be hit with price hikes because we can't go anywhere else, while manufacturers will be forced to produce at lower costs and quality because they can't sell on any other market anymore (see all malls going out of business), which will export even more of our middle class jobs to China, including our tax revenue from those jobs. This is not a question of capitalism, but failed / nonexistent anti trust laws, because many politicians are in bed with big tech and China, mainly Democrats. This is economics first semester. We need to stop confusing ourselves with false or outdated believes. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crockett Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 52 minutes ago, railfancwb said: I think there is a difference between beating the competition in a “fair fight” and buying and shutting down the competition. Should Disney be broken up? Or AT&T - again? How many “invincible companies” have died or almost died when the next big thing came along? Kodak invented digital imaging but thought the world would continue to belong to film. Woolco, Sears, K-Mart, J C Penny, most 5 and 10 stores, Westinghouse, RCA, GE, all steam locomotives manufacturers... As stated, capitalism can be tough. But is there an example where central planning worked over the longer term? Germany has massive anti trust laws in place, and that's why their economy is the strongest in the European Union. They also have higher tariffs on imported goods which explains why you can buy basically every product possible with a Made In Germany sticker on it. Trump stood for both: anti trust laws and tariffs, to protect OUR products made in here the US, our innovation and a competetive field, our US manufacturing jobs, and related tax revenue. But half the country is literally too stupid and brainwashed by left wing hate to understand this correlation, we now have the most economically destructive and anti American government in place, ever. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwalchmai Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 A suggestion I read online (where only truth exists) - Use Amazon's resources to find a product you like, then contact the manufacturer directly and offer to buy it for the same price/shipping. This will work in a lot of cases because the manufacturer/distributor avoids paying Amazon their cut. Be sure to express your displeasure with Amazon to the manufacturer in your negotiation so they understand where your coming from and that you want to support their company. Just like going up to every pretty woman you see and asking to sleep with her, this won't always work, but it'll work often enough to make it worthwhile. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dric902 Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 4 minutes ago, gwalchmai said: A suggestion I read online (where only truth exists) - Use Amazon's resources to find a product you like, then contact the manufacturer directly and offer to buy it for the same price/shipping. This will work in a lot of cases because the manufacturer/distributor avoids paying Amazon their cut. Be sure to express your displeasure with Amazon to the manufacturer in your negotiation so they understand where your coming from and that you want to support their company. Just like going up to every pretty woman you see and asking to sleep with her, this won't always work, but it'll work often enough to make it worthwhile. I find an Amazon product (since the choices everywhere else have been reduced so much) then look on Etsy/EBay the argument used to be that Walmart was killing “Mom and Pop stores” now with The Rona.....Walmart and Amazon rule the economy, thanks to the gov’t . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Historian Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 11 minutes ago, gwalchmai said: Just like going up to every pretty woman you see and asking to sleep with her, this won't always work, but it'll work often enough to make it worthwhile. I had a buddy in college who did just that. And it worked often. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crockett Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 1 hour ago, gwalchmai said: A suggestion I read online (where only truth exists) - Use Amazon's resources to find a product you like, then contact the manufacturer directly and offer to buy it for the same price/shipping. This will work in a lot of cases because the manufacturer/distributor avoids paying Amazon their cut. Be sure to express your displeasure with Amazon to the manufacturer in your negotiation so they understand where your coming from and that you want to support their company. Just like going up to every pretty woman you see and asking to sleep with her, this won't always work, but it'll work often enough to make it worthwhile. Comment of the month. Sound advice. Also, those 3rd party sellers on Amazon often run an independent online shop under their own domain name and can be found with a simple google search for their Amazon seller name. Their offers in their online shops are often CHEAPER compared to the same products on Amazon, because they save up to 15% on Amazon commissions compared to selling on Amazon. Whatever you do, stop buying on Amazon! Amazon now has a market capitalization of 1.65 TRILLION dollars. They are left wing and with their power, they can and do manipulate voter opinion, regulations and laws against us. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huaco Kid Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 I've learned (within the not-too-distant past) that the prices on amazon are never the lowest. I can always find things cheaper, locally. And the bootleg-factor is through the roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Don’t know about products listed on Amazon, but some products listed on eBay are made in and shipped from China. Unbelievable the low low postage rates from China! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 (edited) After Amazon stuck their nose into politics, a couple of weeks ago, I dumped them. I thought it would be difficult, but it hasn't been. There are a million other online sources for items. The only tough one for me was Audible. I had about 20 books on there, and I can't access them without the app or figuring out how to convert them. I'll just start my audio library over. Google, on the other hand, is much tougher. I started a business in 2017 and set up my domain, website, and email using Google. It was the only way I could find that was easy enough to DIY. I don't think I have the technical know-how to migrate all of that somewhere else. I have an IT consultant, so I'll have to pay him to do it when I have a chance. I had already dropped Twitler and rarely used FB, so both of those were easy. I have used Sync.com before, and it's pretty good, so I am going to transfer my cloud-based services from Google Drive and Dropbox to them. Changed from Firefox to Brave, and Brave has been an improvement. I know Big Tech won't miss me. I feel better not working with groups that have expressed active contempt for my kind. Also, state secession is out, but maybe there's a chance a parallel economy might emerge, so I'd like to support the alternatives to Big Tech. Edited January 23, 2021 by Brad 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windowasher Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 I been preaching this for years. If you keep giving money to people who want to enslave you, don't be surprised when they do. Time to pick a side 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyjohnson Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 5 hours ago, gwalchmai said: A suggestion I read online (where only truth exists) - Use Amazon's resources to find a product you like, then contact the manufacturer directly and offer to buy it for the same price/shipping. This will work in a lot of cases because the manufacturer/distributor avoids paying Amazon their cut. Be sure to express your displeasure with Amazon to the manufacturer in your negotiation so they understand where your coming from and that you want to support their company. Just like going up to every pretty woman you see and asking to sleep with her, this won't always work, but it'll work often enough to make it worthwhile. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyjohnson Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 i have done some seat of my pants research and found that nearly anything i can get on Amazon, i can get on Ebay Cheaper or for the same Price. and often times the Original Product and Shipped in the same time frame. my Issue with Amazon is that they Openly allow China to steal ideas and Products from other Manufacturers, undercut then basically outsource them. nearly anytime you see "Product discontinued" on Amazon it is usually because there's 10 others made in Covid, i mean China that came a long after and are 1/4 the Price and functionally no Different.. i am a Capitalist Pig but...Capitalism dies without the chance for Competition and that is exactly what Amazon is trying and succeeding in doing is kill the Competition. Historically this has been done A lot, and never works in the Consumers Favor. creating a better product is one thing, but Stealing it, undercutting the Manufacturer by using Slave Labor and then squeezing a Tax Funded Shipper to Deliver the goods at a Discounted rate then using the profits to pay off Elected Officials to Look the other way is not Capitalism, its the Opposite. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deputy tom Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 (edited) I bought Blade-Tech belt clips, or so I thought. The ones I received were knock offs and probably chinese made. Other than that and a sub-par garden flag most of our purchases were good and priced right. A few orders were late but no big deal. YMMV. tom. Edited January 23, 2021 by deputy tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmohme Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 On 1/23/2021 at 8:01 AM, gwalchmai said: Use Amazon's resources to find a product you like, then contact the manufacturer directly and offer to buy it for the same price/shipping. This will work in a lot of cases because the manufacturer/distributor avoids paying Amazon their cut. Be sure to express your displeasure with Amazon to the manufacturer in your negotiation so they understand where your coming from and that you want to support their company. I have been doing this for years, especial with my photographic equipment. In the past few years, I have purchased 6 pro grade camera bodies and at least a dozen lenses from a local camera shop. I go there with a printout of the best price I found on Amazon and when the shop quotes me a price, if my online shopping was less, I show them the printout. They have not alway matched the price, but every time, they at least came close so I buy from them, have no concerns of damaged in shipping , can talk to an actual knowledgeable human if I need support, and have not given Amazon a penny of my money. I also get treated exceptionally well after spending as much as I have there. I usually don't even have to stand in line at the counter. One of the sales men almost always comes out to greet me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 23 hours ago, Huaco Kid said: I've learned (within the not-too-distant past) that the prices on amazon are never the lowest. I can always find things cheaper, locally. And the bootleg-factor is through the roof. Amazon made its mark with low prices, cheap shipping, and for most no sales taxes. Once it became a presence opening distribution points in many states (thus cancelling the “no sales tax” on those) it started to back the idea of taxing internet sales to remove that advantage from possible new competitors. During this time it was gradually raising prices and increasing shipping fees. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 I found recently that an open end internet search for product often has Amazon and Walmart Online competitions. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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