So Jeff Bezos Is Stepping Down as CEO of Amazon

[MineralMan]

OK, then. Next, he'll fly into space, paying an obscene amount of money to do so. If he survives that, he'll still have more money than he could ever spend in the rest of his life.

So, is Amazon now not the Great Satan of Retailing? I doubt that very much. It's just too convenient for people to use to shop for stuff. It will continue to grow, I'm sure.

I thought about that this morning. We have a wrought iron and glass bar-height table with two stools my wife bought from a liquidation furniture warehouse a few years ago. In our old house, it sat in the kitchen breakfast nook area. In our new townhome that we just moved into, we have a new dinette set for four arriving next week. So, I relocated the table to a spot beside the railing next to the atrium by the split level stairs in our living room. It matches the wrought iron railing there.

My wife said this morning, "We need a lamp for that table. One with a similar industrial-looking wrought iron design, but compact and without a large shade." I started thinking about where to go to look for such a lamp. There's a Cost Plus Global Market and a Lowe's very near our new home, so I thought I'd go over there this morning and see if they had something suitable.

But, then, I thought again and fired up my cell phone and loaded the Amazon app, which is connected to my wife's Prime account. I searched for "industrial wrought iron table lamp." I only had to scroll through a page and a half before seeing the perfect lamp. Actually it was a pair of them. A perfect design match for the table and stools. It used an LED bulb and was dimmable, besides. I showed it to my wife, who said, "Perfect." I tapped the "Buy Now" button. The second one will go on a little square table next to the sliding door to the deck.

Now, I could have used the Amazon app and the voice remote on our TV to do all this, but we were watching MSNBC on that device.

The lamps will arrive on Thursday, delivered by a decently-paid Amazon driver in a Prime truck.

Why does this make all kinds of sense? Here's a list:

1. I will not have to drive my car to go looking for a lamp at Global Market and Lowe's.
2. I will not have to spend an hour or so looking at the available selection of lamps and ending up disappointed and coming home.
3. I will not have to debate whether the designer lamp I found at either place is worth its higher price at those two retail stores. The pair I ordered from Amazon cost just $79.95, with free shipping.
4. I will use no fossil fuel in my search for such a product.
5. Where I am, the Amazon Prime delivery trucks are EVs, and the lamp is in stock at the local distribution center.
6. I don't even have to think about this purchase any longer, so I can get back to finishing up our move.
7. Both Cost Plus Global Market and Lowe's are also large corporations. Indeed, I would be dealing with a large corporation no matter where I bought my lamps.

This is our new reality, frankly. Retailing has changed forever, and we will never return to the days of local brick and mortar stores for merchandise such as this. The entire process has been streamlined, uses less fossil fuel energy due to that streamlining, and offers an almost unlimited selection of goods to consumers, rather than the limited stock found in small, local retailers.

We can rail against huge corporations all we want, but we will not return to old-style retailing ever again. It's just not going to happen. So, we will continue to shop on our cell phones and let a global network of suppliers and retailers present an unlimited variety of goods to us at prices that are only possible through that massive network.

Amazon and its online competitors offer us more for less. There are benefits to that, and all of them employ millions of workers, most often paying those workers wages far above minimum wage levels.

Maybe it's a good thing?

[snowybirdie]

1. A while back

I needed some trays. Went to Walmart and asked where they were located. First employee didn't know. Second only spoke Spanish so I tried in my fractured Spanish. I ended up in dishes. Got frustrated and went home. Opened up my tablet and Amazon and found just what I needed. They arrived the next day! The new world of shopping.

[MineralMan]

2. Well, Walmart used to be the Great Satan of retailing, remember?

Now it's Amazon.

Before Walmart, it was Sears Roebuck and Company. Small, locally owned retailing of general merchandise has been dying or dead for over 100 years now.

The result? A vastly bigger selection and at lower prices. Those employees? They're working for the big stores now, and get health insurance and other benefits, along with having better advancement opportunities.

[Demsrule86]

3. Right and yet Walmart pays decently in my area and the worst company besides Mom and Pop

places (they pay horribly usually but most here love them) is Starbucks. My future daughter-in-law makes $9.00 per hour at Starbucks and is kept at 20 hours per week or under. And yet people here seem to love this place. It sucks. Many factories here have raised their wages and there is overtime, I expect she will change jobs soon. Factory work can be hard but it pays better.

[MerryHolidays]

4. Generally speaking, I think you're right

But Amazon has gone a little downhill for me in the past year or so. Here are a few issues I have with it:


1) It allowed massive price-gouging to occur on its platform during the horrible months of March and April 2020, when supplies were at zero. There were a lot of quality and counterfeiting issues with third-party sellers.

2) There is massive manipulation of the ratings/reviews on Amazon. It's become so bad and prevalent that I now use an app that does an AI-based analysis of reviews/ratings. There are a large number of potentially misleading ones, far more than I would have thought. I no longer trust these.

3) It is no longer always the lowest-priced retailer. For years, for example, I sourced all our family's IT purchases through Amazon. And there was a time when its prices couldn't be beaten. Now, I often find that Best Buy meets and beats Amazon, and, no matter what, it pays to shop around. Target seems to be pretty good too. And, on occasion, I get a better deal via Home Depot's website than through Amazon's.

4) For things like appliances and large furniture, there's no way that I would get that via Amazon. I would want to see it in real life. The same for clothes. We've ordered tons of clothes via Amazon (and other sites) that don't fit properly, don't look like what we thought it would look like, etc. And then we have to go through the hassle of returning that to The UPS Store or an Amazon store. So, for certain products, I think there will always be physical stores.

[Klaralven]

7. I tend to avoid the part of Amazon that is "eBay with warehouses"

I prefer sold and fulfilled by Amazon.

[MerryHolidays]

9. Definitely

If it is coming straight from Amazon, I have a much higher confidence level.

[MineralMan]

13. I have bought some things from third-party vendors on Amazon.

I've had good success with that, personally.

[Klaralven]

15. I have too, but mainly low-ticket items that Amazon doesn't carry.

[Butterflylady]

11. Bought a tv on Amazon.

It was last years model and the price was unbelievable. Got it in a couple of days, so yes you can make big purchases on Amazon and save money to boot.

[MerryHolidays]

16. I am referring to appliances like refrigerators, ovens, washer/dryers

I wouldn't ever buy those online. If something is wrong, it is difficult to return, there are installation issues, there are issues with carting away the old appliance etc.

TVs aren't an issue. I've ordered one from eBay, and it was fine. But a TV is usually just plug 'n play, unlike appliances.

[MineralMan]

17. Well, I bought a gas range from Wayfair and a

washing machine from Home Depot online. Basic delivery was free from both, but I paid extra for in-room delivery, haul-away and installation. I checked with local appliance stores, and I still saved over $100 on each by buying online. Both were delivered and installed by a third party delivery and installation service. Both worked fine, were installed correctly, and the old appliances went away.

In all, I saved about $200 on the basic contractor grade appliances I purchased.

The local appliance stores offered free delivery as well as installation, but added those costs, plus more to the sales price. They also charged extra for haul-away. Both were also back-ordered on the models I wanted, although they had plenty of more expensive units.

Saving $200 was worthwhile to me, frankly, since I was replacing working units with new ones to prepare to sell our old house.

[MerryHolidays]

19. Fair enough, MinMan

I remember your writing about this, but, IIRC, it was for the home you were selling and it was contractor grade.

Would you buy a major appliance sight unseen except online for your own home? Personally, I wouldn't. What I might do is go to a bricks & mortar store that carried the same brand and give them the online price to see if they would match it. If they couldn't, but I had seen the appliance in person, I probably would get it via online if I could save enough money.

[MineralMan]

20. I research things like large appliances online,

wherever I buy them. I wouldn't feel good about going to a local store and checking out appliances to see what I wanted, and then buying them online. I would have wasted someone's time, and that just doesn't sit well with me.

Customer reviews online are a great help in choosing things. You can also look at complete specifications and even look at owner's manuals and installation guides at online retailers.

For me, though, it is time saved that is the big reason I shop online these days. That and not having to drive to several places to look for things. That's my time, too, which is valuable to me, even if not financially. The house we bought had new appliances in it. They're fine. The seller had their owner's manuals stacked on the kitchen counter for us. He bought a higher grade than contractor grade, which was nice, but I'm OK with simpler, contractor grade stuff, really. Less to go wrong, and the internal stuff is the same anyhow.

[MerryHolidays]

21. Similar approach

I research the heck out of potential purchases and usually have a good sense of what we want, where we can get it, and for how much, even before setting foot in a physical store.

When I go to a store, I'm very upfront and show the salesperson the online price to see if they can meet or beat. Surprisingly, they are often prepared to match prices, and I am happy to go with them if they can. If they can't meet, they understand why and are ok with my not purchasing the product. I am sure many physical stores monitor online pricing and expect folks like me to show an online price and bargain. Stores like Best Buy are very aggressive about price matching.

I had a situation recently where we ordered an oven, and the salesperson at the store had verbally confirmed that the oven had finished sides since the sides would be exposed in our kitchen. However, when the product was delivered, it didn't have any sides. I went to the store, and the sales manager was very honest, admitted the mistake, and said no problem: they would exchange the delivered oven without sides for one with sides. They let me keep the first oven until they brought the new oven, with sides. That was all through a physical store, and I don't think we would have been able to sort this out via online. Maybe, but it was a real hassle. The ovens were extremely heavy and had to be carted up/down steps. I'm not sure how an Amazon or Home Depot online would have handled this kind of exchange.

But your ultimate point is well-taken. Online stores have created a huge competitive shift in pricing, availability, etc. And that's a good thing for consumers. And, indeed, it saves a ton of time for the right kind of products.

[underpants]

5. We're getting drones

My wife is an Amazon queen. We order all kinds of stuff and it’s spooky fast. She bought a phone cover for our daughter and it was delivered by 2pm that day.

From what I understand the Amazon warehouse that in one of the satellite parking fields at the Richmond NASCAR track will soon be a drone operation. Should be interesting.

[LifeLongDemocratic]

6. Customer Service

A while back I purchased a sci-fi magazine at Barnes and Noble. Half way through I discovered it was bonded incorrectly so the left side of pages for next 3 or 4 pages were not readable. When I went to return it, first the cashier had to get the Manager since you can’t return magazines. She saw the defect and realized checked the others in stock and realized it was all of them. She told me a few times with attitude that they don’t allow returns of magazines but will allow this time since defective. I was made to feel like I was doing something wrong.

Amazon return- you press the return button and they send you a replacement the next day. They do not want the defective book back. Also get apology for inconvenience from Amazon.

[Luciferous]

8. I have returned a couple of things on Amazon that they refunded without wanting the item, must cost

too much to ship back.

[LanternWaste]

10. The important thing is that your convenience is served.

All other concerns can be justified, rationalized, trivialized or dismissed as called for by our desire for consumer satisfaction.

"a full world and its aura
asleep inside a shoebox
an allegory for barefoot monks...'

[MineralMan]

14. You appear to have missed the bulk of my post.

It's not just convenience. Not at all. That plays a role, but is not the only benefit.

Still, thanks for the allusion to Pablo Saborío. An interesting poet.

[Hoyt]

12. Personally, I hope Bezos keeps getting divorced. His x-wife has donated billions.

I do like Amazon. My small local stores -- that pay nothing to employees -- could not have handled the demand during CV19 isolation.

[FakeNoose]

18. I agree that Jeff Bezos is a brilliant retailer

... and that's why he's so successful.

I'm a frequent shopper on Amazon, and I'm even a Prime member. I still try to buy from local retailers whenever possible but during Covid the limitations have been obvious to all of us. Sometimes Amazon is the only choice.

It breaks my heart that Sears Roebuck is such a terrible retail business that they can't even make a go of it anymore. My grandpa was a district manager for Sears back in the 1940's and 50's, and they gave him a wonderful retirement. But those days are long over, and even Walmart is going downhill now.

Any company that doesn't innovate the way Jeff Bezos did cannot make it. That's the truth.