In defense of Amazon

[angstlessk]

I have used Amazon for many of my purchases..free shipping cause I am a prime member. Trust me, the savings on shipping has more than paid for my membership.

Twice or three times I had problems after hundreds of purchases, and Amazon refunded me.

I trust Amazon to do the right thing.

AND I love the Washington Post!

[ooky]

1. Amazon does well because they provide value to their customers.

I wish all merchants would do the same.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. Why trust Amazon to todo the right thing when they have a track record of doing the wrong thing?

I'm not for shutting them down but they need to be regulated.

We need stronger labor laws to stop some of their abhorrent labor practices and to remove obstacles to Unions.

They received a $790 million dollar windfall from tax cuts in last year's 4th quarter.

[angstlessk]

3. I would like to see the employees have power

BUT Amazon will use robots and drones instead of people.

Wonder how he feels about universal income?

[LisaM]

5. I agree with you. I boycott them.

Make no mistake, Trump's real beef with them is the Washington Post. Otherwise, their unscrupulous, tax-dodging, anti-worker, ruthless ways are much to his liking. I would far rather pay $5 more for a new book than worry about "pickers" being locked into overheated warehouses, given unreasonable productivity quotas, and being searched on the way to breaks and leaving work. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I bought anything from Amazon, but I don't think Trump's motives for being against them and mine are the same.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. +1000000!

[RandySF]

4. This Amazon debate is happening because Trump doesn't like the Washington Post

[CentralMass]

6. A good read about Amazon.

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_59443b5be4b06bb7d2731cba


https://www.investors.com/news/technology/amazon-monopoly-problem-antitrust-action-vs-amazon-facebook-google/

[JCanete]

7. Yes of course it has. That's not a defense of Amazon. Amazon offers a great service, and they can do

it at a much lower price than other people can given their size and power. They take a huge chunk of revenue from the companies that advertise through them, the same as Walmart, etc. and it is at a rate close to extortion. You have to use these services to survive as a company but you can't use these services and survive necessarily.

BUT it does keep costs low, which is why Amazon offers such an amazing selection of products, GREAT shipping, and a whole pay tv package to boot.

I don't even get why you're saying you trust Amazon to do the right thing. What does that even mean? What is that trust based upon? They are a corporation that doesn't pay their employees very well, and they've displaced a lot of the industry. Granted, the big box stores were awful too, but that doesn't mean that this shit shouldn't be regulated.

BUT that doesn't mean that we have to take Trumps words as genuine or his solutions as anything but self-serving. Its just that the enemy of your enemy does not have to be your friend. I hate that we do that with corporate media just because Trump was able to effectively make them the "liberal" villain when nothing could be further from the truth. Us flocking to it as a response to that is just tragic to me.

I'm glad you like WaPo and as papers go it could be a crap load worse, but there is something to be said that is problematic about big influential industries having their own propaganda wing. I assure you that it affects coverage of their company. How would it not? How indepentent is anything anymore?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. The prime service is awesome.

I have occasion to send books to an acquaintance in prison. If Amazon does not pack the books perfectly, according to the prison's standards, they get returned, I just patiently re-order and re-send those books. Eventually they get to my acquaintance.

That alone makes prime worthwhile.

[KT2000]

9. they are the answer to Walmart

When Walmart takes over a community and runs the other businesses out, Walmart decides what is available for local shopping. Our idiot county allowed Walmart to take over two towns next to each other. It is an hour and a half to the next shopping area.

They put in two super stores and then reduced the products they carry. Amazon is the answer to that problem.

I wish they paid their employees more and had better working conditions but Walmart is even worse on that score.

[SergeStorms]

10. Walmart is now......

offering free 3 day shipping on catalog items. Amazon has been killing their profits, and Sam Walton's kids aren't going to stand for that! Sam's heirs chose their fathers and other relatives very wisely. It's only right that they be richly rewarded for their amazing insight into choosing their ancestors so carefully.

If there's a war between Walmart and Amazon, I'm taking Amazon all the way. Walmart was the reason so many companies decided to shift their production to China, Mexico, India etc. Of course consumers share a great deal of the blame as well. They wanted "low prices" so badly corporations had to shift their production platforms overseas where they could get slave labor. There went the jobs, and the rest - as they say - is history.

[LisaM]

12. I don't shop either one.

There are plenty of better choices than these two worker unfriendly behemoths. I also resent the way Amazon has taken over and ruined Seattle (where I live).

[KT2000]

16. NW Washington

Specifically Sequim and Port Angeles each have a Walmart . Anyone who had plans to come here, like Fred Meyer, gave up. Rite-Aid and Walgreen's are just about it.

[LisaM]

17. Yeah. I get it.

Just because Walmart sucks doesn't mean Amazon is good. I boycott both.

[PDittie]

13. Free shipping for cheap stuff is

a heartland (read: Trump country) issue. His base is going to have something else to grumble about when their Prime membership goes up to $149 or $199. Grumbling is about as far as they're capable of going, though. The real question is: how can they blame this on the Democrats?

Amazon should have been compelled to charge sales taxes years ago, but our spineless politicians couldn't get it done. They may or may not have a sweetheart deal with the PO, I don't care. I joined Amazon for the first time before last Christmas, and used my temporary (now expired) Prime membership to buy a few Christmas gifts for long-distance nieces and nephews. I quickly realized that the only way it was worth the price is if I was a nearly-daily purchaser of retail merchandise.

I am not. The WaPo (paywalled mostly) is a shell of its former self, and my free sub as part of that Prime membership confirmed this. I am not a fan of Amazon's extension and elaboration of the Walmartization of America, furthering the so-called Retail Apocalypse. Hollowing out the tax base of our cities and counties -- why TF does Amazon need a tax break om HQ2?! -- has resulted in infrastructure shortfalls, to say nothing of the loss of jobs, benefits, workers rights, and all the rest.

Fuck Jeff Bezos. But if Trump thinks fucking with him is #winning ... let him keep thinking that.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/04/trump-war-with-amazon-and-the-washington-post-is-personal

Amazon was down 5% yesterday. When it comes to the stock market, Trump is turning into his own worst enemy. He's started a trade war, his Fed is raising interest rates every quarter, the tech sector is in a sell-off because of privacy concerns, and now he wants to nuke Amazon.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-selloff-analysis/as-wall-street-sinks-trump-is-his-own-worst-enemy-idUSKCN1H91XN

We need to elect a businessman president because we need government to run like a business, they said. He'll shake up Washington, they said.

And now look: 2018 might be a bad year for the 1%.

[crazycatlady]

14. Prime is a lot more than just shipping

I use Prime every day because it's the streaming music service that I have on my phone. No paying for a separate service or listening to ads. You also get streaming video, one free (of 5-6 choices) ebook a month and more.

Well worth $100. A basic Spotify (music streaming service) is $10/month alone.

[PDittie]

15. Uh huh

[phylny]

18. I live in a rural town.

My closest shopping for clothing, household items, etc. is the Walmart a half hour away. If I want anything else or to avoid Walmart, I have to travel 1 hour north or west. I use Amazon all the time and am happy with their service. I wouldn't mind paying more for Prime, either.

[Blue_Adept]

19. None of my Amazon purchases even go through USPS anymore

They've migrated to their own delivery service.