Amazon is a ripoff - Cory Doctorow

[justaprogressive]

There's a cheat-code in US antitrust law, one that's been increasingly used since the Reagan administration, when the "consumer welfare" theory ("monopolies are fine, so long as the lower prices&quot shoved aside the long-established idea that antitrust law existed to prevent monopolies from forming at all.

The idea that a company can do anything to create or perpetuate a monopoly so long as its prices go down and/or its quality goes up is directly to blame for the rise of Big Tech. These companies burned through their investors' cash for years, selling goods and services below cost, or even giving stuff away for free. Think of Uber, who lost $0.41 on every dollar they brought in for their first 13 years of existence, a move that cost their investors (mostly Saudi royals) $31 billion.

The monopoly cheerleaders in the consumer welfare camp understood that these money-losing orgies could not go on forever, and that the investors who financed them weren't doing so for charitable purposes. But they dismissed the possibility that would-be monopolists could raise prices after attaining dominance, because these prices hikes would bring new competitors into the market, starting the process over again.

Well, Uber has doubled the price of a ride and halved the wages of its drivers (not that consumer welfare theorists care about workers' wages – they care about consumer welfare, not worker welfare). And not just Uber: companies that captured whole markets have jacked up prices and lowered quality across the board, a Great Enshittening whose playbook has been dubbed "venture predation":

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[Joinfortmill]

1. Yup, they suck.

[NCIndie]

2. Amazon isn't a monopoly. You can shop anywhere you want for the same stuff.

People get lazy and want the mammoth companies to take care of them. But, the companies want to make money, and the consumer always pays. Whenever Amazon is attempting to charge me a higher price than I can get elsewhere, I go elsewhere.

When the consumer recognizes that Amazon's greatest profits come from advertising within the website and not from taking care of the consumer, the consumer realizes that they can punish Amazon severely by shopping elsewhere.

[katmondoo]

3. I love Amazon, for lots of reasons.

.At times an item I want is not available locally, I then have a choice. Sometimes just to look up something for sale that I did not know about, from there I can look up this item and find it locally. Other times it is easier to just buy it at Amazon. I just like Amazon.

[KPN]

4. Cory Doctotow is an awesome writer and activist. His recent book,

Red Team Blues was a great thriller around the crypto world. He’s (Doctorow) highly versed and tuned in to technology and future.

I read the article. He’s absolutely right in my view. We’re dealing with a new form of monopolies which have basically wrecked havoc on existing socio-economic systems. Amazon is great at times (you don’t always find the best bargain using Amazon), but when you look at the socio-economic, political and environmental costs — and without going into details, their are a lot of them) — I’m not sure the benefits come close to outweighing them.

I still use Amazon — because it’s convenient for me living in a rural area with few shopping opportunities without driving a couple or more hours. If there was a viable competitor for their service, I’d definitely support them with my business. But

[BannonsLiver]

5. And DU's long hate affair with Amazon rages on.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

6. Plenty to criticize about Amazon

However, it is *not* a monopoly. I can find the vast majority of what they sell at other outlets--Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, my local grocer/drugstore, bookstores (chain and indie), and so on.

When I get something through Amazon, it's for various and complex reasons that rarely have anything to do with their having a stranglehold on availability of an item. So I'm not forced to do business with them, unless I want to watch episodes of Mrs Maisel (which I have been known to do).

I can't take seriously anyone whose assertions don't have a basis in reality. Like knowing what a monopoly is--and isn't.

[justaprogressive]

7. Are you sure it is he who doesn't know what a monopoly is?

Also: an instance of this.
In English Law: a situation in which one supplier or producer controls more than a specified fraction of the market.