Friday, 29 November 2019
quote [ “Every day, ships, trucks, trains and airplanes bring an estimated 21,500 diesel truckloads of merchandise to 21 Amazon warehouses in the four-county region,” the Economic Roundtable report said. It calculated that Amazon trucks last year created $642 million in “uncompensated public costs” for noise, road wear, accidents and harmful emissions. ]
Fun fact – in a Metafilter thread on the music industry someone noted that Sears deliberately opted out of its mail order biz around 1993. Talking about bad timing.
Full article:
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snowfox said @ 6:57am GMT on 30th Nov
[Score:1 Insightful]
I can't get a pizza delivered to where I live, but via Amazon, I can get snacks shipped direct from Japan in less than a week. Everything I consume is built on human suffering. Is this the line because it affects the first world? Fuck that.
Look at your shoes. They contain a variety of fabrics, whose raw materials must be sourced, processed, and turned into fabric. They contain the materials for the inner and outer soles, which undergo the same process. They have laces, eaglets, eyeholes... same deal. They have a cardboard tag attached with an elastic band, come packed with paper and chip board inside, wrapped in tissue paper, inside a printed cardboard box. All of these things must be assembled. Then they must be packed, shipped, unpacked, shipped again multiple times, and stocked. At some point, your shoes involve slavery. It's not good, but what are you going to do? Make your own shoes? Will you make your own everything from start to finish? We already know fair-trade, etc is often violated and BS. I am not saying these things are good, but they do seem to be how the world works. Why is Amazon the level at which people care? Because, now, it's in THEIR world? They can see it in their own backyard? Jingoism. Not humanism. There is a problem deeper than Amazon. If we can fix that entire chain, the problems with Amazon would also be addressed. As long as we fail to address these issues, whether you get them from Amazon or not, your goods are bathed in blood. Maybe there is no way around that. It does seem our entire society, both local and global, are based on pyramid schemes and wealth disparity. The only way to eliminate it, quite possibly, is for ALL OF US to live far less decadent lifestyles. Are we willing to give up the very devices that allow this site to run and us to access it? We'd have to if we were going to eliminate the horrific mining practices that lead to our boards, circuits, batteries... The world is a terrible place. I don't see the logic in these arbitrary cutoff points other than tribalism. Can anyone explain it to me? |
Paracetamol said @ 5:30am GMT on 2nd Dec
Yep, true. First, I don't get many things about US Infrastructure.
But second, it's not about the goods/supplier but the distributor chain. Admittedly, there have always been more retailer alternatives in Europe due to the higher density. But people amazingly still choose Amazon for many services over competitors. I wonder if oligopolies build trust or something |
conception said @ 6:59pm GMT on 2nd Dec
Amazon's advantage is convenience. It's just so easy to order and get things from Amazon. They have everything. In one spot. And it arrives in a couple of days or less, 2 hours for food! It's really a marvel if it wasn't terrible beneath the facade.
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conception said[1] @ 6:57pm GMT on 2nd Dec
It is NIMByism I feel like more than Jingoism. I think it's "See no here, hear no evil" more than 'Merica! At the Amazon level, like the Walmart level before it, scales tip so far in Amazon's favor that they can begin to do monopolistic behaviors that bring the suffering up the supply chain. And suppliers can either service Amazon and their demands or go out of business because Amazon is such a large player in the game.
The best writeup of this phenomenon is the Walmart Gallon of Pickles - https://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know So, yes, the supply chain is covered in blood almost always as the bottom levels but with companies like Amazon, they can push and push margins to force that ruthlessness up the chain (e.g. first world warehouse workers whom are people "just like you") which is why people are starting to care about it. |
steele said @ 5:44pm GMT on 30th Nov
[Score:1 Underrated]
Last fall, the retailer was forced to begin paying a $15 hourly minimum wage nationwide.
Forced by who, NYT? |
steele said @ 5:50pm GMT on 30th Nov
[Score:1 Insightful]
I was saving links for a Fuck Amazon post.💁♂️😅
Amazon HQ2 led Indiana to manipulate worker death report, Reveal says Behind the Smiles | Reveal Meet the Immigrants Who Took On Amazon | WIRED |
the circus said @ 10:00pm GMT on 30th Nov
[Score:1 Insightful]
Admittedly rambling…
Unless we're stuck in 19th century thinking, Jeff Bezos has a monopoly. A huge one. (I'm also noticing I'm the first person mentioning the actual person. Amazon doesn't do anything because it's not an active agent, it's just a brand name. Amazon wasn't forced to pay a $15 minimum wage, Jeff Bezos was.) I'm not aware of a website I can go to that offers the goods I can get on Amazon offered by multiple sellers. Insofar as Amazon also acts as a marketplace, it's virtually monopolized the marketplace as a whole. I suspect Amazon's cutting back on packaging material had nothing to do with environmental complaints, but executives realizing if they could cut the work in safely packing boxes and the material then Bezos could make another 100 million a year. Just give 50K to a "charity" set up for the kid of a friend or executive who spends all their time on social media. Collect 25K for running the charity and spend the other 25K making as much noise as possible about Amazon's wasteful packaging. Then when people get mad about their items arriving beat up, blame those damn dirty hippie liberals. So much of this equation is shipping. I suspect businesses like grubhub and uber eats weren't even setup intending to turn any profit. They just know the market forces driving the rich to demand automated delivery will mean they better get an infrastructure in place now and work the bugs out of it for when they can swap out human deliverers for automation. I can't give up necessities. Heck I worry about keeping my small condo on what I earn even knowing automation is currently gutting my industry and driving me towards job elimination. But I can control what I spend on my tabletop gaming hobby. China has a near lock on tabletop gaming manufacturing, and more and more China is sounding scary for it's actions both within and without. Like Germany in the 30's scary. I can at least not buy games that profit China. It's not like game publishers can't make their games anywhere else except China. |
steele said @ 5:50pm GMT on 30th Nov
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Full article + the Sears anecdote in extended.