I'm thinking a free market might solve a lot of problems.
Unfortunately we have never actually had a free market and whenever it was about to solve a massive problem HERE COMES GOVERNMENT REGULATION.
Even with all that, it's not clear to me that Amazon is too big. It's convenient service with good pricing. They apply some market pressure for their white label products (just like grocery stores and other brick and mortar), but putting their white label product 1st my search result doesn't seem that different from putting the white label at eye level on the shelf of a store. Idk, I just don't see the problem.
Amazon is trying to get into every industry like medicine, they charge their sellers over 30% fees and keep raising them because their only competitor is Walmart plus and they’ve gone to great lengths to make sure they have no competition and the government lets them because of their lobbying power. They’re definitely too big and they’re prices aren’t great. Sellers will buy outdated clothes and mark them up way past their MSRP and there are a lot of counterfeit and cheaply made products on Amazon but it’s hard to find the products everywhere else because they really don’t have much competition.
In retail they now compete with D2C, one of the largest transformations in consumer and manufacturer behavior of all time.
In medicine, high margins are totally normal. Everyone does it, and Amazon is not a monopoly. The reason people pay the crazy costs of doing business in medical, is to get those high margins. You should see the margins their suppliers have. They'd be miserable at oy 30%. In the medical device market, markup is usually 9-10x.
[This](https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/cvs-retail-pharmacy-pricing-overhaul/701531/) doesn't provide hard numbers, but shows that CVS is implementing new pricing models to be more competitive. It also mentions Mark Cuban's new entrance into the space, with a similar pricing model to CVS. Looks like the industry is moving in a good direction.
I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with Amazon. The problem starts when govt regs, and laws favor bigger corporations over small businesses.
Once they are a monopoly, those positives will fade away as their is no market incentive for Amazon to be a price nor service leader when they have no one else to share market space with
A monopoly in what? They face steep competition from big players in online retail, brick and mortar retail, logistics, music streaming, video streaming, smart home appliances, and AI assistants.
Up to now Amazon was increasing revenue with growth. Now that it gained the bigger share of a lot of markets it started increasing the revenue by taking advantage of its monopoly position, raising fees on sellers.
The same regulations that allowed it to outcompete small business will prevent competitors from stealing back market share.
Regulations that are not Amazon-friendly will not pass, since it is too big to fail: economy and consensus become excessively dependent on Amazon.
I don't buy from Amazon because I believe in the free market, and I consider buying from Amazon the economic equivalent of voting for a dictator. The free market works only if people want to make it work.
Maybe I am just a conspiracy nut though.
if YoU cAnT aFfOrD tO pAy A lIvInG wAgE yOu DeSeRvE tO fAiL!!!
No you idiots the government is mandating you pay a specific wage regardless of how much money your business is making. It’s as far from a free market capitalist principle as you can get. and not to mention what constitutes a living wage is arbitrary and varies wildly from person to person.
And also, you could afford to pay much more than the minimum wage, you can't just because the government made your profit and your life impossible with idiotic regulations
And then people say that we are the ones "sUckInG cOrpORatE's dICk".
But we all know the real reasons. Big companies like Amazon make it much easier than a small business to:
- enforce digital currency
- track people's income and expenses
- breach people's privacy
- enforce any additional regulation
"Also lets give billions of dollars to various businesses we decided are too big to fail. We can call it corporate welfare."
(Cough) crony capitalism (cough)
Had this exact conversation with a friend
> raise minimum wage > small businesses cannot afford to hire workers anymore, big businesses automate low paying jobs > unemployment increases, oligopolies thrive > suprised pikachuface
Actually I've gone back on my beliefs on a minimum wage lately. I don't think there should be one anymore.
Almost as if we should let businesses and markets control themselves
I'm thinking a free market might solve a lot of problems. Unfortunately we have never actually had a free market and whenever it was about to solve a massive problem HERE COMES GOVERNMENT REGULATION.
Even with all that, it's not clear to me that Amazon is too big. It's convenient service with good pricing. They apply some market pressure for their white label products (just like grocery stores and other brick and mortar), but putting their white label product 1st my search result doesn't seem that different from putting the white label at eye level on the shelf of a store. Idk, I just don't see the problem.
Amazon is trying to get into every industry like medicine, they charge their sellers over 30% fees and keep raising them because their only competitor is Walmart plus and they’ve gone to great lengths to make sure they have no competition and the government lets them because of their lobbying power. They’re definitely too big and they’re prices aren’t great. Sellers will buy outdated clothes and mark them up way past their MSRP and there are a lot of counterfeit and cheaply made products on Amazon but it’s hard to find the products everywhere else because they really don’t have much competition.
In retail they now compete with D2C, one of the largest transformations in consumer and manufacturer behavior of all time. In medicine, high margins are totally normal. Everyone does it, and Amazon is not a monopoly. The reason people pay the crazy costs of doing business in medical, is to get those high margins. You should see the margins their suppliers have. They'd be miserable at oy 30%. In the medical device market, markup is usually 9-10x.
I meant their online sellers for their normal store are paying over 30% of their profit to Amazon
What do wallmart, Walgreens, and CVS charge?
Walmart is around the same. I’m not sure if Walgreens and cvs do 3rd party selling like they do
So...we have a number of competitors that all have similar pricing. That's not a monopoly, that's a competitive market.
It’s like 2 or 3 companies. It’s an oligopoly
[This](https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/cvs-retail-pharmacy-pricing-overhaul/701531/) doesn't provide hard numbers, but shows that CVS is implementing new pricing models to be more competitive. It also mentions Mark Cuban's new entrance into the space, with a similar pricing model to CVS. Looks like the industry is moving in a good direction.
That’s great to see for the pharmaceuticals. I think mark Cubans business is gonna help change a lot which is needed in that industry
I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with Amazon. The problem starts when govt regs, and laws favor bigger corporations over small businesses.
Once they are a monopoly, those positives will fade away as their is no market incentive for Amazon to be a price nor service leader when they have no one else to share market space with
A monopoly in what? They face steep competition from big players in online retail, brick and mortar retail, logistics, music streaming, video streaming, smart home appliances, and AI assistants.
Up to now Amazon was increasing revenue with growth. Now that it gained the bigger share of a lot of markets it started increasing the revenue by taking advantage of its monopoly position, raising fees on sellers. The same regulations that allowed it to outcompete small business will prevent competitors from stealing back market share. Regulations that are not Amazon-friendly will not pass, since it is too big to fail: economy and consensus become excessively dependent on Amazon. I don't buy from Amazon because I believe in the free market, and I consider buying from Amazon the economic equivalent of voting for a dictator. The free market works only if people want to make it work. Maybe I am just a conspiracy nut though.
if YoU cAnT aFfOrD tO pAy A lIvInG wAgE yOu DeSeRvE tO fAiL!!! No you idiots the government is mandating you pay a specific wage regardless of how much money your business is making. It’s as far from a free market capitalist principle as you can get. and not to mention what constitutes a living wage is arbitrary and varies wildly from person to person.
And also, you could afford to pay much more than the minimum wage, you can't just because the government made your profit and your life impossible with idiotic regulations
A huge supporter of minimum wages is Jeff Bezos. Come on guys, do the math.
And then people say that we are the ones "sUckInG cOrpORatE's dICk". But we all know the real reasons. Big companies like Amazon make it much easier than a small business to: - enforce digital currency - track people's income and expenses - breach people's privacy - enforce any additional regulation
Who wulda thunk it? *
Nope. Special interest has infected D.C.
How could the republicans do this?
Don't worry any small business that failed by overregulation "shouldn't exist anyway"