Amazon's Monopoly of the tech industry is ruining the US economy

Comments

• TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I put some of the blame on retailers as well. Retail stores just don’t want to carry inventory anymore, especially tech-focused ones with many of those just turning into glorified showrooms. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard some version of: “Sorry, we don’t have that in stock but we can bring it in for you.”

  We needed a short length of garden hose here for the house so I went to two hardware stores and one garden centre looking for one. Nothing. Not even in their dedicated gardening sections. I had to order it off Amazon. A goddamn garden hose.

  Amazon has done a lot of damage for sure but retail is suffering from several self-inflicted wounds too. Home Depot, for example, is a multi-billion dollar corporation and even they have a weaker retail presence now. That’s not Amazon’s fault.

  source

  • zephorah@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Harbor Freight.

    source

    • 667@lemmy.radio ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      When you absolutely need something to work presicely between once the day you buy it and the day you’re late for jury duty.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    They don’t want to carry inventory because Amazon doesn’t. The prices are higher because vendors are contractually obligated to sell on Amazon at their lowest price. So retailers, with a need to have a physical presence and having to buy at more or less the same price a product is available for on Amazon, get fucked. Their only hope is vendors who make a “different” product to sell at other outlets. An example of what I mean is, Poppi soda sells for $20/12 pack on Amazon. They sell a 15 pack at Costco for the same price. Because it’s a “different” product they are not in breach of contract.

    source
  • helenslunch@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Retail stores just don’t want to carry inventory anymore

    Retail stores are more than happy to carry anything consumers want to pay for. If they don’t stock it, it means people don’t buy it, and you can’t fault them for that.

    That’s not Amazon’s fault.

    That’s mostly the fault of consumers who buy from Amazon (and other e-tailors).

    source

    • yesman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      The problem with this “econ101” thinking is that it insists that the whole system runs on the choices of actors in a deterministic system.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • micka190@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      That’s not Amazon’s fault.

      That’s mostly the fault of consumers who buy from Amazon (and other e-tailors).

      There’s quite a few retail stores that don’t keep inventory, even for common things. Staples comes to mind, where it feels like half their damn office items aren’t in stock, so you need to wait for them to have it brought in.

      The problem is that those same retail stores can’t compete with Amazon’s shipping speed. It becomes a case of:

      • I want to buy a thing, I need it fast, so I guess I’ll check my local retails stores
      • My local retail stores don’t have it in stock, but I can order it and it’ll be there in 4-5 days
      • I can just buy it off of Amazon at a comparable price, and have it tomorrow

      It’s alright if they don’t want to carry inventory, but they need to have the shipping speeds to compete, otherwise there’s no reason for the consumer not to just buy it off of Amazon directly.

      source
  • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Go on Facebook and ask your local buy nothing group. Check thrift stores line the habitat for humanity restore. Farm and home store like fleet farm/ farm and fleet. Plenty of ways to get ahold of something like that without buying new.

    source

    • Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      That requires Facebook

      I’ll stick to not buying things instead

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • JordanZ@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Mean while my Best Buy has so much crap in the aisles that you can’t pass a person without having to do the weird turn side ways shuffle. Home Depot isn’t much better. Trying to push a lumber carts around is a joke now. So much crap stuck in the middle of the aisles or at the end of the aisles. So I don’t think it’s a lack of inventory but a variety of inventory.

    source

    • rhombus@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Having worked at a Target like this, I can assure you there is still a lack of inventory on top of these stores being extremely short staffed. Target in particular completely eliminated their storeroom staff a few years ago and just doubled the work load of the floor staff. Both the floor and the storeroom were absolute nightmares to navigate because there were not enough people to actually organize and stock.

      source
  • Passerby6497@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Check your local mom and pop hardware store if you have one! I had to get a feeder hose this summer as well, and the only place I found it was a local family ownedhardware store.

    source
  • UniversalMonk@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Totally agree!

    source

    • pooperNickel@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Looks like you’ve been hard at work blocking since people actually agree with you now

      source
• Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Here in Germany there are still plenty of independent online retailers and they’re competitive with Amazon. I always try to avoid buying from Amazon and for tech products that’s usually no problem.

  source

  • Engywuck@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Same in Spain. I don’t even have an Amazon account, btw.

    source

    • Damage@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Here in Italy practically no one is as quick as Amazon tho

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • Pandantic@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Let me guess, the EU actually put laws in place to ”remediate that problem” like a ”functioning government”.

      source
    • dinckelman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I’m also in Spain, and only use Amazon for things i genuinely cannot find elsewhere, which happens to be like once a year

      source
  • Kyouki@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Netherlands here and as well we have so many local shops that outbeat Amazon that it isn’t even fair. There is a very small chance I buy something of Amazon, think the only time I did was for a replacement item for a Dyson.

    source

    • Reverendender@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I think “beat out” may have been what you meant. And in this example I would probably just say they “beat” Amazon.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • slaacaa@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Do you have some good examples? I recently moved there, and want to avoid Amazon, when possible

    source

    • Bz1sen@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      In more general terms, you can look up the item at e.g. Idealo.de or other product comparison sites and then decide where to buy. Amazon is most often not the cheapest, even including additional delivery cost

      source
    • 2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I like to order tech stuff from mindfactory.de

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • CosmoNova@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Please name an actual good store that can compete with Amazon. Now, I’m lucky my local book store has a digital front where I can order but when it has to be something more general, Amazon remains the only address where the majority of orders didn’t range between faulty and actual horror stories so far.

    source
• j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Amazon’s pricing I not deterministic. You were likely tracked and information collected to know this was a key item for you. Amazon will market loss leaders to you in an attempt to get you to default to buying on Amazon.

  As a former Buyer for a chain of retail stores, the loss leader is effective marketing. I sell you a popular item at or below my typical cost because statistically, a large percentage of customers are making a special trip to my store to buy that product and will make additional purchases at margin. On the wholesale Buying side, these are tools to get past bulk buying tier discounts for seasonal ordering with smaller scale retail.

  Amazon is using a convoluted front end system of overlapping product categories and a supposed multi seller listings (despite collectivized logistics and warehousing) on the website you see. This is how they perform price fixing where you do not see honest or straight forward determinism. When you repurchase that same item later without making comparisons, the seller will shuffle so that a higher price is presented.

  If you have a well isolated network where device history for social media and internet browsing is totally partitioned from e-commerce you’ll likely see even more of the scam. If you see anyone online show the search results and pricing on Amazon, then try to replicate those search results and product price on a device that is totally partitioned from your viewing of the item/price elsewhere, you’re likely to find it is not possible. If you then go back to the original device and do the same, you’ll magically find the same product and lower price. It is a scam market. This is why they are collecting and paying for all that data about you. We are in an age when automated individual targeting and manipulation is possible and happening. This is why data mining stalkerware is insidious. Scam markets are only the tip of the iceberg and what can be uncovered if you go looking for it. Anyone that has done database or logistics management should have major red flags flying when looking at how Amazon’s website is setup. The front end is absolutely untenable garbage for effective logistics. The only reason it is convoluted and search results are terrible is because it is a price fixing scam. The logistical efficiency proves that there is no connection between the front and back end of the site.

  source

  • brbposting@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    How much does it say these beans cost?

    Image

    How does CamelCamelCamel display a price history if the price is different for everyone? Perhaps it’s inaccurate for some (Just hasn’t been for me the handful of times I’ve “had“ to use Amazon.)

    Image

    And Amazon doesn’t price discriminate if they put something on a nationwide sale? So the bloggers can advertise that AirPods are at their lowest price ever?

    Image

    reporting on their bad biz practices

    They definitely get accused of other unsavory stuff: Amazon “tricks” customers into buying Fire TVs with false sales prices: Lawsuit

    source
  • stellargmite@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Thanks for this. I’ve only used Amazon a few times and was always baffled at the train wreck of its chaotic layout / ux. I had to buy something there once and it was such a process it was like being asked to leave the store before paying. Thought at the time it must be down to legacy and new features being showhorned around ancient web1.0 history, its success being its burden with customers having to learn how to use the thing. Price fixing scam is what I will think of it now, while continuing to avoid it.

    source

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      chaotic layout / ux

      Maybe it’s stockholm syndrome or something, but I find it absolutely fine. My general rule of thumb is to look past the first page of results, since that’s where a lot of the sponsored listings are, and then look at several listings before deciding. As long as you’re aware that the first page or so of results are generally sponsored (i.e. ads), it’s not too hard to find a decent product. And since it’s online, it’s pretty easy to compare w/ other retailers (I’ll often look at eBay, Newegg, and a couple others before pulling the trigger).

      That said, I’m definitely not your typical consumer (I rarely buy things on impulse), so it’s hard for me to understand the impact of their “price fixing” nonsense.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • kersplomp@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Did 39 people really believe this enough to upvote this? This is easily proven false. Amazon is convoluted because it’s old as heck and they hire subpar engineers. Like me. I used to work on the team that made the search page. It sucks because most of us were fresh out of college and had never made a website in our lives.

    source

    • j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      [deleted]

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      you mean it gives huge discounts to random people because of an error? i would think amazon would want to fix that ASAP

      source
  • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    oh so basically the entire shitpost about walmart or whatever it was having “dynamic pricing” is literally already real…

    ok.

    source
  • Pandantic@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    If you see anyone online show the search results and pricing on Amazon, then try to replicate those search results and product price on a device that is totally partitioned from your viewing of the item/price elsewhere, you’re likely to find it is not possible. If you then go back to the original device and do the same, you’ll magically find the same product and lower price.

    I noticed this on Walmarts website when asking chat GPT to find items for me. I was wondering why it was happening. Some of the price differences were extreme too.

    source
  • UniversalMonk@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Great post. Thank you for this insight!

    source
• JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  OP, I dislike Amazon and there are definitely plenty of things to accuse them of, but you’re literally describing the opposite of a monopoly. Generally the problem with monopolies is that they don’t need to compete on price so they’ll over charge. You’re saying Amazon is a monopoly because they’re the cheapest option though. That doesn’t follow.

  Again, to be clear, I dislike them and believe they’re worthy of criticism. I’m not trying to “defend Amazon” here.

  source

  • firadin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    You need to read The Amazon Anti-Trust Paradox by current FTC head Lina Khan. She argues that the consumer price oriented monopoly definition is old and outdated in the modern setting. Price is not a sufficient proxy for market competitiveness, and in fact, price is often used to kill competitiveness by undercutting new and innovative products.

    source

    • wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I sound agree price isn’t always the best factor to determine a monopoly.

      Walmart use to go into a town, sell everything cheap and drive everything else out of business.

      It’s one of the many reason I hate Walmart.

      Growing up we have a cool downtown area. It wasn’t big but had a bunch of small stores. They all closed within a year of Walmart.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      That’s a good point. Especially when we see so many things where there are exactly two companies competing.

      source
    • Buttons@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I agree. Price is important in a classic “free market” where people compete to sell goods and services for cheaper and whoever does it best makes a profit and grows, etc, etc.

      This ain’t a classic free market. We frequently see companies become market leaders without ever earning a profit. That’s not a classic free market.

      Succeeding as a company because you make customers happy sounds nice, but the most powerful companies today succeed by gaining favor from those already in power (venture capitalists, etc), and the customers are just a bargaining chip to be tossed about on the bargaining tables of the wealthy.

      source
  • MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Many monopolies form by first using a dominant market position to sell at a price no competitor can afford to match. Choice has already been removed before the “competition” folds or pulls out of the market. The consequences don’t happen overnight; you feel the squeeze before the “true” monopoly emerges. Amazon isn’t going to sell at a cheaper price once their competitors go out of business out of the kindness of their hearts.

    Further, high consumer price is just one form monopoly power takes. Reduced labor power, wages, and worse working conditions are other important concerns, in addition to removing product variety and innovation incentive.

    source

    • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      That’s a fair point. Bring loss leader can be a stepping stone on the path to being a “real” monopoly.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    “A monopoly is a market structure with a single seller or producer that assumes a dominant position in an industry or a sector. Monopolies are discouraged in free-market economies because they stifle competition, limit consumer substitutes, and thus, limit consumer choice.” ~investopedia

    Nothing about needing to jack prices up. I’d say Amazon fits the description perfectly

    source
  • Kryptenx@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    OP didn’t say it, but Amazon also forces agreements with sellers not to list same items cheaper elsewhere online which is monopolistic.

    I get the nuance you are communicating though.

    source
  • vaderaj@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    I am no economist, but don’t you think this behaviour of Amazon leads to “carrot and stick” and at that point it is basically a monopoly right?

    source
  • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Just because they are the cheapest option doesn’t mean they aren’t a monopoly. They clearly have the most inventory. One store having all of the inventory of everything and being the leader for selling products of any kind, is a pretty big problem.

    If they can put others out of business (pretty sure they have put smaller stores out of business in the past), they can become an even bigger monopoly.

    source
• FlexxxingOnThePoors@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  It would help if you went to the right stores first. Try Office Max, Staples, Office Depot, etc.

  source

  • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    The only things I buy off Amazon are the niche items from stores that only exist in the top largest cities in the USA. It’s difficult to find fountain pen stuff elsewhere, and most of the stores have a front on Amazon.

    I don’t know why people buy everyday stuff on Amazon. It’s usually more expensive and you have to wait for it.

    source

    • turtletracks@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      My old roommate bought a single roll of aluminum foil from amazon one time and I still think about it.

      source
  • seaQueue@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Hell even Costco probably has photo paper

    source
• Crashumbc@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Amazon has very good deals OR very bad ones. I find Microcenter often equal to or even better than Amazon in most tech stuff.

  Your experience is exactly why you shouldn’t make sweeping judgement on one data point.

  1. Photo paper isn’t really tech. It’s a supply.

  2. It’s a low volume niche item.

  3. People that are buying it are less likely to care about cost (older) or want it right now. So Microcenter feels they can charge more. (IMO)

  source

  • jj4211@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Was about to say, the last few times I have bought something, Amazon was actually the more expensive choice. Once we looked at them to buy some grocery type products and they were just absolutely horribly expensive compared to any local grocer.

    source

    • Crashumbc@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Funny you mention grocery type items. That’s where I first noticed how bad Amazon can price gouge. Sometimes 3-4 times what the price should be.

      source
• AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  You were looking for office supplies: did you check an office supply store?

  source

  • PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Definitely would have been my first choice to look also, but do you think that staples or office max is going to have something cheaper than amazon?

    source

    • 11111one11111@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I’m thinking op isn’t the brightest tool on the short bus. Walmart has a far better market place/e-commerce platform than shitass Amazon. Same delivery windows of 1-3 says. Can order groceries that aren’t fuckin wierd marketplace seller with a garage packed with dented pallets of Nutella, wild rice and 5hr energy drinks lol. The groceries actually come from the store or the next nearest one. They basically already had the warehouse infrastructure. The dumped billions with a fuckin B last year just on developing and expanding on drone deliveries. Plus when your order gets fucked up from Walmart… YOU TALK TO A FUCKIN PERSON WHO ISNT HALF WAY ACCROSS THE PLANET WITH 3 PRELOADED REPLIES TO FIX EVERY PROBLEM. Fuuuuuuuuuck Amazon customer service. But also unless op was looking for the holy grail of printers I will bet my annual salary that Walmart’s online store had the exact printer they were looking for or one that is an exact copy but another brand. So dramatic to write this whole post up for such a dumb reason lol.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      It depends on the paper based on some quick searching, but I can pickup the paper from staples faster than Amazon will deliver it.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
• LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Not just tech, all over the product spectrum. They started by selling books.

  A large problem is payment system and accounts. I hate going to a new shop and create a new account, a new password, bla bla bla. I hate it. And wiring with online banking is still a pain the ass, you have to enter some password into your shitty phone keyboard and then wait for an SMS… paypal and amazon payment make shopping convenient.

  So part of the problem is banks who have been sleeping on the job for decades. At least here in Europe. You finally can wire money so it arrives immediately from your bank account at a shop! (without having to waste some tax on a payment provider either). But 2 factor authentication is still a pita. Where is my online bank with easy to use FIDO2?

  source

  • TachyonTele@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Books have always been a tool for power.
    Guess even in our times that’s true.

    source

    • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      And then amazon, a book seller, bought IMDB and eventually burned down the discussion section - which contained so much “secondary literature” about films. I’ll never forgive them for that.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Y’all havemt even broached Amazon Web Services market share.

      source
• realitista@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I am fortunate to live in a country where amazon is not strong and we have aggregated search engines that over all the small shops, compete against Amazon on selection and cost, often beating it. I hope it stays this way.

  source

  • gingernate@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    That’s cool. EU?

    source

    • realitista@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Yes, Czechia. We can order from Amazon.de, but it’s not usually much better than the other options, and returns and support are much worse.

      source
• DarkCloud@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Amazon has a healthcare company now too…

  …and they own twitch.

  source

  • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Wait til you find out about AWS and how half the internet runs on it.

    source

    • Grippler@feddit.dk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I tried blocking anything Amazon in my adguard…holy shit that broke a lot of sites, I had to unblock it to have functional internet.

      source
• Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Remember that time like 10 years ago, when some local news station was doing a story about Amazon having all the best tech deals, and then the one co-host butts in and says “You know why they have a monopoly, right? RIGHT??? SHE KNOWS WHAT I’M TALKIN ABOUT!!!”

  And everybody was giving blank looks, like “Uh…no? What ARE you talking about?”

  And he’s like “Because they sell all the sex toys, and deliver it right to your house! Ladies? Right??? IT’S CONVIENENT!!!”

  And everybody just had their mouth open in shock like “WTF ARE YOU DOING???”

  and then he goes on and on about dildos, as his cohost continually tries to move on, but he keeps talking about dildos. And she’s looking like she wants to strangle him.

  source

  • ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    No, but I enjoyed your retelling.

    source

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      You should watch news bloopers on youtube. There’s so many classics.

      “…I so pale…” *You’re on!" Immediately goes into news reporter mode as her cohost giggles

      Also, a woman talking to the weatherman: “How bout that 69, huh? I know you’re excited about the no rain, but how bout that 69???” Rest of the news crew stonewalls.

      Or the woman doing an on-location report about a guy who grills hamburgers for his resteraunt.

      “Now, can I try one of these?”

      "Absolutely. I would LOVE to see my meat in your mouth!

      “NOT THE FIRST TIME I’VE HEARD THAT!!!”

      There was the cohost who was in a grape smashing competition to make wine, and she yelled “WAIT!!!” and then started stomping extra fast herself. Basically cheating. And then she slipped and fell face first off an 8 foot drop right onto her face. And she starts groaning in pain.

      source
• helenslunch@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  There are plenty of things to complain about with Amazon but, in my opinion, this ain’t it.

  I went back to Amazon, which I was trying to avoid, and saw the price 25 to 40% lower than anywhere

  Amazon typically has prices the same as any other retail store. Your experience is an exception.

  Not even Best buy has even close to the amount of inventory or variety, even when you’re shopping online…

  You can’t compare a local brick and mortar store to Amazon. A vast array of hundreds of giant warehouses is never going to have the same variety of products as a single retail store.

  In addition, they leverage their warehouses to decrease shipping costs and local emissions. Which do you think costs more and causes more carbon emissions, a hundred people in old giant SUV beaters driving to and from a B&M location to shop for a single product or a single (often electric) delivery vehicle delivering a vast array of products to a hundred locations?

  source
• Arkouda@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I enjoy this narrative of “being forced” to go against ones own morals and principals by big bad companies because one just absolutely has to have a product for as cheap as possible.

  You went to two stores and then straight to Amazon. That doesn’t mean they have a monopoly, that means you really didn’t try that hard to find an alternative.

  If you think you have no other choice you are right because you stopped looking for one.

  source
• Grappling7155@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I’m surprised there’s so few mentions of AWS in this thread. It’s a huge profit centre for the company and a large portion of the internet is now running off of it. AWS is basically the internet’s landlord now, and the profits generated from being the most popular cloud service provider globally are probably why they can afford to invest so heavily into their logistics infrastructure and retail that people are more familiar with.

  source
• ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  It’s not just the tech industry, it’s most industries. They have tons of inventory of everything.

  source
• pineapplelover@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Microcenter price matches amazon, you could’ve bought it for the same price at microcenter. Also, you can try ebay, I’ve been buying more stuff from ebay and the experience is pretty good.

  source
• blazera@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Do you mean you went to walmart and target physically, and then directly to amazons website, and no other online shop? There are a ton of competing online stores with similar or better prices than Amazon, often stores specializing in the product you’re buying. Instead of looking up amazon specifically, look up the item youre looking for

  source
• stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I was thinking about this recently after a frustrating trip to a brick and mortar store that was missing the specific item I wanted to purchase which should have been easily available.

  Has it always been this bad and we just accepted it until Amazon came around and carried most everything, or have stores significantly reduced the inventory they carry to the point where they have become practically useless except as a showroom? It extends to things I only want to purchase in store. Why do clothing and shoe stores never have my size in stock of the item I want? Clothing has become so poor in quality (even expensive stuff) and I’m hard enough to fit that unless it is an item I already have and need to replace I only want to buy stuff I can try on first.

  As much as I’d like to avoid Amazon, the lack of inventory at other retailers really pushes me towards them. Why would I pay more for slow shipping from the East coast because the local store doesn’t carry anything when Amazon delivers in 1-2 days for free?

  I’ve also been really struggling recently when trying to buy items that are less than $15. Amazon often charges double what it should cost for the items, but at the same time, local stores don’t carry what I’m looking for. I can find it for the right price online, but then the shipping cost makes it more expensive than Amazon.

  source
• crashfrog@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  You’re listing all of the reasons it’s not a monopoly - you can go almost anywhere else and buy the same good.

  Therefore, I think Amazon has a literal monopoly in the tech industry right now, you’re literally forced to buy from them

  You literally weren’t and literally aren’t, so they’re literally not.

  They have so aggressively and dominantly taken over the supply chain market that no other tech company can currently compete with them in any aspect at all.

  If nobody was in competition with them, they’d be raising their prices.

  source
• Antiproton@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  You really think that in 2024 - a time when not even school children are expected to print out reports because everything is submitted digitally - the fact that photo printer paper not being ubiquitous reflects literally anything other than we’ve mostly moved past paper as a society?

  I’m not saying reddit is better - it clearly is not - but ask yourselves why Lemmy is so absolutely shit at applying Occam’s Razor to their own biases?

  source
• HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I canceled prime a year ago as I can no longer support the monopoly.

  source
• ryathal@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Amazon is a place where you have to deal with fake items and getting fraudulent returns shipped to you as new. Your reward for this is maybe a 5% discount.

  source
• vvvvv@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Check Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox by Lina Khan (FTC). A very detailed review of how Amazon is a monopoly and how they dodge antitrust legislation.

  source
• FlyingSquid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Wait, your Canon printer needs a specific type of photo paper, not just generic photo paper that’s been around for inkjet printers for a very long time now? Have printers really become that enshittified?

  source
• kersplomp@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Have you tried buying from aliexpress? It’s the same products as on Amazon, but directly from the supplier. Imagine Amazon, but everything’s 50% off.

  source
• SkyNTP@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Here in Canada, I find the prices pretty neck and neck. Small items tend to be a bit cheaper at the stores, since there is very little overhead for them to carry small items compared to Amazon’s picking and delivery logistics. Big items tend to be a bit cheaper on Amazon. For tech specifically, Best Buy price matches items, so it’s not that bad… Memory express and CC sometimes have lower prices than Amazon too (see PCPartPicker).

  The main reason to use Amazon is you can easily find some really obscure stuff. Then again, you can buy direct from manufacturer, like Vevor, for often cheaper.

  source
• Valmond@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Bought a RX 6400 for a little windoze game box, and shelled out around 30€ /35€ more at a conventional well inown shop here, materiel dot net. Bought most of my stuff there over the years, nice people, etc.

  But I couldn’t just go get it, it “had to” be delivered, so I paid for that too (I guess you do the same on Amazon), high class delivery or so I thought. Ordered thursday, scheduled delivery “wednesday 8h-19h” so okay I WFH but man better ve there every minute right?

  Got a confirmation SMS/Text around 12, we’re delivering your package today! (No more info).

  Surprise, they didnt.

  Suddenly it’s scheduled “Thursday 8h-19h”.

  Grrr

  I bet I would have gotten my card on saturday if I had used amazon (+30€ too…).

  I mean are brick & mortar stores dead now for real maybe?

  source
• tyler@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  You tried three in person places and then went straight to Amazon? Why not trying to buy directly from the manufacturer? You clearly didn’t try at all. Ignoring the fact that there are still plenty of other retail stores, you didn’t even try the online shops of any of your retail stores.

  source
• bitwolf@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Walmart online is eating Amazon they don’t have a monopoly

  source
• Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  There are other online shops besides Amazon. I find an alternative for almost everything that I order and it’s not more expensive. And finding the right product inside Amazon is so exhausting nowadays that it’s not more work to compare different web shops.

  source